Stop the Export of Australian HCB Waste to Europe for Incineration!

Orica Australia is proposing to export 22,000 tonnes of highly toxic hexachlorobenzene (HCB) waste to Germany. The waste is supposed to be incinerated in Leverkusen, Dormagen, Herten and Brunsbuettel. Two of the incinerators are run by the Chemical company Bayer.

Help us stop this unnecessary export and ensure that the stockpile is destroyed by non incineration methods. We are asking the Australian Minister for the Environment to accept the principle that Australia takes responsibility for the environmentally-sound destruction of its own HCB waste, as it has done for all previously generated POPs waste.

Daily Telegraph (Australia), February 1st, 2007
Chemical Polluter in New Row

The chemical company infamous for contaminating Sydney's groundwater with toxic discharge is facing a storm of fury over plans to ship 22,000 tonnes of its poisonous waste to Germany.
Orica has lodged an application with the federal government to export a massive shipment of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) to Europe for destruction by incineration, claiming it could not dispose of the waste itself.
But now German regional environment minister in the densely-populated North Rhine-Westphalia region, Eckhard Uhlenberg, is irate. He says his country does not want the waste, but is powerless to stop it because of binding international agreements.
``To say it clearly: We are against the importation of (toxic) waste from Australia, particularly since transportation of this sort of dangerous waste over huge distances involves considerable risk,'' he said in parliament.
A rally is planned for next week in Herten, home to one of the incinerators, to oppose the plan. The German press is awash with articles expressing grave concerns about the move.
New Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he's awaiting an assessment from his department before making a decision.
But a NSW government review of Orica's HCB waste options in 2004 specifically recommended against exporting it, concluding ``a persuasive case for export could not be sustained''.
Orica estimates that four separate shipments of the 22,000 tonne stockpile currently stored at its Botany industrial park will be needed between April this year and December 2008.
HCB belongs to the ``dirty dozen'' of dangerous chemicals forbidden worldwide under the Stockholm Convention.
According to Australia's National Toxics Network (NTN), excessive exposure to HCB can cause kidney and liver damage, harm to the central nervous system leading to seizures, collapse of the circulatory system, and respiratory problems. Its use has been banned in Germany since 1981.
NTN spokeswoman Mariann Lloyd-Smith, who is calling on the federal government to reject Orica's application, said the company had the means to deal with its waste here. One plant in Brisbane and another in Melbourne were capable of treating it, Dr Lloyd-Smith said. ``Australia has both moral and legal obligations to deal with its own waste,'' she said.
Labor's federal environment spokesman Peter Garrett, whose electorate takes in Orica's Botany plant, admitted exportation conflicted with Australia's international obligations.
But he still wants it taken out of his suburbs. ``The health concerns of the people of Botany and surrounding suburbs must take precedence,'' he said.
Under Australia's hazardous waste regime, toxic refuse must be destroyed as close to the source as possible to avoid dangerous transportation of poisonous materials. But companies can apply for an exemption if they prove they cannot dispose of it themselves. By SAFFRON HOWDEN

If you agree that Australia should be responsible for its own waste and not export this stockpile to Europe for incineration, please download the letter of protest (Adobe Acrobat file 18KB) and email to the Australian Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator the Hon. Ian Campbell.  senator.ian.campbell@aph.gov.au

Media Release, National Toxics Network Inc. ( http://www.oztoxics.org/ntn )
Diplomatic Row Grows as Germans Unite Against Aussie Toxic Waste Export
'All Eyes Now On Minister Turnbull'

A diplomatic row is breaking out between Germany and Australia over a proposed export of highly toxic waste from Botany NSW by chemical company Orica Pty Ltd to be burnt in Germany.

The German regional Environment Minister in the densely-populated North Rhine-Westphalia region, Eckhard Uhlenberg has called for the export to be stopped but the Australian Environment Minister, The Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP who controls the final decision on the export remains silent.

“While most Australians enjoyed the festive season break, Orica (formerly ICI Australia) set about gaining Commonwelth Government approval to export up to 22,000 tonnes of highly-toxic HCB (hexachlorobenzene) waste to be incinerated in Germany” said Dr Mariann Lloyd-Smith, Senior Advisor to the National Toxics Network.

Newly-appointed Federal Environment Minister, Malcolm Turnbull can halt the export but has issued no statement at this point. In the meantime, German media is reporting widespread community resistance to the proposal, which has ignited a Parliamentary debate and calls from the German Government for Australia to stop the toxic waste shipments.

German environmental organisations were alerted late last year when Orica sought approval to send a convoy of container ships loaded with HCB waste to four incinerators in the German cities of Leverkusen, Dormagen, Herten and Brunsbuttel.

“Orica decided to take this action, even though they have publicly stated that “where there is opposition we will not go” (Environmental Manager, No 547, 11 July 2006).” said Dr Lloyd-Smith. Hundreds of German, Australian and International organizations have now joined the chorus of objections against the plan, including a church group in Herten demanding a moratorium on the export.

The National Toxics Network has taken a lead role in developing and submitting a detailed objection document providing a long list of reasons why the export should be refused by the Australian Environment Minister.

German organisations have been voicing their objections directly to the previous Environment Minister Mr Campbell, whose successor, Mr Turnbull, is now responsible for the ultimate decision on the export.

Under Australia’s international legal obligations the HCB waste can only be exported to another OECD country under the exceptional circumstance where there is no technology available in Australia to treat and destroy the waste. NTN understands that at least two technologies are available in Australia that can successfully destroy the waste and that successful destruction trials have already been conducted using samples of HCB waste provided by Orica.

The Orica Botany HCB waste stockpile has been the subject of decades of controversy as local communities and NGOs have fought for the toxic material to be safely destroyed. The waste has been stored at the contaminated industrial site in over 60,000 barrels since the chemical processes that created it were decommissioned in the 1970s and 1980s.

“NTN calls on Environment Minister Turnbull to reject the export immediately and to do the right thing and have the waste destroyed in Australia”, Dr Lloyd-Smith said.

Dr Mariann Lloyd-Smith: (02) 6681 5340 / 0413 621 557
Mr Lee Bell, National Toxics Network Inc., 0417 196 604

Risks of exporting the HCB waste
A number of significant risks are associated with the application to export 22,000 tonnes
of HCB waste to Germany for incineration. The risks are associated with both the transport and treatment of the waste.
Orica estimate that four shipments will be required depending on the ability of the
incinerators to burn the waste and the rate at which the repackaging plant will operate in
Botany. The transport of the waste will take around 21 months.

Transport risks
§ Contaminated spills, dust release and fugitive emissions during the excavation
and packaging of the waste and repackaging of stockpiled waste for transit;
§ Transport accidents when transporting hundreds of drums of HCB waste to the
departure port in Australia;
§ Spills, accident or loss of entire containers at sea with potentially long- term
irreversible pollution damage to marine ecosystems due to the long persistence
and toxicity of HCB in the environment. Worst case scenario being the loss of a
HCB loaded vessel in heavy seas;
§ Spills and or other incidents at transit port (potentially South Africa) with
potentially long-term irreversible damage to inshore aquatic ecosystems;
§ Spills and or other incidents at destination port at the mouth of the river Elbe in
Northern Germany with potentially long-term irreversible damage to inshore
aquatic ecosystems and river biota;
§ Transport accident in Germany during the transfer of the HCB waste to the SAVA
incinerator in Brunsbuttel, the Bayer incinerators and landfill in Dormagen and
Leverkusen or the RZR Herten incinerator in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Significantly
higher risks apply to the transport of HCB waste to the RZR Herten facility which
will be over 200km by public roads;

Incinerator Treatment risks
Incineration of HCB’s does not ensure their full destruction and almost certainly leads to
the generation of many harmful compounds that can escape into the atmosphere.
Incineration is considered by researchers as a poor method by which to attempt to
destroy HCB waste.
The Stockholm Convention lists incineration of hazardous waste as a priority source of
releases of dioxins and furans. Dioxins and furans are among the most toxic of all
compounds ever studied and will be released to atmosphere as a part of the incineration
of Orica’s HCB waste in Germany.
Compared to non-combustion technologies, incinerators have poor Destruction
Efficiencies (DE). The primary reason is that while incinerators have become better at
removing pollutants from the stack gases by various scrubbers, the pollutants still have
not been destroyed, rather they are transferred to another media such as fly ash, filter
cake, scrubber liquors or bottom ash.
Dioxins will remain in the unwanted ash by-products and have the potential to pollute the
German, European and global environment. Large quantities of contaminated 'bottom
ash' will be produced which is currently disposed of under European roads and in
concrete products while the highly toxic 'flyash' is sent for permanent storage to German
salt mines.

Coalition against BAYER Dangers (Germany)
www.CBGnetwork.org
 CBGnetwork@aol.com
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Advisory Board
Prof. Juergen Junginger, designer, Krefeld,
Prof. Dr. Juergen Rochlitz, chemist, former member of the Bundestag, Burgwald
Wolfram Esche, attorney, Cologne
Dr. Sigrid Müller, pharmacologist, Bremen
Eva Bulling-Schroeter, member of the Bundestag, Berlin
Prof. Dr. Anton Schneider, biologist, Neubeuern
Dorothee Sölle, theologian, Hamburg (died 2003)
Dr. Janis Schmelzer, historian, Berlin
Dr. Erika Abczynski, pediatrician, Dormagen