Targeting toxic waste

Targeting toxic waste Customs administrations at the borders become environmental guardians.

By Chris Gillis

      Some ocean containers hold dirty secrets.
      It's these inconspicuous shipping boxes that customs administrations, together with other regulatory agencies, are increasingly tasked with stopping before their toxic contents are unleashed on the environment.
      'Customs has a role to play in preserving our natural heritage,' said Kunio Mikuriya, secretary general of the Brussels-based World Customs Organization, in a recent interview.

Mikuriya

      'Our members can respond to real needs of civil society by targeting illicit toxic waste shipments.'
      As new technologies and products enter the market, outdated and broken items consequently pile up. Landfill disposal has become increasingly undesirable due to limited space and concerns over toxic chemicals leaching over time into the groundwater.
      In recent years, firms specializing in the collection of hazardous waste, especially the electronic variety, have permeated the market, claiming more responsible methods for disposal. However, the industrial world generally lacks facilities to economically refine waste back into useful products, so it's generally marketed, sold and exported to scrap dealers in developing countries.
      What's evolved, in the view of many environmental and health regulators, is an industrial supply chain of questionable intent. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) believes that national and international crime syndicates worldwide earn $20 billion to $30 billion a year from smuggling and dumping hazardous waste.
      Customs agencies, which have long been charged with stopping drugs and weapons smugglers, money launderers and tax evaders who attempt to use legitimate cargo flows to hide their activities, are now being asked to take down illicit shippers of waste.

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      'In general, customs applies more or less the same tools and techniques to control trans-boundary movements of all kinds of goods,' said Hui Fu, technical officer responsible for compliance and facilitation at the WCO. 'All instruments developed by the WCO may be used in all areas of customs operations.'
      The WCO, which comprises 176 customs administrations, has expressed concern about illicit hazardous waste shipments for decades. In 2003, the organization joined with the UNEP to create the Green Customs Initiative.
      The initiative's objective is to enhance the capacity of customs and other relevant enforcement agencies to detect and prevent illegal trade in environmentally sensitive goods covered by conventions and multilateral environmental agreements. These include ozone-depleting substances, toxic chemicals, hazardous wastes, endangered species, and living or genetically modified organisms.
      The Green Customs Initiative is designed to complement and enhance existing customs training efforts under the various agreements. This may be achieved by raising awareness on international agreements as well as through providing assistance and tools for law enforcement.
      In addition to the WCO and UNEP, the Green Customs Secretariat, based in Paris, comprises the secretariats of multilateral environmental agreements, Interpol, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The initiative also works closely with a number of other regional and international organizations.
      Despite these efforts, waste smuggling continues to haunt the international supply chain, and customs authorities worry the problem may actually be getting worse, especially with the rise in disposable electronic devices on the market.
      Smugglers use a variety of methods to conceal waste from regulatory authorities in exporting and importing countries, such as employing vague or misleading cargo descriptions like 'used goods' on bills of lading and manifests or simply hiding the junk among legitimate shipments.
      'Illegal shipments are never properly declared,' Fu said. 'Customs can only physically control a tiny part of them, an average of less than 1 to 2 percent in many countries.
      'Control in the exporting countries, as required by the Basel Convention and advocated in the WCO SAFE Framework, with an aim to prevent the waste from entering the supply chain is very important,' he added.
      Under the Basel Convention, the ratifying parties may prohibit the import of waste into their jurisdictions for disposal. Prior consent has to be gained from the country of import or transit before the export of waste can take place. A party is prohibited from shipping wastes to or from a non-party to the convention unless there is an agreement allowing the movement among the countries concerned and that stipulating provisions are as strong as those provided in the Basel Convention.
      However, customs authorities in developing countries, whose primary mission is to collect revenue from imports, may not be inclined to investigate these shipments and instead allow them to enter, although their governments may be part of multilateral agreements seeking to control hazardous waste shipments.

Offenders Abound. For some developing countries the results of accepting hazardous waste have been tragic.
      On Aug. 19, 2006, a cargo vessel unloaded a toxic shipment in Abidjan, the main economic capital of the Ivory Coast. The waste, which was carried onboard a vessel from the Netherlands to the West African country by international petroleum trader Trafigura, contained a liquid sludge of highly toxic hydrogen sulfide, mercaptans, and caustic soda. The shipment was received by Ivorian waste handling firm Societe Tommy, which dumped it at various locations around Abidjan. Ivorian authorities reported that at least six people died and as many as 9,000 became sick from exposure to the sludge.
      While it's suspected that the majority of hazardous waste exposures leading to sickness and death go unreported, many developing countries have grown tired of being treated as the garbage can for the industrialized world. Some have even started fighting back against unscrupulous exporters and importers of hazardous waste and shaming those countries that condone the activity.
      In July 2009, Brazilian authorities seized 65 containers in three ports holding as much as 1,400 tons of medical waste, including used diapers, syringes, old medicine, and toilet seats, and another 25 containers containing hospital waste, shipped from the United Kingdom. Five Brazilian companies were fined for importing the waste. 'Clearly, Brazil is not a big rubbish dump of the world,' a disgusted Roberto Messias, Brazil's head of environment, told the press at the time.

Workers with hand tools extract metals from electronic waste in Ghana.

      In recent years, one of the biggest commodities of waste shipped to developing countries has been electronics, which contain a host of toxins, if mishandled.
      Picture tubes from televisions and computers, for example, contain lead, mercury and other toxic substances. Scrappers in developing countries tend to break down these devices using simple hand tools, open-air incineration and acid baths to extract precious metals and other recyclable materials for sale. Workers and nearby inhabitants are exposed to numerous airborne toxins from fires, while waste left on the ground inevitably leaches into the soil and water.
      The United States is considered one of the worst offenders for exporting electronic waste. In September 2008, the Government Accountability Office released a scathing report citing that environmental regulators failed to enforce a federal rule preventing the unfettered export of picture tubes to developing countries. The rule took effect in January 2007.
      During its investigation, the GAO found that many U.S. electronic waste exporters did not take the picture tube law seriously, even though violations are subject to administrative penalties. Many of these same firms touted themselves to consumers as being environmentally responsible.
      The GAO recommended that the Environmental Protection Agency work more closely with Customs and Border Protection and the International Trade Commission to improve identification and tracking of exported used electronics. In addition, the congressional watchdog said the United States should become part of the Basel Convention, which has been ratified by 172 countries.
      The largest U.S. trade association of recyclers in March announced what it called a 'roadmap' to address the problem of improperly exported electronic scrap.
      'Among other provisions, the policy bans the export of electronic equipment and components for landfilling or incineration for disposal and requires that facilities outside the U.S. that recycle or refurbish electronics have a documented, verifiable environmental, health and worker safety system in place,' said Robin Wiener, president of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), in a statement.
      The Basel Action Network (BAN), a Seattle-based toxic trade watchdog, attacked the ISRI's policy announcement as 'greenwash' and a continuation of 'export your harm' to managing electronic waste.
      'It is a cruel joke that ISRI perpetuates the myth of 'environmentally sound management' in developing countries,' said Jim Puckett, executive director of BAN. 'If a developing country like China or India had everything it needed to properly manage hazardous waste like e-waste, it would no longer be a developing country.'

Operation Demeter. On Jan. 26, 2009 ' International Customs Day ' the WCO Secretariat highlighted the theme of customs and the environment, and to drive home its point proposed and coordinated Operation Demeter from March 23 to May 11, 2009.
      The global operation, named after the Greek goddess of vegetation and fruitfulness, targeted illegal shipments of hazardous waste between Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa. It involved customs administrations from 65 countries. It was supported by seven WCO Regional Intelligence Liaison Offices, the Basel Convention Secretariat, national environmental protection agencies, and IMPEL-TFS (EU Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law ' Trans-frontier Waste Shipment).
      The operation focused on the 16 most traded wastes. Customs officers at more than 300 seaports and other selected locations intensified their risk assessment and cargo profiling. According to the WCO, more than 2,000 physical controls were carried out to identify high-risk shipments.
      The backbone of the operation was the use of the WCO's Customs Enforcement Network communication (CENcomm) system by the participating customs administrations to exchange information about hazardous waste traffic. The WCO noted that a record 516 messages were transmitted via CENcomm during the operation.
      Eighty-six seizures amounting to 45,600 tons and more than 1,800 pieces of hazardous waste were reported including 'used' or waste electronic and electrical equipment, household waste and end-of-life vehicles and their parts, metal scrap, granite and used vehicle batteries. Forty-eight seizures were reported by European countries during the first two weeks of the operation, where the goods were intercepted before they could be shipped out.
      'Smuggled hazardous materials such as computers, CRTs (cathode ray tubes), and used batteries from the U.S. can be found in many countries in Asia as evidenced by Operation Demeter,' Fu said.
      The WCO believes Operation Demeter was a success and has had some lasting effect in that customs administrations and environmental protection agencies in many participating countries now recognize the value of working together in their daily operations, Fu added.
      'The success of Operation Demeter can be attributed to our desire to protect the environment for future generations, the strong political will and commitment of WCO member customs administrations, and excellent cooperation with our partners at the national, regional and international level,' Mikuriya said. 'In fact the WCO is now even more determined to bolster the partnership further as coordination, cooperation and communication are the enemies of those who profit from this trade.'
      Since the operation, the WCO has hosted Green Customs workshops on environmental border protection in India for the Asia-Pacific region and at Mombasa, Kenya, for East and Southern Africa. The Green Customs Initiative also organized six workshops for customs officers in other parts of the world during 2009. In 2010, the WCO will host a Green Customs workshop for the Middle East and North Africa region and another covering North and South America and the Caribbean, while the Green Customs Initiative plans to hold at least another six regional and national workshops for customs officers this year.
      In June 2009, the WCO Secretariat also launched Environet. This secure communication tool, which is used in the fight against environmental crime at the border, uses the CENcomm platform. In specific, the tool enables customs officials, environmental authorities, law enforcement and international organizations, as well as regional networks, to cooperate and share real-time information. All commodities covered by trade-related multilateral environmental agreements are available for discussion via Environet.
      According to the WCO, by January, about 970 users from more than 110 countries and international organizations have registered and shared more than 450 messages via Environet, and its library provides free downloads of more than 100 different training materials, background information and manuals.
      The WCO is working with the Basel Convention Secretariat and other partners to develop a guideline for customs and environmental protection agencies focused on cooperation, Fu said.
      Earlier this year, the WCO's Enforcement Committee endorsed a follow-up to Operation Demeter be implemented. 'We do not have specific dates yet for the moment, but definitely this will take place,' Fu said.
      The WCO also expects to enlist more support for its endeavor to combat illegal hazardous waste shipments from the global shipping industry.
      'Customs and EPAs (environmental protection agencies) cannot fight the trafficking of waste alone,' Fu said. 'The port authorities, carriers and traders also share the responsibility. With the WCO theme 'partnership with business' in 2010, we are exploring the possibility to maximize the efforts.'