Abstract
The scandal in summer 1988 of the 'homeless' toxic waste ship, the Karin-B, only scratched the surface of a problem much deeper than was portrayed by the media (which suggested that a few rogue dealers were out for quick profits before better regulation excluded them). However, international trading in wastes has rapidly grown into a huge, diverse and complicated business, which makes it almost impossible to document and control the multifarious agents, consignments and deals involved. A monitoring effort organised by Greenpeace identified more than 3.6 million tons of waste shipments from industrialised to underdeveloped countries between 1986 and 1988 alone.1 As an indication of the further pressure for export, over 17.4 million tons per yearapproaching the officially accepted figure for the total volume of toxic industrial wastes produced in the European Economic Community -have been proposed for shipment to developing countries, but then refused permission. These figures almost certainly underestimate the full picture. Hundreds of waste brokers, producers and shippers of varying levels of professionalism are trying to find disposal outlets for the ever-growing volumes of industrial country wastes. Tighter local environmental standards mean that these are more and more difficult (and expensive) to treat and dispose of in their country of origin. Despite these escalating disposal difficulties in industrial countries, the volumes of wastes produced continue to rise. Export to Third World countries seems to undermine the ability of tighter local disposal standards to force the reduction of harmful waste production in the first place. Provoked by the intense efforts to export industrial society waste to their countries, forty developing countries have officially banned waste imports in the last two years, and yet more have rejected specific offers,2
Published Version
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