ejolt project: Industrial waste conflicts. India and Bulgaria: shipbreaking and incineration by EEB Global Policies and Sustainability Unit

Industrial (toxic) waste conflicts around the world - February 2012

ejolt report

no.

April, 2012

Industrial waste conflicts around the world Case studies from India and Bulgaria: shipbreaking and incineration Contributions by Federico Demaria, Evgenia Tasheva and Ivaylo Hlebarov EJOLT Report No. 01

Industrial waste e conflicts arounnd the world - April 2012

April - 2 2012

Inddusttriall wasste connfliccts arooundd thhe worrld Casee studdies frrom Indiaa and Bulggaria: shipbbreakking and a incinneratioon

EJOL LT Report No.: 01

Report written w by: Federrico Demaria (ICTA UAB) Evgeenia Tasheva (Za ( Zemiata Za Zemiata) Ivayylo Hlebarov (Z

Design: Jacques bbureau for gra aphic design (N Netherlands)

Layout: Beeatriz RodrĂgu uez-Labajos Nick N Meynen

Seriies editor: Beeatriz RodrĂgu uez-Labajos The conteents of this report may be reproducced in whole or o in part for educational or nnon-profit services without special perm mission from the t authors, pro ovided acknow wledgement of the source is made. Th his publicationn was develope ed as a part of the projectt Environmen ntal Justice Organisation ns, Liabilities s and Trade (EJOLT) (FP7-Science inn Society-2010 0-1). EJOLT aims to improvee policy responses to and sup pport collabora rative research h and action on enviroonmental conflicts through capacity buildingg of environme ental justice groups around the world. nd database Visit our free resouurce library an at www..ejolt.org or fo ollow tweets @EnvJusticee) to stay curre ent on latest (@ news and events.

This document shou uld be cite ed as: Demaria, Fed derico; Tashe eva, Evgenia; Hlebarov, Iv vaylo. 2012. In ndustrial (tox xic) waste con nflicts around d the world. Case s studies from India and Bu ulgaria: shipb breaking and incineration, EJOLT Repo ort No. 1, 68 p. p

EJOLT Reportt No. 01

Industrial I wastee conflicts aroun nd the world

Abstractt Rich socie eties use larrge amounts s of resource es. Conflictss of resource e extraction and waste e disposal, su uch as the conflict c over the excessivve production of carbon dioxide, arrise as a con nsequence off this. Rich societies gen erate large quantities q of costs and aawakening op all kinds of o waste, faccing rising management m pposition to waste trea atment and d disposal sites s, such as in ncinerators aand landfills. This is also the backgrround of a ra apidly changing and lucra ative trade, gglobal in nature, in which waste flow ws towards de eveloping co ountries or po oorer areas oof developed d countries. This reporrt, through in--depth case studies from m India and B Bulgaria, aims to link the increased social metab bolism (enerrgy and mate erial flows) oof the econom my to waste disposal conflicts. c The e first case study s is abo out shipbreakking (the dis smantling of obsolete ocean-going o ships) in Ala ang-Sosiya (IIndia), an exxample of how w the North dumps tox xic waste in tthe South. The T second case c study iss about a faiiled attempt to build an n hazardous w waste incine erator in Radnevo (Bulgarria). Waste dis sposal confl icts often arise a not because of exxternalities but due to successful cases of co ost shifting, or else, capital accumul ation by con ntamination. As a cons sequence, e cological dis stribution conflicts emergge as valuattion conflict where acto ors deploy diifferent valua ation languag ges to affirm their right to o use a safe environme ent, from wh hich their he ealth and liv velihood ofteen depends upon. Key lessons an nd mutual le earning from both cases is then disccussed payin ng particular attention to the polittical strategies which can c be adoopted in env vironmental conflicts, including g grass roots mobilization n, cases inn the Courtts, popular epidemiolo ogy, nationall and international allianc ces.

Keyword ds waste disp posal conflictts

Ecological uneequal exchange

environme ental justice

La awrence Sum mmers' princ ciple

accumulattion by conta amination

va alue incomm mensurability

cost-shiftin ng

EJOLT Reportt No. 01

Industrial I wastee conflicts aroun nd the world

Co ontten nts Preface

Inttroduction

1.1

Pre eliminary re emarks: soc cial metabollism and wa aste disposa al conflicts

1.2

Ca ase studies

1.2 2.1 Shipbre eaking at Alang-Sosiya a (India)

1.2 2.2 Toxic waste w incine erator in Rad dnevo (Bulg garia)

1.3

Th heoretical fra amework

Ca ase study: Shipbreaking at Alan ng-Sosiya (India) (

2.1

Ba ackground

2.2

Me ethods and study regio on

2.3

Th he Shipbrea aking industry

2.3 3.1 The Sh hipping industry

2.3 3.2 History of an indus stry

2.3 3.3 From th he ship own ner to the sh hip breaker through cash buyers

2.3 3.4 ASSBY Y: Alang–So osiya Shipbrreaking Yarrd

2.3 3.5 Shipbre eaking process

Ha azardous wa aste and so ocio-environ nmental imp pacts

2.4 4.1 Hazard dous waste generation g and manag gement

2.4 4.2 Pollutan nts discharg ged

2.4 4.3 Socio-e environmental impacts

2.4 4.4 Emerge ence of a co onflict: From m material origins o to cu ultural discoourses

Lo ooking close er at the eco ological disttribution con nflict: The ‘B Blue Lady’ ccase at the Suprem me Court (20 006–2007)

2.5 5.1 Three spatial s scale es for the co onflict: Interrnational, na ational and local

2.5 5.2 History of the ‘Blue e Lady’ last voyage

2.5 5.3 The casse in the Su upreme Cou urt: Argume ents and lan nguages of vvaluation

2.5 5.4 The fina al Court Ord der on ‘Blue e Lady’

2.5 5.5 Ships: which w and from f where? ?

Po olicy recomm mendations s

2.4

2.5

2.6

EJOLT Reportt No. 01

Industrial I wastee conflicts aroun nd the world

Ca ase study: Hazardous s waste cen ntre in Rad dnevo (Bulg garia)

3.1

Ba ackground

3.1 1.1 Chrono ology of eve ents

3.1 1.2 Geogra aphical back kground

3.1 1.3 Social background b d

3.1 1.4 Econom mic backgro ound

3.1 1.5 Environ nmental bac ckground

3.2

De escription off the project

3.3

Impacts of the project

3.4

he conflict Th

4.1 Stakeho olders 3.4

4.2 History of the confflict 3.4

3.5

s mendations Po olicy recomm

Co s onclusions

4.1

An nalysis of the cases

4.2

So o, what has to be done and how?

4.3

Mu utual learnin ng

4.3 3.1 Role off the Courts

4.3 3.2 Differen nt social alliances of sttakeholders s

els in issues 4.3 3.3 Popular epidemiology, paralle s of health, d manufactu certainty by authorities 62 uncerta ainties abou ut toxics and uring of unc n of projectss 4.3 3.4 Links to o internation nal aspects , both in the e promotion and in tthe resistan nce

4.3 3.5 Toxic w waste goes to t relativelyy poor areas s, a generall phenomennon?

Acknowle edgments

es Reference

EJOLT Reportt No. 01

Industrial I wastee conflicts aroun nd the world

Acronym ms

ASSBY

Alangâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;S Sosiya Ship Brea aking Yard

LD DT

Light Displaccement Tonnag ge

BAN

Basel Acction Network

MFA

Material Flow w Analysis

BELA

Bangladesh

OEF MO

Ministry of E Environment and d Forestry

MO OEW

Ministry of E Environment and d Water

MS SC

Mediterraneaan Shipping Co ompany

NG GO

Non-governm ment organisations

NH HWC

National Hazzardous Waste Centre

NIOH

National Insttitute of Occupa ational Health

OE ECD

Organisationn for Economic Co-operation

mental Environm

Lawye yers

Associattion CBA

Cost-Benefit Analysis

CEIE

or Environmenta al Information a and Centre fo Educatio on

COD

Chemica al Oxygen Dema and

CSO

Civil socciety organizatio ons

CVM

Co-opera ation and Verific cation Mechanissm

Europea an Commission

EIA

Environm mental Impact Assessment A

EIB

Europea an Investment Bank

EJO

Environm mental justice organization

EJOLT

Environm mental Justice Organisations, O Liabilitiess and Trade

GMB

Gujarat Maritime M Board

GPCB

Gujarat Pollution P Contro ol Board

HPC

High Pow wered Committe ee (also callled Menon Com mmittee)

ILO

Internatio onal Labour Org ganization

IMO

Internatio onal Maritime Organization O

IPEN

Internatio onal POPs Elim mination Networkk

ISPA

Instrume ent for Structura al Policies for Pre-A Accession

EJOLT Reportt No. 01

and Developpment PC CB

Polychlorinaated Biphenyl Co ompounds

PO OP

Persistent orrganic pollutant

PH HARE

Poland and Hungary: Assistance for Restructurin g their Economies

PV VC

Polyvinyl Chhloride

SA APARD

Special Acceession Program mme for Agriculture aand Rural Development

SE EEC

Supreme Ennvironmental Ex xpert Council

TE EC

Technical Exxperts Committe ee

TP PP

Thermal pow wer plant

UN NCTAD

United Natioons Conference on Trade and Developpment

UN NEP

United Natioons Environmen nt Programme

WIMBY W

Welcome Intto My Backyard d

Industrial I wastee conflicts aroun nd the world

Pre P efac ce Conflicts over o resourcce extraction n or waste disposal d increease in num mber as the world eco onomy uses more mate erials and energy. e Civill society orrganizations (CSOs) ac ctive in Envirronmental Ju ustice issues focus on thee link betwee en the need for environ nmental secu urity and the defence of basic b human rights. The EJOL LT project (E Environmenta al Justice Organizations O s, Liabilities and Trade, www.ejolt.org) is an F P7 Science in Society project that ruuns from 2011 to 2015. EJOLT brings toget her a consortium of 23 academ mic and civil society organizatio ons across a range off fields to promote p colllaboration and a mutual learning among a stakkeholders who research h or use S Sustainability y Sciences, particularly y on aspectss of Ecological Distribution. One maain goal is to t empower environme ental justice organization ns (EJOs), and a the com mmunities th hey support that receiv ve an unfair share of en nvironmental burdens to defend or re eclaim their rights. This will be d done through a process of two-waay knowledg ge transfer, encouragin ng participattory action re esearch and the transferr of methodo ologies with which EJO Os, commun nities and citizen movem ments can moonitor and describe d the ment, and document state of th heir environm d its s degradatioon, learning from other experience es and from m academic research ho ow to arguee in order to o avoid the growth of environmenttal liabilities or ecologica al debts. Thhus EJOLT will w increase EJOs’ cap pacity in usin ng scientific concepts an nd methods ffor the quan ntification of environme ental and he ealth impacts s, increasing g their know wledge of environmental risks and of o legal mecchanisms of redress. On the other haand, EJOLT will greatly enrich rese earch in the Sustainabilitty Sciences through mobbilising the accumulated “activist knowledge” o of the EJOs s and makin ng it availabble to the su ustainability research community. c F Finally, EJOLT will help translate thee findings of this mutual learning process p into the policy arena, supp porting the ffurther deve elopment of evidence-b based decisiion making and a broaden ning its inform rmation base e. We focus on the us se of concep pts such as s ecological debt, enviroonmental lia abilities and ecologically unequal e exchange, in science and a in enviro ronmental ac ctivism and policy-mak king. The overa all aim of EJOLT is to t improve policy respoonses to and support collaborative research h on environ nmental con nflicts througgh capacity building of environme ental justice g groups. A ke ey aspect is to show the l inks between increased metabolism m of the ecconomy (in terms t of energy and m materials), an nd resource extraction and waste d disposal confflicts so as to o answer the driving ques stions: Which are e the causess of increas sing ecologic cal distributioon conflicts at different scales, and how to turn n such confliicts into force es for environnmental susttainability?

Page 5

Industrial I wastee conflicts aroun nd the world

This first E EJOLT reporrt is the prod duct of such a collabora ation. Activistts from the Bulgarian E EJO Za Zem miata and re esearchers frrom the Auttonomous University of Barcelon h have engage ed in a mutu ual learning p process to analyse a wastte disposal conflicts in India and Bu ulgaria. Two case sstudies involving industrial waste sho ow how strug ggles for env vironmental justice con ntribute to the e environme ental sustaina ability of the economy. On O the one hand, the export of Eu uropean ship ps to be dissmantled in Alang-Sosiya, India, is examined o on the light of the occup pational heallth of local workers w and other local impacts. O On the otherr hand, a ca ase on dioxxin exposure e risks from a planned incinerator in the regio on of Radnevo, Bulgariia, also illus strates the interplay of compeling value frameworks. Polic cy recommen ndations and key lessons s from both cases are ffinally presen nted.

Page 6

Introduction

1 Inttrod duc ctio on 1.1 Conflicts of res source exttraction and waste dis sposal, such as the con nflict over th he exc cessive prod duction of CO C 2, arise as sa con nsequence o of the larrge amount o of res sources used d by rich societies

Prelimina ry remarrks: social metab bolism an nd waste w dis posal co onflicts

Rich socie eties use larrge amounts s of resource es. Conflictss of resource e extraction and waste e disposal, su uch as the conflict c over the excessivve production of carbon dioxide, arrise as a con nsequence off this. Rich societies gen erate large quantities q of all kinds of waste, a awakening lo ocal opposittion to locall waste trea atment and disposal sites, s such ass incineratorrs and landfiills (Pellow, 2007) and facing rising manageme ent costs (P Pearson, 198 87). This is also the baackground of o a rapidly changing and lucrativve trade, glo obal in natu ure, in whichh waste flow ws towards developing g countries or poorer areas a of developed couuntries (McK Kee, 1996). Under a world-system w m perspectiv ve, the core, through unnequal powe er relations, manages to export en ntropy to dis stant sinks in the periphhery (Scott Frey, F 1998; Hornborg et al., 2007 7). These flows, f legal or not (withh mafias as s important players), consist c of u rban and in ndustrial was ste, hazardoous and non n-hazardous waste, and d waste inte ended for reuse, recyclin ng and final disposal (Clapp, 1994; D'Alisa et al., 2010). IIn the literature the deba ate over thiss phenomenon remains open. If on ne only lookks at official statistics, OE ECD nationss tend to appear as net importers of toxic wasste, rather th han net expo orters (Bagggs, 2009). However the official dattabases sho ould be com mplemented by informatiion from env vironmental crime cas ses in the Courts and d environme ental confliccts where the t victims (sometime es helped b y civil socie ety organiza ations like N NGOs or tra ade unions) generate relevant com mplementary y information n for scientiffic analysis and policy making. This report, through in-depth cas se studies, aims to linkk the increa ased social metabolism m (energy a and materia al flows) of the econoomy to wastte disposal conflicts, in nvestigating the following g three hypotthesis: 

Increa ased social metabolism (energy and material flflows) due to o economic growtth, globaliza tion and urb banization in ncreases floows of waste e from rich areas s to marginal (or poor) are eas, both internationally aand at the urrban level;



An unequal u disstribution off benefits and burdenns/risks is particularly unfav vorable for m arginal/poor people and areas;



Enviro onmental co nflicts arise from f one sys stem of valuaation or across them.

Page 7

Introduction

1.2

Ca ase stud dies

Hereafter w we present tw wo cases. Th he first is abo out shipbreaking (the dismantling of obsolete o ocean-going ships) in Ala ang-Sosiya (India) and the second is about a failed attem mpt to build a hazardous s waste incin nerator in Ra adnevo (Bulg garia). The two cases were selectted for their representatiiveness, the first of confflicts linked with interna ational exporrt of toxic wa aste and the second as a conflict with hin national borders. In n this sense e the first is an exampl e of an external frontie er of social metabolism m and the second of an internal one. Both cases are based on “collaboratiive research h”, with resu ults written ttogether by academic re esearchers with help ffrom activistss from EJOs s (India) or b by an EJO ittself (Bulgaria) through processes of mutual learning. The report will co onclude with h an analysis s of the two cases, poliicy recomme endations an nd a discusssion about grassroots g sttrategies in environmen ntal conflictss (judicial activism, people e's mobilization,...).

Our case es are based on ‘collab borative research’, written c together by academic researchers and activists from India and Bulgaria

1.2.1 Sh hipbreakin ng at Alang-Sosiya (India) In the firstt case, shipb breaking, the e industry p provides stee el at cheap prices and employmen nt, which con ntributes to economic e gro owth meanw while generating serious concerns a about negatiive environm mental and ssocial impac cts. More tha an 80% of internationa al trade in goods g by volume is carrried by sea (UNCTAD, 2011). 2 The shipping in ndustry consstitutes a ke ey element i n the infras structure of the t world's ships owne social mettabolism. Ocean-going O ed and use ed for theirr trade by developed countries are often dem molished, tog gether with their t toxic materials, m in developing g countries. Ship breakin ng is the prrocess of dismantling an obsolete vessel's sttructure for scrapping s orr disposal. T The Alang–S Sosiya yard (India), ( the world large est shipbreaking yard, is s studied he re with partiicular attention to toxic waste man nagement. Ship owners and a ship bre eakers obtain n large profitts dumping the environmental cossts on work kers, local fa armers and fishers. This unequal distribution n of benefitss and burdens, due to international and nation nal uneven distribution n of power, has led to an ecological d distribution co onflict. The controversy c at the India an Supreme Court in 200 06 over the d dismantling of o the ocean n liner ‘Blue Lady,’ sho ows how the e different la anguages off valuation expressed e by b different social grou ups clashed d and how a language e that expre esses sustainability as monetary b benefit at the e national scale, dominatted. Shipbrea aking in the developing world is no ot just an exte ernality but a successful case of cos st shifting, or else, profit accumulation by contam mination (De emaria, 2010 ).

1.2.2 To oxic waste e incinerattor in Rad dnevo (Bullgaria) In the seccond case, Radnevo, a hazardou us waste in ncinerator would w have supposedlyy improved hazardous h waste w manage ement and generated g em mployment. The attemp pts of the Bu ulgarian Min nistry of Enviironment and Water to construct c a centralised d facility for managing m ha azardous wasstes - the Na ational waste e treatment centre - da ate back from 2000. The selected ssite is locate ed in the Sta ara Zagora region, whiich is heavilyy polluted by y intensive in dustrial activ vities: large coal c mines,

Page 8

Introduction

three coal-fired powerr plants and a coal-cake factory. Thee staunch op pposition of the local population b backed by NGOs N camp paigning effoorts were su uccessful in preventing g the financin ng of this project from international i public funds (an ISPA grant and an EIB lo oan), thus re endering it infeasible. IIn 2001 the e European Commissio on refused to finance e the project because of the fa aulty public consultatio on process, economic deficiencies d in i the projecct design an nd a strong opposition from the lo ocal people, Bulgarian and a internatiional NGOs. When the project wa as revived in 2004, the ca ampaign launched by loccal initiative committees and NGOs s resulted in an official co onfirmation by b EC in Junne 2005 thatt funding for the NHWC C project ha ad been reje ected again, due to seriious deficien ncies in the human hea alth and plan nt emissions sections of the t EIA repoort.

1.3 Do D our case s studies fa all under a ‘W Welcome In nto My Backy yard’ lo ogic or are th hey cases c of (e environmenta al) in njustice?

Th heoretica al framew work

These ca ases were selected because they are indiccative of many m other environme ental conflictss around the e world wherre a valuatioon conflict em merges with different actors engagiing in a deba ate on whether the projeccts are desira able, due to positive im mpacts like economic developmen d t and empl oyment gen neration, or disruptive for the enviro onment and society as a whole. How are these t two ca ases to be understood? ? Do shipbreeaking in Ind dia and the hazardous s waste incin nerator in Bu ulgaria fall under u a WIM MBY (Welcom me Into My Backyard) logic or are they cases of (environm mental) injusttice (Singh, 2001)? 2 This report disc cusses the ccontroversy under u a fram mework of ecoological economics and political ec cology. Changing social meta abolism (mea aning the flo ows of energgy and mate erials in the economy) (Fischer-Ko owalski, 199 98; Foster, 1999), drivven by eco onomic and population n growth, ge enerates gro owing quantities of wasste. Georges scu-Roegen proposed a paradox h highlighting th hat 'technical evolution leads to an increase in the rate at which sociiety “wastes resources”... the econoomic process s actually is more effic cient than au utomatic shu uffling in pro oducing highher entropy, i.e. waste' (Georgesc cu-Roegen, 1971). In other words, the t more deeveloped a society, s the higher its rate r of gene ration of was stes per capita (Giampieetro and May yumi, 2009). It is generally accepte ed that unde er a fair allo ocation of reesponsibility, developed countries should s deal with their ow wn waste. Principles succh as ‘the po olluter pays’ and ‘produ ucer liability’ appear to be b legally se ettled throughh the Basel Treaty and other mechanisms. Ho owever, case es in which countries c from m the North ‘externalize the costs’ of toxic wastte disposal outside o their own o nationall borders (no otably to the South, i.e.. India) are not rare. Th he pollution haven h hypotthesis (Antweiler, 2001) refers to th he idea that llower trade barriers b will shift s pollutionn to those co ountries with less string gent environm mental regullations, which are normaally also poo orer. This is consistent with the po ostulates of economic e effficiency in nneoclassical economics. We could also add p poorer or ma arginal regio ons of rich ccountries (i.e e. Bulgaria) where law enforcemen nt is weaker which w somettimes appea r as internal peripheries (or frontierrs).

Page 9

Introduction

According to the Law wrence Summers' Princiiple, Southe ern countries s have an environmen ntal ‘compa arative advantage’ rega arding waste e treatment (Pearson, 1987). In a an internal memo m leaked to the presss1, Lawrenc ce Summers, then chief economist at the World d Bank in 1991, wrote: “I think the economic lo ogic behind dumping a load of toxiic waste in the lowest-w wage country is impeccab ble and we should face up to thatt.” Pollution should be ssent to place es where there are no people, or where the people p are poor, p since ““the measure ements of th he costs of health imp pairing pollu ution depend d on the fo oregone earrnings from increased morbidity a and mortality. From this point p of view a given amo ount of health impairing pollution should be do one in the co ountry with the lowest cost, c which will be the country witth the lowestt wages.” The e cost of inte ernalizing the e externalities would be the lowest.

“I think the t economic ic

logic beh ehind dumping g a load of toxic waste e in the lo owest-wage country is impeccab ble and we should s face up u to that” Lawre ence Summerrs, former chiief economist at th he World Ban nk

The question is whether decisions s on matters of life and death should d be taken only on eco onomic grounds (Martíne ez-Alier, 2002 2). In such waste w disposa al conflicts, actors dep ploy differentt valuation languages tto affirm the eir right to use u a safe environmen nt (Martinez--Alier, 2009).. This article e investigatess shipbreakin ng in India a and hazardou us waste incineration in Bulgaria frrom the van ntage point of political ecology, pa aying attenttion to the unequal disstribution of benefits and d burdens (a lready in the e present gen neration) in a context o of growing global social metabolism that leads to o greater generation of waste, and d with an ana alytical focus s on the wayys actors exp press alterna ative claims in the political arena an nd the valuation conflicts that hence emerge. e

1 “Let them eat pollution.” The T Economist, 8 February 199 92.

Page 10

Shipbreakking at Alang-So osiya (India)

2 Ca ase e sttud dy: Ship S pbrrea akin ng at A Ala ang-So osiya (In ndiia) 2.1

Backgrou und

In August 2009, a fire broke out ab board the Eu uropean ship MSC Jessic ca killing six workers on the Indian ship-breakin ng beaches of Alang2. T The fire erup pted as they were dism mantling the cargoship's engine roo om. It took place as the ship had neither be een decontam minated by the original owner nor m made safe by b the local enterprise. These kind d of tragedies s are rather common c in A Alang. Can anyone a stop them? This s report dealls with this question. In the 197 70s and 198 80s scandals of toxic waste w dumpinng in the South led to attempts to t stem thesse flows, such as the Basel B Convenntion on the e Control of Transboun ndary Movem ments of Ha azardous Wa astes and thheir Disposa al of 19893. Yet, India,, among oth hers, has been increasin ngly used ass a dumping ground for toxic industrial waste e (like asbestos and mercury) m from m developed d countries (Singh, 2001). Environ nmental and social s consequences aree potentially severe. s The issue of shipbrea aking is exam mined here as a an exampple of toxic waste w trade (Alter, 199 97). Shipbre eaking is the e process of dismantlingg an obsole ete vessel's structure for f scrapping g or disposa al. Conducted d at pier or ddry dock, orr directly on the beach as in Alang– –Sosiya, it in ncludes a wid de range of aactivities, from m removing all machin neries and e equipment to o cutting dow wn the ship infrastructurre. It is the destiny off ocean-goin ng ships lik ke oil tanke ers, bulk caarriers, general cargo, container ships and o others like passenger p sh hips. Depen ding on their interests, stakeholde ers will call it breaking g, recycling, dismantlingg or scrapp ping (Stuer-

2 “Six die in fire f at Alang Sh ip Breaking Yarrd” The Indian Press P (www.indiaanexpress.com m/news/six-diein-fire-at-a alang-ship-brea aking-yard/498063/ Accessed in n January 2012)). 3 Available online o at www.b basel.int.

Page 11

osiya (India) Shipbreakking at Alang-So

Lauridsen e et al., 2004).. It is a challe enging proce ess, owing to o the many problems p of safety, hea alth and envirronmental prrotection (OS SHA, 2001). We describ be below the e process thrrough which a ship beco omes waste for f the ship owner, ente ers the scrap pping market through a ccash buyer and a is finally dismantled by a ship b breaker. We present diffe erent optionss for the management off the ship's toxic waste e and analysses the socio o-environme ental impacts s resulting from current practices. T The conflict in the ‘Blue e Lady’ case e at the Sup preme Court of India is analysed w with particula ar attention to o the valuati on language es used by th he different social grou ups.

2.2

Methods and a study region n

Data from interviews, official o documents, direcct and participant observ vation have been comb bined using the case stud dy research m methodology y (Yin, 2003). Research started, in collaboration n with activis sts, in April-JJune 2009, and a in a sec cond period in March-O October 2011 1. The acces ss of researcchers to the e industry site is strictly regulated a and workerss' freedom of o expression n is limited. Semi-structured or indepth interrviews with 64 responde ents were cconducted with local villa agers (10), farmers (8)), fishers (9),, shipbreakin ng entrepren eurs (4), workers (11), political p and administrattive authorities (6), legal experts (4 ), academics (5) and ac ctivists (7). Interviewee es were selected to re epresent a broad spec ctrum of inte erests and knowledge regarding shipbreaking s g, using botth random and a snowballl sampling methods. M Moreover foccus groups have been led d with farmerrs, fishers an nd workers. Interviews were conduccted in Engliish or with th he help of local translators in Hindi, Gujarati an nd other Ind dian languag ges. Nationa al and intern national documentation was researrched with sp pecial focus on the ‘Blue e Lady’ case at the Indian Supreme Court during 2006 an nd 2007 (C Civil Writ Pe etition No. 657 6 of 1995). Official documentss were exam mined under the guidanc e of the law wyer Sanjay Parikh and the petitio oner Gopal Krishna. Media M coverrage on sh hipbreaking has been extensivelyy examined on the web w and att the Centrre for Educ cation and Documenta ation in Mum mbai. Fig. 1 Loca ation map of Alang–Sosiy A a in the State e G (India)) of Gujarat Source: Demaria, D 2010 0

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Shipbreakking at Alang-So osiya (India)

The case study area iis in the Gulf of Cambay y (also know wn as Gulf off Khambat), Bhavnagar District of Gujarat Sta ate in the no orth-west of India (Fig. 1). Gujarat State, histtorically a m main centre of o trade and commerce, has one of the fastest growing ec conomies in India. Alang g and Sosiya a are the twoo local village es that give the name to the Ship p Breaking Yard (ASSB BY). ASSBY Y is located at latitude 21.24430 and longitu ude 72.1210 00 (Fig. 2). The Districct, originally y based on farming and a fishing, is under rapid r industrrialization a nd urbaniza ation which resulted in n the degrada ation of the environment e t and declinee in biodivers sity (Gov. of India, 2002 2). Fig. F 2 Map M showing shipbreaking g plots at Ala ang and Sosiya Source: S Demarria, 2010

2.3

The shipb breaking industry y

2.3.1 Th he shippin ng industrry4 More than 8 80% of al trade internationa in goods is carried by sea

The shippiing industry (Fig. 3) cons stitutes a key y infrastructuure for the wo orld's social metabolism m as more th han 80% of international trade in gooods (both raw materials and manu ufactured goo ods) by volu ume is carrie ed by sea. Material flow ws resulting from intern national trade e (direct import and expo ort flows in teerms of their weight) are part of ph hysical acco ounting meth hods, such as Materiall Flow Analysis (MFA) (EUROSTAT, 2001; Vallejo, 20 010), used to quantifyy â&#x20AC;&#x153;social metabolismâ&#x20AC;? m processes s (Fischer-Ko owalski, 1998). In 2010 developed ccountries accounted for 34% of goods loaded d and 43% of goods unloaded in tons, while developing countries accounted ffor 60% and d 56% respe ectively (posst-communist European transition economies e a account for the t rest). So ome regions are charactterized by a physical im mport surplu us while othe ers face a physical p tradee deficit (Eis senmenger, 2004).

4 If not dive ersely specified, data for this se ection comes fro om Review of M Maritime Transpo ort (UNCTAD, 2011). All presented data a refers to vesse els of 100 gross s tons (GT) and above.

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Shipbreaking at Alang-Sosiya (India)

Fig. 3 Maritime sectors along a ship's lifecycle Source: UNCTAD Secretariat

Since the 1990s ‘International seaborne trade’ (goods loaded) increased faster than world GDP, highlighting the effects of changing production processes, consumption patterns and the deepening of economic integration (globalization). In 2010 this trade reached 8.4 billion tons, from 2.5 billion tons in 1970. Fig. 4 shows the historical evolution per type of cargo for selected years. Data from 2009 reflects the economic crisis.

Fig. 4 Development of International seaborne trade, selected years (millions of tons loaded) ª Iron ore, grain, coal, bauxite/aluminia and phosphate. Source: UNCTAD, Review of Maritime Transport, various issues.

As a direct consequence, the number and capacity of ships has significantly increased. In 1960, the world ocean-going fleet was composed by 15,000 ships (84 million of deadweight tons; DWT a measure of how much weight a ship is carrying or can safely carry), while in 2011 it had reached 103,392 (1,396 million of DWT). Fig. 5 shows the composition of the world fleet by principal types of vessel, selected years.

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Shipbreakking at Alang-So osiya (India)

Oil tankers

Dry bulk

Container

General cargo

Fig. 5 al types of World fleeet by principa vessel, seelected years Note: vesssels of 100 GT T and above NCTAD, 2011 Source: UN

Other

1400

Millions of dwt

1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 198 80

1985

1990

1995 5 2000 Selec cted years

2005

2010

2011

In 2007, developed countries controlled c about a 65.9% % of the world w DWT, developing g countries 3 31.2% and economies e in transition the remainin ng 2.9%. In 2011 the four f top ship p owning eco onomies (Grreece, Japann, Germany and China) together controlled c 50 0% of the world fleet. Fleet ownershhip, however, does not always reflect ship re egistration. Foreign flag gged ships aaccounted in 2011 for 68.1% of the world ttotal, most of o them reg gistered in thhe so called states of convenience (or open registers). The T top five re egistries (Paanama, Liberria, Marshall Islands, China C Hong Kong and Greece) G together accouunted for 52 2.6% of the world's DW WT. Fig. 6 sh hows ship en ntries at Alan ng–Sosiya Shhipbreaking Yard Y (India) in 2004–20 005 by shipo owner's coun ntry: 82.5% of them used a flag of con nvenience.

Flags of co onvenience use ed Canada

Others

Fig. 6 ntries at Alang–Sosiya Ship en Shipbreeaking Yard (India), ( 2004–20005 (No. ship ps) Source:: GMB (Gujara at Maritime Board; w www.gmbports.org)

Norw ay

Italy

France

Poland

Japan

0 43

Germany

47 0

12 30

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Shipbreaking at Alang-Sosiya (India)

Flags of convenience, together with fiscal havens, shell companies and cash buyers, allow under-invoicing (resulting in evasion of import tax and money laundering) and facilitate ship owner's access to the shipbreaking market. This increase in the size of the world fleet does not immediately lead to a general increase in the supply of ships for scrap (Fig. 7). Ship owners evaluate the expected future earning potential and the expected cost of keeping the ship in operation against the revenue obtained when the vessel is sold for scrap. This mainly depends on the price of steel. Potential earnings are more important in the decision than the scrapping price. The 2008â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2009 economic crisis resulted in a boom of shipbreaking because of excess shipping capacity (Fig. 9, Table 3), with ship owners associations planning to eliminate 25% of the world fleet.

Fig. 7 Tonnage reported sold for breaking at the world level, 2000â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2007 (millions of DWT) SOURCE: UNCTAD, 2007

In fact, according to the data elaborated by the French NGO Robin de Bois, if in 2006 demolitions were equivalent to only 0.6% of the existing fleet (293 vessels), the economic crisis reversed the situation (288 vessels in 2007, 456 in 2008, 5 6 1.006 in 2009 , 956 in 2010 and 854 until November 2011). The excess supply is reflected since 2009 in the spectacular fall in the Baltic Dry Index that measures the rates charged for chartering dry bulk cargoes. In 2011 strong steel prices and the recovery of maritime business increased costs for ship procurement but at the 7 same time significantly increased the margins in the ship scrapping business. In general ship owning companies look to sell their ships for demolition at the best price. 5

In 2009 of 1.006 vessels (8.2 million tons), 435 were demolished in India (43%), 214 in Bangladesh (21%), 173 in China (17%), 87 in Pakistan (9%), 42 in Turkey (4%). Robin de Bois, Information Bulletins on Ship Demolition: #17, September 2009; #18, January 2010. www.robindesbois.org.

In 2010 of 956 vessels (6.5 millions tons), 422 were demolished in India (44%), 135 in Turkey (14%), 125 in China (13%), 90 in Pakistan (9%), 79 in Bangladesh (8%), 5 in Europe (1%), 100 in other countries (10%). Robin de Bois, Information Bulletins on Ship Demolition: #19 to 22, January 2011. www.robindesbois.org.

Article by Xu Hui, Executive Manager, China Ship Fund. Available at www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2010-04/08/content_9703387.htm (accessed in January 2012).

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Shipbreaking at Alang-Sosiya (India)

The 2011 UNCTAD report rightly argues that the “the competitiveness of a country’s scrapping industry is mostly influenced by labour costs and the regulatory environment. All major ship scrapping countries are developing countries” (pp. 151). In other words ships go for scrapping wherever is easier to externalize social and environmental costs.

Fig. 8 Alang-Sosiya Shipbreaking yard (April 2009) Photo credit: F. Demaria

South Asian yards are main destinations. For processing capacity ASSBY in India and Chittagong in Bangladesh are the world's biggest yards (Fig. 8); Chinese yards are catching up to them. Again, according to Robin de Bois (Table 1), in 2011 India continues to be the undisputed leading country not only per number of units, but also for tonnage (44% of the total 6.5 millions tons) followed by Bangladesh (24%), China (19%), 8 Pakistan (11%) and Turkey (2%).

Nº vessels

Tons of metal

Table 1

India

373

2.810.000

Bangladesh

145

1.550.000

China

119

1.208.000

Numbers and tonnage of ships dismantled (January-November 2011)

Pakistan

737.000

Turkey

144.000

USA

Europe

Others

Total

854

100

6.449.000

100

Country

Source: Robin de Bois, Information Bulletins on Ship Demolition: #23 to 25, November 2011

Robin de Bois, Information Bulletins on Ship Demolition: #23 to 25, November 2011, www.robindesbois.org.

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osiya (India) Shipbreakking at Alang-So

Country y

Scra apped amou unt, dwt

Scrapped ships, s percentaage of total volume

Number N of ships scrapped s

Rank

Bu ulk carrriers

Dry ca argo / passe enger

Offsh ore

Tankers s

Others

India

9.2 287.775

451

9.7 9

32 2.8

55.3

46.2

5.9

Bangladesh

6.8 839.207

110

15 5.1

5.5 5

55.7

71.1

2.5

China

5.7 769.227

189

46 6.6

36 6.3

22.5

12.2

2.4

Pakistan

5.1 100.606

111

8.1 8

2.9 2

66.2

80.6

2.2

Turkey

1.0 082.446

226

24 4.3

48 8.7

00.2

14.1

12.8

2 217.980

0.0 0

19 9.9

00.0

80.1

0.0

Romania

16.064

0.0 0

100 0.0

00.0

0.0

Denmark

15.802

0.0 0

53 3.4

222.7

0.0

23.9

Japan

13.684

0.0 0

100 0.0

00.0

0.0

8.807

0.0 0

100 0.0

00.0

0.0

United State es

Belgium

Table 2 T Top ten ship-s scrapping na ations, 2010 Source: Co ompiled by the e UNCTAD sec cretariat on th e basis of data from IHS Fa airplay

Data on sh hips sent forr scrapping are a not easi ly accessible e9. The 2011 1 report by UNCTAD presents statistics (Tab ble 2) base ed on data from the information i company IHS Fairpla ay (Maritime e Intelligencce and Pub blications). Data D differ significantlyy in terms off tonnage bu ut the countryy ranking rem mains the sa ame, where the four largest ship sccrapping cou untries cove red 98.1 per cent of the e activity in terms of re ecycled DWT T in 2010. Th his data seri es allows to see on whic ch types of ships the d different coun ntries specialize: India on n tankers, drry cargo and passenger ships, Bang gladesh and Pakistan on n tankers, Ch hina on bulk carriers. c In Bangladesh, in May 2010, the Supreme Cou urt had suspe ended the au uthorization of beaching g following an a umpteenth h fatal accide ent in 2009 and a a new ac ction by the 100 NGO Bang gladesh lawyyers Associa ation (BELA ) who dema anded comp pliance with environmen ntal and soccial standard ds (UNCTAD D, 2011). Atttempts by sh hipyards to circumventt the Court’ss decision ha ad been succcessful, but the activity y was then again susp pended due to new fata al accidents (at least 12 2 workers ha ave died in 2011). All site activityy is now stopped s pen nding an inv vestigation report r and dismantling g authorizatio ons for new ships are su uspended (R Robin de Bois s, 2011). In any case th his is probab bly not the en nd point of sh hipbreaking in Banglades sh11.

Database from the French h NGO Robin de bois is public and presents a lot of details for each ship ad IHS Fairplay data d might be m more exhaustive e, but is less tran nsparent and sent for sccrapping. Instea detailed (therefore difficullt to assess), an nd only accessib ble by paying an n expensive fee. For the purpose of this analysis th he two are complementary and d do not contrad dict each other.

10 11

http://www w.belabangla.org g/ “Recoveryy in Bangladesh shipbreaking to onnages”, Reciccling Internation nal (www.recyyclinginternation nal.com/recyclin ng-news/5930/fe errous-metals/ba angladesh/recoverybangladessh-shipbreaking-tonnages)

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Shipbreakking at Alang-So osiya (India)

China has overtaken P Pakistan and d keeps grow wing rapidly tthanks to mo odernization of its indu ustry, lower taxes and the complette lack of ddemocratic control c over accountab bility for socia al and enviro onmental imp pacts. New laarge facilities s have been built near Shanghai iin associatio on with majjor shipping and other companies (including the Peninssular & Orient Steam Navigation Company and British Petroleum) who have e guaranteed a steady supply of ships for breaking. b In exchange the Chinese e firms have promised go ood environm mental contro ols and safe working co onditions for the workers. In fact ship owners are under public c scrutiny in their countries for bei ng the source of alleged misery in shipbreaking countries (Wayne Hess et al., 2 2001). Then, one could wonder w why they are doing it in the less transparent coun try (China) which w keeps s strictly undder control la abour trade unions and d environme ntal NGOs, a part from denying acceess to researc chers. Shipbreaking yards in Europe and USA receive very few sships, as the prices they can offer are a close to zzero, and ten nd to receive e state-own sships, like the e ones from the navy.

2.3.2 History of a an industrry Shipbreaking first devveloped in th he USA, UK K and Japann during WW WII because there were e many shipss damaged by war, and an urgent ddemand for steel. s In the 1960s it moved m to lesss industrialized European n countries ssuch as Spain, Italy and Turkey. In the 1970s it left Europe and estab blished itself in Asia, first in Taiwan and South h Korea, an nd then durring the 198 80s, in Chinna, Banglad desh, India, Pakistan, Philippines P a and Vietnam (Chaudhari,1998; Dubeyy, 2005). South Asia an countries have benefited from favourable natuural characte eristics (high tidal range es, gentle slo oping and rocky bottom beaches) b whhich allow the e vessels to be beache ed, turning a highly mechanized indus stry into a labbour intensiv ve one.

2.3.3 Frrom the sh hip ownerr to the ship breake r through cash bu uyers Ship owners sell the eir ships th hrough brok kers operatinng in Lond don, Dubai, 12 Singapore and Hambu urg. All ships are sold perr ton (LDT ) at a price ra anging from 100 to 400 0 dollars, de pending on the ship type e and on thee market. In the last ten years â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;cas sh buyersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ha ave emerged d as important intermediaaries officiallly to assure fulfilment of o the contra act. They differ from tra aditional shipp brokers be ecause they acquire sh hip ownershiip, becoming g themselves s ship owneers (although h only for a limited perriod pending its sale or during the handing over oof the ship to a recycling facility). Original O (last operational) ship owners get lower prices, but this system allows them to bypass liabilities and regulations s.

LDT (Ligh ht Displacementt Tonnage) is th he mass of the ship s excluding ccargo, fuel, balla ast water, stores, pa assengers and ccrew.

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Shipbreaking at Alang-Sosiya (India)

Depending on their size and type, scrapped ships have an unloaded weight of between 5000 and 40,000 tons, with an average composition as shown in Table 4. It requires from 3 to 6 months for an average ship (15,000 tons) to be dismantled with a variable number of workers involved at different stages (from 150 to 300). The industry requires relatively low fixed capital (plot lease, machinery and equipment) and high working capital. The cost of the vessel itself corresponds to more than 50% of the total cost. Interests on investment, duties (customs, excise, value added tax â&#x20AC;&#x201D; VAT, etc.) and port charges represent the second important item. Labour and energy (torch oxygen and fuel) constitute each between 3 and 6% of the total expenditure (Upadhyay, 2002; Dubey, 2005). Environmental, safety and health insurance costs do not appear in the accounting.

Fig. 11 Beaching on a plot: before and after (April 2009) Photo credit: F. Demaria

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Shipbreaking at Alang-Sosiya (India)

Fig. 10 Shipbreaking process on Plot Nยบ 84 in ASSBY (April 2009) Photo credits: F. Demaria

2.3.5 Shipbreaking process Once a ship arrives in the Gulf of Cambay it is inspected and checked by the competent authorities which issue (occasionally after receiving bribes) the relevant certificates. The ship is then beached by its own propulsion power at high tide and during low tide is laid down stable on its flat bottom (Fig. 10). At this point cutters and their helpers, using simple LPG gas and oxygen torches, can start taking apart the vessel structure. All operations take place directly on the beach in a relatively small and congested area called a plot (Fig. 11). Machinery and heavy equipment (engines, compressors, generators, boilers), together with other dismantled components (navigation equipment, life saving equipment, furniture, electrical cables, utensils, etc.) are sold to traders for reuse. These operations do not require investment in infrastructure or technology, as they are labour intensive and moving cranes and motorized winches are reused from the same ships.

Weight (%)

Value (%)

Re-rollable ferrous scrap and iron plates

75-85

Re-conditioned machinery

10-15

Re-melting scrap

Non-ferrous metal

Furnace oil and oils

0.5

Wooden and furniture

0.5

Burning, cutting losses and waste

5-10

100

Table 4 Average components (both in Weight and Value) obtained by a demolished ship Source: Interviews with ship breakers; Upadhyay, 2002

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Shipbreaking at Alang-Sosiya (India)

Fig. 11 Beaching on a plot: before and after (April 2009) Photo credit: F. Demaria

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Shipbreakking at Alang-So osiya (India)

2.4

Hazardous waste and socio-enviro onmenta al im mpacts

2.4.1 Hazardous waste gen neration and a manag gement Ships contain (in-built and on boa ard) hazardous and non--hazardous substances, s significant both in qua antity and to oxicity, which h cannot (orr should nott) be totally reused or recycled. Th he waste ou utput of the process reprresents betw ween 0.5 to 10% of the e ship's total weight. Com mposition is diverse, d mainnly constitute ed by scrap wood, pla astic, paper, rubber, gla ass wool, th hermocol, spponge, PVC pipes, oil, metals, heavy h meta als, paints, cement, asbestos a annd radioacttive waste. ble statistics Independe ent and reliab s on quantity and compoosition are no ot available, while estim mates are diffficult becaus se there are many differeent types of ships, s which vary considerably in th heir structure (Reddy et al., 2005a,b). The contro oversy over shipbreakin ng mainly co oncerns the disposal of hazardous waste. The ere are three e methods off disposal:

1) Deconta amination pr ior to export Decontamination is the e process off removing ha azardous maaterials conta ained in the ship structture (partiallyy or totally), normally without endanngering sea--worthiness. This must be done by ship owners s. It is a costly operationn that require es expertise and techn nology. A tottally deconta aminated sh hip would noot fall underr the Basel Convention and could d be legally dismantled d in Bangladessh under the e May 2010 Order by the Supreme Court. 2) Environmental soun nd management on site Hazardous s materials are safely removed and d then propeerly disposed once the ship has been beach hed. This is the option recommendeed by the International Convention for the Saffe and Enviro onmentally Sound S Recyccling of Ships s adopted in May 2009 by the IMO (Internationa al Maritime Organization) O ). 3) Dumpin ng Hazardous s materials a are freely released into the t environm ment. ASSBY Y, since the beginning,, has used th he third method (HPC, 2003; 2 Reddyy et al., 2003 3, 2005a,b). Waste, ha azardous or not, has gen nerally been directly releeased into th he sea from the ship or the plot, b urnt on the plot or dump ped during tthe night in surrounding s villages (F Figs. 12 and 13). Some has h been transported andd dumped in n areas (like the surrou undings of th he industrial city of Suratt) where othher industries s undertake similar acttions so that it is imposs sible to identiify the sourcce of waste and a enforce any liability y.

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Shipbreaking at Alang-Sosiya (India)

Fig. 12 Dumping sites in grazing land around ASSBY, burnt waste on the left and glass wool on the right (April 2009) Photo credit: F. Demaria

Fig. 13 Dumping sites in agriculture fields around ASSBY, thermocol on the left and asbestos on the right (April 2009) Photo credit: F. Demaria

2.4.2 Pollutants discharged Scrapping activity discharges a number of liquid, gaseous and solid pollutants which are hazardous for the environment and human beings (Islam and Hossain, 1986; Zhijie, 1988; Hossain and Islam, 2006). Most common are oil, bacteria, asbestos, heavy metals (Mercury (Hg), Lead (Pb), Arsenic (As), Chromium (Cr), Copper (Cu), Manganese (Mn), Zinc (Zn) and Nickel (Ni)) and persistent organic pollutants (Polychlorinated Biphenyl Compounds (PCBs), Dioxins, Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and Organotins (Monobutyltin — MBT, Dibutyltin — DBT, Tributyltin — TBT, etc.).

2.4.3 Socio-environmental impacts Environmental impacts In ASSBY waste materials accumulate over the soil and then leach to seawaters in a stepwise manner through tidal and sub-tidal zones, through the deep sea and the ocean bed (Fig. 14). This has led to a deterioration of physico-chemical properties of seawater and intertidal sediments. COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand)

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Shipbreakking at Alang-So osiya (India)

and BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand), used d as indicattors of water quallity, are prese ent at high le evels.

deg gradation of

Shipbreaking activity has substan ntially affecte ed the ecosyystem at Ala ang–Sosiya (GEC, 199 97; Tewari et al., 2001; Reddy et al., 2003; R Reddy et all., 2004a,b, 2005a,b). System stre ess has led to a decline e in biotic sttructure: a decrease d in biomass, abundance and species s diversity has been meeasured. Pollutants mix with suspe ended solids and migrate e long distances, carried by high currrents (Bhatt, 2004). The ey have been n found, to a lesser exten nt, together w with floating objects and oil, all alon ng the 100 K Km of coastlin ne on the Ea ast and West st side of Alang (Pathak, 1997; Me ehta, 1997). The exactt spatial dis spersion of contaminan nts remains unknown as a all selectted control sites s (10, 30 or 50 Km aaway from Alang) A have always be een affected by pollution (Dholakia, 1997; Govv. of India, 2002). The intertidal zone aroun nd ASSBY has practically no vvegetation. Mangroves disappeare ed over a sp pan of thirty years, y meaning after thee industry began, due to oil pollution, discharge of chemicals and other pollutants p (G Gov. of India, 2002). The sea off o ASSBY h has very poo or biological production potential with very low phytoplank kton pigmen t concentrattion, low zoo oplankton staanding stock k, very poor macrobentthic standing g stock and d low numerical abundaance of fish h eggs and larvae (So oni, 1997; M Majumdar, 19 997; Gov. of India, 20022). Exotic spe ecies might have been n carried in w with ballast water, w which represents a serious bio ological risk. The population and d diversity of fish have decreased d aand species tolerant to petroleum hydrocarbon ns seem to have h adapted better to thhe environmental stress (Mandal, 2004). 2 The absen nce of sanittation facilitie es for the workers w has led to the presence p of pathogenic c and non n-pathogenic c bacteria (faecal andd non-fecal coliforms, salmonella a, clostridium m, staphyloco occus) in the e water of thee ASSBY arrea (surface and underground) re ndering it unsafe u for human h conssumption wh hile marine coastal wa ater has beco ome harmful for fish popu ulation and uunsuitable fo or recreation (Desai and d Vyas, 199 97; Trivedi, 1997; 1 MECO ON, 1997). E Ecosystems might have marine biota been damaged irreverssibly, as is th he case for th he tissue of m a due to bioaccumulattion and bio-m magnification n of pollutantts (Gov. of Inndia, 2002). There is a lack of studiies into the potential p impacts on loca l terrestrial ecosystems. e GPCB (Gu ujarat Polluttion Control Board), a lo ocal governm ment agency y, claims to keep a complete c m onitoring, but b it has not made ddata available. For a comprehensive enviro onmental imp pact assessment one sshould go be eyond local impacts an nd analyze tthe complete e material re ecycling cha in (ancillary industries). The furnac ce emission s of re-rollin ng mills are rendered tooxic by the presence p of volatile orrganic matte er of marine paints and anti-foulingg paints (suc ch as lead, arsenic an nd pesticide es) which ha as resulted in acid rainn during the e monsoon season (B Bhatt, 2004) . The 1997 Report by the Gujaratt Ecology Commission C ‘Ecological Restoration n and Planning for Alang g–Sosiya’ (G GEC, 1997) remains r the most comprehensive sstudy to date e. None of itts suggestionns have bee en followed. The asses ssment main tains its validity as confirmed by moore recent stu udies of the ‘Central Salt & Marine e Chemicals Research In nstitute’ (Tew wari et al., 20 001; Reddy et al., 200 03, 2004a,b,, 2005a,b; Mandal, M 200 04) and the Report on the 'Critical

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Shipbreaking at Alang-Sosiya (India)

Habitat Information System for the Gulf of Khambat' by the Department of Ocean Development (Gov. of India, 2002).

Fig. 14

Beaches up to 50 Km from ASSBY are covered by oil and floating solid waste

Photo credit: F. Demaria

Impacts on workers Workers in ASSBY, mainly seasonal migrants from the poorer states of India (Orissa, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand), live and work in pitiable conditions (FIDH, 2002; IMF, 2006). They migrate as a survival strategy because with their previous jobs (at USD 1 per day) and small farms they are unable to maintain their families. Their number varies from 5000 to 50,000. They work under contractors, on a daily basis and with no contract or rights. They work 12 h per day, six days per week. During the field work in Spring 2009, their daily salaries ranged from a minimum of 150 Rs (USD 3) for helpers and loaders to a maximum of 375 Rs (USD 7) for experienced cutters. They live, without their families, in shared shanties, locally called Kholi, close to the yard with no running water, electricity or sanitation (Fig. 15). They are continuously exposed to pollutants, from the air they breathe, the water they drink and the fish that they eat. Notably their jobs present a number of hazards. Frequent accidents are caused by fire and explosion, falling objects, trapping or compression, snapping of cables, falls from heights, and lack of personal protective equipment, housekeeping standards and safety signs (ILO, 2004). In case of injury or death, they are rarely compensated (Rousmaniere and Raj, 2007). Local fishers report that severely injured workers are sometimes dumped at sea and left to drown. The Final Report of the Technical Experts Committee, presented in 2006 to the Indian Supreme Court, offers an insight into the hazards faced by these workers. With regard to accidents, the Final Report notes that “the average annual incidence of fatal accidents in the ship breaking industry is 2.0 per 1000 workers while the all India incidence of fatal accidents during the same period in the mining industry, which is considered to be the most accident-prone industry, is 0.34 per 13 1000 workers.” This is based on official data from 1995 to 2005 (roughly 40 traumatic work fatalities per year). Indian media reported twenty-seven fatal

“Current reality and progress towards change”, Transport International Online, (www.itfglobal.org/transport-international/ti26-beaking2.cfm; accessed in January 2012).

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Shipbreakking at Alang-So osiya (India)

accidents between Ja anuary and September S 2011. 2 It wouuld be metho odologically more accurate to co rrelate the number of fatal accideents to the number of dismantled d ships, as w workers do when w they say ‘one ship, one death.’ Others say, ‘one per day.’ With rregard to pollutants, the Final Repport cites th he “Medical Examinatio on of the Assbestos Han ndlers” by a team from tthe National Institute of Occupational Health ((NIOH) which h concludes, “The X rayy examinatio on by NIOH showed lin near shadow ws on chest X rays of 15 (16%) of 94 workers occ cupationally exposed to t asbestos.. These are e consistent with asbesstosis…” There are no medical re ecords on th he short and d long term effects e of th e workers' exposure e to contamina ants.

Fig. 15. W Workers' hou using conditio ons, ASSBY ((April 2009) Photo credit: F. Demaria

Impacts on o fishing co ommunities The South h Saurashtra a coastal are ea has alway ys been wel l known for fisheries of Bombay Ducks D (Harpo odon neheriu us), Hilsa, prawns and otther species. Fish catch in the gulf of Khambatt is found to be rich on th he western sside over 100 0 Km away. Data for fish f catch fo or 1991 and d 1995 are indicative. T Table 3 show ws the fish landing situation at Go ogha, Bhavna agar Lockgatte and Katpaar. Gogha and Bhavnaga ar Lockgate are on the East side off ASSBY ab bout 50 Km e West side away. Katpar is on the e of ASSBY again 50 Km m away. Fro om the data available for f the comm mercially imp portant fishes s, a definite fall can be observed o in the fish ca atch, apart frrom disappea arance of ce ertain speciees (Gov. of In ndia, 2002). In the sam me area there e are about 2500 fishers s living in sm mall commun nities on the beach and d in villagess (from East to West: Gogha, G Mithhi Virdi, Sos siya, Alang, Talaja, Sartampar, Go pnath — Gadhula, Mahuva — Katparr). Fishing ac ctivity constittutes the main source of livelihood foor about 10,0 000 people. Apart from m Gogha w here the majority is Muslim, they all belong to the Koli community y. Kolis belo ongs to the Scheduled Tribes T (ST), that (togeth her with the Scheduled d Castes, SC C) are unprivileged popu ulation groupps explicitly recognized by the Co onstitution off India. Fishers report th hat, since shhipbreaking began, the quantity, variety v and ssize of fish has h decrease ed, the flavoour has chan nged, and a

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osiya (India) Shipbreakking at Alang-So

number off species have h disapp peared (Tab ble 5). Oth hers like mudskippers (Periophtha almus barbarus, an amphibious fish w with a specia al air breathing system) have bette er adapted, but are norrmally less ccommercially y valuable (apart from being conta aminated). Fishers rep port not to ha ave noticed any a damage to their own health due to pollution. However a number off pollutants can c bio-accu umulate and d enter the food f chain. Heavy mettals bioaccu umulating in the fish ha ve been fou und to be many m times higher than n the maxim mum prescrib bed (Mehta, 1997). Thes se highly tox xic fish are not suitable e for human consumptio on. However they are loc cally caught, consumed (mainly by fishers and shipbreaking g workers) an nd go in drie ed or fresh fo orm all over India and a abroad. Fish h can swim long distance es and be caught c elsew where. High levels of b butyltin, a PO OP, have be een found in fish for con nsumption in n the entire Asian–Paccific region. Shipbreaking S g, along with h sewage dis sposal and anti-fouling paints, is considered th he main sourc ce of this (Ka annan et al., 1995). shers. They cannot easily fish elsew where for a There is no simple solution for fis better quality of catch: the t area of pollution p is ve ery wide, and d fishers are not readily mobile. They are also constrained c by legal resttrictions on where w they may m fish. In consequen nce, the quality of life of all the com mmunity has worsened significantly. The most vulnerable have to wo ork as unskkilled laboure ers while otthers have emigrated in search off better oppo ortunities. Th is picture is very similar to the one of Chittago ong (Banglad desh), the world w second largest ship pbreaking yard: “As the commercia ally importantt species are e replaced byy low priced species and scarcity of fish, manyy coastal fishers are lea aving their hereditary profession p and moving around eve eryday as en nvironmentall refugees in n a state of under u emplo oyment and poverty to u unemployme ent and grim poverty” (Ho ossain and Is slam, 2006).

Table 5 Fish landin ng in Kg for some species at d different centrres near ASSBY Source: D Dholakia, 1997

Ghogha Name of fiish B Bombay duck

1991

Katpar K

1995 5

19 991

Bhavnagarr Lockgate 1995

1991

1995

102 2,069

93,862

116,8 865

46,1299

74,792

32,596

H Hilsa

7020

Nil N

31,7 762

15,8600

C Culpid

1860

Nil N

22,9 905

23,3900

M Mullet

44 4,308

24,809

112,6 695

12,7766

5689

C Catfish

2 1,715

13,9 950

22500

Nil

C Colmi (shrimp)

175 5,250

909,151

30,0 015

48,072

20,240

62,004

M Medium prawn

704 4,179

408,12 21

108,1 121

18,6900

78,180

27,831

Jumbo prawn

214 4,314

80,400

30,2 225

Nil

87 7,141

21,199

15 500

27699

3162

110,639

C Colia

33 348

D Dhoma

11,4 487

35655

420 0,538

186,42 27

106,9 951

27,8544

34,056

L Lobster

O Other fish

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Shipbreaking at Alang-Sosiya (India)

Fig. 16 Fishing communities: housing conditions, waste all over the beaches, nets marked with oil and a fisher complaining about skin problems. ASSBY (April 2009) Photo credit: F. Demaria

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Shipbreaking at Alang-Sosiya (India)

Impacts on villagers The ten villages in a radius of 12 Km (Alang, Sosiya, Manar, Sathara, Kathwa, Bharapara, Mathavada, Takhatgadh, Jasapara, Madva) have experienced great economic and social changes because of shipbreaking (UNESCO, 2001). Previously working mainly in agriculture, after the arrival of ASSBY they could find new employment and business opportunities (often in accordance to their caste) in transportation, trade and retail (Chaudhari, 1999). Some of the environmental impacts are of concern for the villagers. Those living close to the operation yards are affected by noise pollution. More generally people complain to Sarpanches (heads of villages) and local authorities about the dumping of waste from the dismantled boats as there are hundreds of dumping sites in all the surroundings (Figs. 12, 13 and 16). Preferred sites are waste lands, traditionally used for grazing, but also farming fields; people report that oxen and cattle have died because of eating waste. Villagers report respiratory and skin problems particularly when the waste is set on fire. Most of the villages along the coastline in this region suffer from water scarcity and salinity. The industry has worsened the problem of overexploitation of water reserves (through population growth and workers immigration) leading to a decrease in groundwater level. Apart from the deterioration of agriculture and animal husbandry, villagers report kidney diseases that are related to both salinity and pollutants. A number of wells are so polluted that they have been abandoned. Modern and traditional forms of agriculture co-exist â&#x20AC;&#x201D; for respectively large and small farms â&#x20AC;&#x201D; growing mangos, chikos, coconuts and onions. Since the industry has settled, land and labour prices have increased locally. On the other hand the quantity and size of fruits have decreased, and the flavour has changed (Fig. 17).

Fig. 17 Thin layer of dust and chemicals on the leaves of plants in agriculture fields one kilometre from ASSBY (April 2009) Photo credit: F. Demaria

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Shipbreakking at Alang-So osiya (India)

2.4.4 Em mergence e of a confflict: from material o origins to cultural diiscourses s If this was s the end of the story, it would simp ply confirm thhe Lawrence e Summers' Principle. Instead the e next sectio on shows th he emergencce of a con nflict where disputes about a values are vocalize ed. The conflict has mate rial origins th hat are then shaped by b cultural discourses. As discussed in soccial moveme ent theory, diagnosing g a problem (such as sh hipbreaking) turns out too be a very contentious process, where w the d ifferent acto ors try to affirm and imppose their in nterpretative frame to the t detrimen nt of represe entations pro oposed by thhe others (S Snow et al., 1986). The e constructio on of reality is inextricab bly linked to asymmetrie es of power (Della Portta and Diani,, 2006).

2.5

Lo ooking c closer at the ecollogical d distributio on co onflict: T The ‘Blue e Lady’ case c at th he Supre eme Court (200 06–2007))

2.5.1 Th hree spatiial scales for the co onflict: Inteernational, na ational an d local In the 199 90s, the Ala ang and Sos siya landsca ape attractedd worldwide interest in terms of its aesthetics as an indus strial and soc cial inferno (aas shown in the images by the Brazilian pho otojournalist Sebastiao Salgado shhot in 1989)). Although environme ental and lab bour groups started stru ucturing thei r complaints s, its socioenvironme ental aspectss are still neglected. Th he conflict hhas develope ed at three different scales (intern national, natio onal and loc cal) with enviironmentalistts playing a major role, accompaniied by trade unions and human rightts groups, to ogether with industrial lobbies, l the Gujarat and d Indian gove ernments, annd as so oftten in India, the judiciary. ernational levvel, environm mental NGO Os, including Greenpeace and BAN At the inte (Basel Ac ction Networrk), carried out campaigns to raisee public aw wareness in developed d countries a and lobby forr the implem mentation of rregulations (notably ( the Basel Convention). C . In 20 005 the ‘Platform on Sh hipbreaking’ (www.ship pbreakingplattform.org) was w created d as an intternational network of environme ental, human n and labou ur rights organizations to challenge the global shipping industry. In India, envirronmental NGOs N (like T Toxic Links, Corporate Accountab bility Desk, H Human Rightts Law Netw work) and inddependent ac ctivists (like the researrcher Gopal Krishna, the e activist Mad dhumitta Duttta, the lawyers Bushan Oza and Colin C Gonsalvves) engage ed in judicial activism andd fight to this s day on the Civil Writte en Petition o on Hazardou us Waste Ma anagement ffirst filed in 1995 to the Supreme Court C by the ‘Research Foundation F fo or Science, T Technology and a Natural Resources s policy.’ At the local level th he conflict has remained latent. S Seasonal workers w are vulnerable e because off their precarrious social and a econom mic condition and so can be easily kept k under p pressure and d domination. A local tradde union (Allang Sosiya Ship Recy ycling and G General Workers' Assoc ciation), withh limited pow wer, exists,

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osiya (India) Shipbreakking at Alang-So

accepted ssince 2005 byy ship breakers to negot iate wages. Workers rep port the use of violence e (by the loca al police) ag gainst sporad dic attempts of strikes ov ver dispute about salarry, safety, wo orking and liv ving conditio ons. Villagers h have expressed oral co omplaints to authorities, normally th hrough the heads of villages. Som me attempts of o frame brid dging (Snow et al., 1986) are being undertaken n by nationa al activists between b vill agers (envirronmental is ssues) and workers (w working and living conditions). The a alliance could d potentially be strong, especially in case a common org ganizational base can be built. Sh hipbreakers actively oppose the pro ocess with threats and a ‘‘divide et imp pera’ strategy.

Attemp pts of frame bridging g between villagerrs and worke ers, underta aken by nationa al activists, is s oppose ed by shipbre eakers with a ‘divide et impera’ strateg gy

Media coverage of the e human and environme ental conditio ons at ASSB BY obliged competent Indian auth horities and Internationa al Organizattions (UNEP P, ILO and IMO) to rea act. Both atttempted to assess a the m main issues at stake, tac ckling them with detailed policy-m making initiattives (mostlyy technical guidelines) and more effective im mplementatio on (Basel Convention, 2 2002; IMO, 2003; 2 ILO, 2004). 2 The proposed p practices (i.e e. technology to improve e labour saffety and env vironmental protection) are similar to the ones used in devveloped coun ntries. The in ndustry left those shorres to avoid the rules. Te echnically co orrect, but po olitically naiv ve, none of them has b been enforce ed. Instead, in order to un nderstand th he situation, the t case of the ‘Blue L Lady’ at the Supreme Co ourt of India is presented d hereafter. This is not the most fa amous one (this would be the Cleme enceau in 2006) but it illu ustrates the issues at stake, the decision making proce ess and the e valuation languages deployed a at different scales s by diffferent actorrs of the con nflicts over this type of waste disposal.

2.5.2 History of th he ‘Blue Lady’ L last v voyage SS France e was built in n 1960 by the e French Lin ne and was at a that time the t longest passenger ship ever bu uilt. It had a mass m of 45,0 000 tons, was 316 m long g and 34 m wide, and h had 16 floorss and 1400 ro ooms. In 1979 it w was sold to Norwegian N Cruise Line (th he mother co ompany Starr Cruise Ltd — SCL), re enamed SS Norway and d transforme ed into the world's w most glamorous cruise ship p. Seriously damaged in n 2003 by a boiler explosion in Mia ami, it was towed to G Germany where repairs s were plan nned. A feas sibility study y, in 2004, estimated that to deccontaminate part of the e in-built asbestos would cost 17 millions Eu uros. In 2005 the ship p left Germ any, its official destina ation being Singapore,, for reuse. The ship ow wner intentio ons were to discard the e ship, and therefore the SS No orway becam me ‘waste’ under the EU Waste Shipment Regulations. Moreoverr, since it co ontained hazzardous sub bstances, it could c have been consiidered hazarrdous waste for the purpo ose of the Ba asel Conventtion. Under Article 9 an nd Basel Ban Amendment, the expo ort of ships frrom OECD countries c to non-OECD D countries, should s be conceived as illlegal traffic (Moen, ( 2008 8). The ship arrived in M Malaysia and d was planne ed to be scra ped in Bangladesh. However, due to protest p by BELA (Ban e al lawyers ngladesh environmenta association n) the sale was w declare ed invalid. In n 2006 SS Norway left Dubai the

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Shipbreakking at Alang-So osiya (India)

authorities s being inform med that it was w going for repairs, ass in reality it was sailing towards Alang, to be d dismantled. In June 2006 2 the m mother comp pany Star Cruise C (Mal aysia) sold it through Norwegian n Cruise Lin ne (Bermuda) to the Liberian L (sheell) company Bridgeed Shipping for, f officially,, $10 (as ind dicated in th he Bill of salle for Baham mian ships). Bridgeed sold it, afterr 1 month, to the Indian shipbreakking compan ny Hariyana Steel Dem molition Pvt. Ltd. The ow wnership was s then transfferred again to another shipbreaking companyy, Priya Blue e Industries Pvt. Ltd. Thhe ship, finally renamed Blue Lady, apart from the common n practice of under-invoiccing, had a real r price of about 15 million m dollarss. On May 2006, the shi p was initially prevented d from enteriing Indian waters by an application n of the acttivist Gopal Krishna to the Suprem me Court off India. On humanitarian grounds,, because of the monso oon, the shipp was allowe ed, on June 2006, to anchor at P Pipavav portt near Alang g. It was finnally beache ed (without permission n) on the 3rd d of August 2006 2 and allowed to be dismantled by b the Final Court Orde er of the 11th h Septemberr 2007.

2.5.3 Th he case in n the Suprreme Courrt: Argumeents and la anguages of valuatio on The analys sis of a judiccial case, such as the ‘Blue Lady’ onne, offers an insight into the framing g conflict, me eaning the struggle over reality consttruction. Diffe erent actors participate ed in the ‘politics of o significattion’ (Hall, 1982). Th here were environme entalists, villlagers, ship pbreakers an nd the Indiian authorities. Actors involved are a signifyin ng agents engaged e in the producttion of alterrnative and contentiou us meaningss (Benford and Snow, 2000). Theey undertook k two core framing tasks: diagnosstic and prog gnostic. The first concernns the definittion of what the problem is, who is responsible e and who ha as the legitim macy to have e an opinion on it; the second re gards the proposed p so olutions. In particular, this t section analyses the t different attitudes exp pressed by these actors to the three methods of waste man nagement, a and the differrent valuation n languages they used to frame the issue.

Environm mentalists Indian env vironmentalissts, in alliance with international orgganizations, challenged shipbreaking accordin g to languag ges of justice, economiccs and legaliity. Using a justice disc course and i nvoking the Basel Conve ention they ddescribed it as a an ‘illegal export of toxic waste e’ from rich to poor cou untries highl ighting impa acts on the environme ent, and the health and livelihood of o workers aand local co ommunities. “Blue Lady y” was a casse of ‘toxic im mperialism,’ Gopal G Krishnna argued. The T practice is perceive ed as enviro nmental injustice or enviironmental raacism on a global g scale (Lipman, 1998) 1 and a human rightts violation. Orthodox O ecconomic lang guage (such as ‘interna alising exterrnalities’ or ‘polluter ‘ pay ys principle’)) was also strategically s adopted by b Greenpea ace, BAN and the Ship pbreaking Plaatform. While they are

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osiya (India) Shipbreakking at Alang-So

conscious of the pitfalls of econom mic values, th he polluter pays p principle e offered a suitable lan nguage to lin nk questions of economiccs with ques stions of justice. Finally, the last lan nguage used was one of compliance with the rule e of law. India an activists often claim med that exissting legislation had be en violated. Gopal Krish hna, in his application, called for respect for the t 2003 Su upreme Courrt Order including prior informed cconsent, invventory of hazardous h w waste mandatory for sh hip owner, decontamin nation by th he ship owner prior to e export, proper removal and waste manageme ent (with sp pecial attention to asb bestos) and transparen nt pollution monitoring by GPCB. He pointed that the Blue Lady carried 125 50 tons of asbestos, tthe import of o which is banned unde r the Basel Convention and Indian Hazardouss Waste (ma anagement and a handling g) Rules, 20 003. Lastly, he h claimed that ILO standards on n occupational and envirronmental health hazard ds had not been respe ected.

kers Ship break The positio on of ship breaking b companies ha s always be een articulatted by Mr. Nagarsheth h, historical president of the Iron n Steel Scrrap and Sh hipbreakers Association n of India (ISCSAI). The e argument was basically made on n economic values, tho ough also envvironmental values v were employed. In their A Application on o February 2006 (IA A 25) they highlighted ASSBY's contribution ns to the ecconomy claiming that m more than 10 00,000 peop ple were in direct and indirect emp ployment, up p to 2.5 millio on tons of good g quality and cheap steel (apprroximately 5% % of the domestic dema and) had be een returned to market, and that 20 0 billion of Rs R (USD 400 0 million) ha d been raise ed by the au uthorities in the form o of customs duties, d incom me and saless taxes. Mr. Nagarsheth presented shipbreakin ng as an en nvironmentally friendly a activity beca ause, by rec cycling the materials, it saves nonrenewable resources ((such as iro on ore and the t energy needed to produce primary steel). In contrast to other me ethods of ma anufacture, especially steel manuffacturing, it does d not pro oduce solid waste. This position is apparently supported by the IMO O which hass declared shipbreaking g a Green industry. Mr. Nagarrsheth claim med that occ cupational h hazard is th he issue, an nd not the environmen ntal impactss as publiciz zed by med dia and activists. The recognized hazard cou uld be met by resorting to new tecchnologies. In fact Mr. Nagarsheth N agement witthout causing declared to o be committted to properr waste mana g any harm or damage e to human liffe or to the environment e . Finally he refused r to se ee ships as hazardous waste, so th hat national and internattional legislattion for the transport of hazardous waste would d not apply. What is inte eresting here e is that while business interests employ the same s languages (econom mic, environmental, distrributive) as the environ nmental grou ups, they fra ame very diffferent and at a very differrent scales the issues, to come to very v different evaluative cconclusions..

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Shipbreakking at Alang-So osiya (India)

Indian autthorities The Minis stry of Envirronment and d Forestry (MOEF) ( toggether with three other ministries (steel, ship pping and la abour) are in charge off the policy--making on shipbreaking; GMB (G Gujarat Maritime Board) and GPCB (G Gujarat Pollution Control Board) dea al with the lo ocal impleme entation of ru ules and reguulations. The eir valuation premises and positio ons were ve ery close to o those of sship owners s and ship breakers, emphasizing g public ben nefits in term ms of econoomic and environmental values at the nationall scale. According to the authoritiess, ships are not waste, hazardous s substancess are manag ged in an environmenta e ally sound manner m and workers safety s is un nder controll. Since the ere was neever any po ollution, no remediatio on is necesssary. The Menon M Com mmittee (HPC C), constituted by the Supreme Court C in 1997 7, presented d a Report (background too the 2003 Court C Order) that repres sents the solle governme ental admission of severee pollution an nd inhuman conditions of the worke ers. e, MOEF was in charge of o the Technnical Experts Committee In the ‘Blue Lady’ case (TEC) on Manageme ent of Haza ardous Wastes that thee Supreme Court had established on March h 2006, to investigate environment e tal protection n, workers` safety and d health. C ommittee sh hip-inspectio ons, such ass the routin ne ones by GPCB, arre visual, be ecause in ASBBY A there e are no pro roper laboratory testing facilities. Gopal G Krishn na proved the e conclusion ns of these innspections to o be wrong. The Committee had declared that t “presen nce of radiooactive materials in a passengerr ship like the e ‘Blue Lady y’ is quite unlikely.” In facct, it containe ed 5500 fire detection points conta aining 1100 radioactive r elements e in tthe form of Americium241.

Villagers On March 2007, Mr. B Bhagavatsinh Halubha Gohil, G Sarpaanch of Sosiy ya (head of the village e), filed an a application on o behalf of 12 sarpanchhes and 30,000 people who live within a disstance of 1 to 25 Km from the sshipbreaking yard. The applicants were oppossing the dism mantling of the t ship beccause of the e damage it would do to t the health h of workers and villagers s and the en vironment (the soil, sea food, wate er, air, flora a and fauna) on n which the livelihood l of the people depend d (the majority off the populat ion consist of o farmers and fishers). They ackn nowledged th hat the “scra apping of the ship was vigorously opposed o by environme ental groups in India, as the Indian breakers b did not have th he facility or technology y to safely diispose off the e estimated 1000 tons off asbestos.” Three main reasons prompted the em to take le egal action. Firstly, they presented a study that they had commissione c ed to a consu ultancy aboutt the potentiaal health dan ngers due to carcinogen nic effects off the airborne dispersion of the asbeestos fibres contained c in the ship. Secondly, S the ey mentioned how open dumping of waste into the t sea had affected fishers forcin ng them out into the sea s beyond five or six kilometres because of o the oil th hat spreads over the water, w ruiningg fishing. Thirdly, they explained how in the p past 15 to 20 0 years farmers had beeen noticing th hat the yield of their crrops was diiminishing. Even E though h its cause had not been easy to

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osiya (India) Shipbreakking at Alang-So

pinpoint, th hey had com me to the con nclusion thatt this was re elated to air, water and soil contam mination brou ught on by the work at AS SBBY. The villagers v requ uested their 14 inclusion in n the Civil Writ W Petition No. N 657 of 1 1995 (a public interest petition on the questio on of hazardo ous waste im mport), that tthe Blue Lad dy not be allo owed to be dismantled d at ASSBY and a asked fo or social and d environmental justice. Notably, in an interview w for the Ind dian magazin ne Frontline, Mr. Gohil, promoter p of the t petition and Sarpan nch of Sosiyya, clarified th heir intention ns declaring: “we don't want w to stop shipbreakin ng because that t would mean m loss of jobs for hundreds of peo ople. All we are asking is that it sh hould be don ne in a resp ponsible man nner and our lives and earnings arre not affecte ed.”15 Witnesses report thatt a Judge snubbed s the e petition and the valid dity of the knowledge of the loca al people com mmenting “W What do these people know k about asbestos?..”

2.5.4 Th he final Co ourt Orderr on ‘Blue Lady’ The final C Court Order was passed d the 11th o of Septembe er 2007. The villagers' petition wa as never ta aken into co onsideration . The Courrt considere ed whether permission n should be granted for dismantling of the ship “Blue Lady” at Alang, Gujarat. Th he Court me entioned thatt the vessel Blue Lady would w give employment to 700 wo orkmen, provide the co ountry with 4 41,000 tons s of steel and a reduce pressure o on mining acctivity elsewh here. So tha at, in the framework of sustainable s developme ent (recognizzing recyclin ng as a keyy element), the precautionary and polluter payys principless (said to be accepted an nd settled in Indian Law)) should be considered d together with the conce ept of balancce (between economic e de evelopment nment) unde and environ er the principle of proporttionality (declared to be im mportant in an emerge ent economyy). These co onsiderationss, together with w the tec chnical and scientific ssuggestions by the TEC, supported the conclus sion that: “It cannot be disputed th hat no deve elopment is possible witthout some adverse effect on the ecology and the envvironment, and a the pro ojects of pu ublic utility cannot be abandoned d and it is ne ecessary to adjust the in nterest of the e people as well w as the necessity tto maintain the t environm ment. A bala ance has to be struck be etween the two interessts. Where th he commerc cial venture o or enterprise e would bring g in results which are ffar more use eful for the pe eople, difficu lty of a small number of people has to be byp passed. The e comparativ ve hardshipss have to be balanced d and the conveniencce and benefit to a larger section of tthe people has h to get primacy over comparativvely lesser hardship.” h Th he intention, as declared d by the Court, was to balance th he priorities of developm ment (genera ation of reve enue, employment and public interrest) on one hand and environmenta e al protection on the othe er. Under a general ad dmission thatt activity nee eded to be sstrictly and properly regulated, the breaking o of the Blue Lady L was allowed. No q quantification n of costs an nd benefits evaluation was asked d for by the Supreme S Co ourt, and nei ther was a multi-criteria m carried out. 14

Available a at http://www.elaw.org/node/14 400.

Shipload o of trouble, Lyla Bavadam, B Fronttline, 16 Nov 20 007.

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Shipbreakking at Alang-So osiya (India)

2.5.5 Sh hips: whic ch and fro om where? ? Here we have h analyse ed Blue Lady y, but the sa ame we coulld have been n done with many othe er ships. Rob bin de Bois bulletins on shipbreakingg offer a dettailed list of ships sent for breaki ng with inte eresting info ormation (i.ee. year of construction, owning co ompany, flag g,...). Hereaftter we prese ent a few m ore cases frrom France and Spain n, even thou ugh many more m cases could c be repported with details d from Europe an nd other coun ntries.

Clemence eau The famous case is the French aircraft carrrier Clemennceau, suppo osed to be dismantled d in ASSBY Y. But in December 200 04, before C Clemenceau set sail for arted protes India, Gre eenpeace sta sting againstt France's pplans to outtsource the scrapping of the 27,00 00-ton warsh hip laden with toxins su ch as asbes stos, PCBs, lead, merrcury and o other toxic chemicals c in n India in violation of the Basel Convention. Despite, o on 31 Decem mber 2005, Clemenceauu left the Fre ench port of Toulon to be dismantle ed in Alang-Sosiya. On 6 January 20006 the Sup preme Court of India tem mporarily de enied access to Alang. Six x days later tthe ship reac ched Egypt, where she e was boarde ed by two Grreenpeace activists. a Egyyptian authorrities denied access to the Suez C Canal. On 15 5 January the ship was finally allowed to pass. This decis sion was he eavily criticis sed by Greenpeace annd other env vironmental groups. Th hat same dayy French Pre esident Jacq ques Chirac oordered Clem menceau to return to French wate ers and rem main on standby followinng a ruling by b France's highest ad dministrative court, the Conseil d'Éttat. After it had been ly ying off the French naval port at B rest for over two years, Able A UK issu ed a press release on 1 July 2008 confirming that they had h been given the conntract to dis smantle the Clémenceau at its TE ERRC (Tees sside Enviro onmental Reeclamation & Recycling Centre) fa acility at Grayythorp, Hartlepool. Spec cial dispensaation was giv ven to Able dle the asbe by the UK HSE to hand estos contentt of the carrieer which wou uld normally have been n prohibited b by its Control of Asbestos s Regulationns 2006. Although highly controvers sial, the quallity of the dis smantling op peration has been complimented by independe ent environm ental groups s.

From Spa ain to ASSBY Y Less famo ous than the Clemenceau, there are cases from three Spanish boats of Acciona Trasmeditter T ranea S.A. The first is Ciudad de Cádiz, owned by Trasmedite erranea sincce January 1981. On the 4th of Marchh 2003 it cha anged name d Panama flag. On the 2nd of Abril 22003 it arrive to Ciudad and adopted ed in Alang where has s been disma antled. The second s is Ciu udad de Aliccante, owned d since Abril 1981 by the t same co ompany. On n the 6th of May 2003 itt changed its name to Alicante with w San Vice ente and Granadinas flag. It was thenn sold to a log gistic Indian company that t sold it a again fifteen days later to o an Indian sship breaking g company. On the 5th h may 2003, the boat was s in Alang.

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osiya (India) Shipbreakking at Alang-So

In any casse the third case is und doubtedly th e most interesting. The ship Beni Ansar, buillt in 1975, was w registere ed in Moronii (Comoros).. During its life cycle it had been called Wistteria, Princesa Maria E Esmeralda, Beni B Ansar and finally Aqaba Exp press. It was owned by th he Morrocan n company Limadet L (own ned at 35% by Transm mediterranea)) and managed by the naval comp pany Coman nav. It was detained o on 12 July 2007 2 in the e port of Alm meria by orrder of the Ministry of Environment to ensure e compliance e with the B Basel Conven ntion. It saile ed off from Almeria in A August 2007 7 for Costanz za in Roman ia, where it was w to underrgo repairs, but it chan nged course e and sailed d to Alang. Surprisingly y enough, th he Spanish authorities,, eventhough being info ormed, did n not take any y action to ensure e the enforcement of both Eu uropean and Internationa al legislation.

2.6

Po olicy rec commend dations

Things cou uld be done in a differen nt (better) w way and it is technically feasible to have a pro oper if more expensive dismantling d o operation (as s in Europe). There are in fact man ny guideliness (Basel Convention, 200 02; IMO, 2003; ILO 2004) which are simply nott implementted. Ship owners o coul d pay a deposit d (or guarantee) throughoutt the ship life e (Fig. 3) to be spent for proper dism mantling, esta ablished as a requirem ment for allow wing entrance e at any harrbour. This could c allow in nvestments to take the e activity off the beach because b dryy docks operrations poten ntially offer better labour and envirronmental sta andards. Butt all this wou uld increase their costs, which is prrecisely the reason why they send b boats to unre egulated shipyards like those of AS SSBY in the first place.

There are a many guidelines (Basel Conven ntion, 2002; IMO, 20 003; ILO 2004) which w are simply not implem mented

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Hazardous waste ceentre in Radnevo o (Bulgaria)

3 Ca ase e sttud dy: Haz H zarrdous was w ste e ce enttre in Rad R nevo (Bu ulg gariia) 3.1

Backgrou und

The Radn nevo case rrecounts a conflict related to toxicc waste trea atment and disposal, specifically to the attempt of the Bulgarian ggovernment to build a centralised d facility fo or managing g hazardous s waste (N NHWC – th he National Hazardous s Waste Cen ntre), in the heavily h pollutted Stara Zaagora region in Bulgaria. The projec ct was succe essfully block ked by the re esistance of local commu unities, with the supporrt of Bulgaria an and intern national EJOs s.

3.1.1 Chronology y of eventts 1999

Preparation off the project “Co onstruction of th he National Enteer for Hazardous s waste” begins, financced by European n Union's Phare e program.

2000

Consultants w were engaged fo or developing the feasibility studdy for the technologies to be used in the e project, the ec conomical and financial assessm ment and projec ctions for the National H Hazardous Wastte Centre (NHW WC); an informattion campaign; project site selection; the Environmental Impact Assessm ment (EIA) repoort; preparation of o the project propossal and the application documents for the EU'ss Instrument for Structural Policies for Prre-Accession programme (ISPA A). January and F February: Aware eness campaign ns were conduccted among the local population.

2001

May: The EIA report was ope en for public review for one monnth before the tw wo local public hearing gs. 20 and 21 Mayy local public meetings m were he eld to discuss thhe EIA report. 22 May: The p project is approv ved by the Minis stry of Environm ment and Water (MOEW) End of May: T The application for f financial assistance for the pproject from ISP PA is

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Hazardous waste centre in Radnevo (Bulgaria)

submitted. 10 September: An international EJO appeal addressed the ISPA demanding that a new approach be taken for managing hazardous waste in Bulgaria. The European Commission decided not to finance the project due to the compromised public consultation process. 2003

MOEW restarted preparation of an application to ISPA with the same project.

2004

MOEW launched public consultations of the revised project, met once again by the opposition of the local people and EJOs, who held several demonstrations and sent numerous letters protesting against the project to the institutions involved.

2005

Early in 2005 EJO Za Zemiata conducted sampling of free-range chicken eggs for toxic chemicals in the vicinity of the proposed site, which revealed very high dioxin levels far in excess of EU limits. In June the EC informed the EJOs that NHWC project would not receive ISPA funding because of serious deficiencies of the Environmental Impact Assessment report.

2012

The current National Programme for Waste Management Activities in the period 20092013 includes the construction of a National Hazardous Waste Centre under priority investment projects, but just disposal and other treatment facilities are mentioned, not including incineration. Current status of the project: unknown.

3.1.2 Geographical background The plan was to site the NHWC in the abandoned village of Gledachevo, located in the Radnevo Municipality, part of Stara Zagora region in the South-East part of Bulgaria. The region of Stara Zagora is the heart of the coal industry in Bulgaria, with three open coal mines and three coal-fired power plants in operation. Fig. 18 Proposed location of the National Hazardous Waste Centre in Bulgaria Source: Za Zemiata based on Google Maps

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Hazardous waste centre in Radnevo (Bulgaria)

Fig. 19 The abandoned village of Gledachevo falls into the Maritsa-Iztok Mining and Electricity Generation Complex Source: Za Zemiata

3.1.3 Social background Overall, the potentially affected population includes 21,745 people living in settlements within 10 km from the project site. The majority of the population in Radnevo Municipality in 2002 is Bulgarian (86%), with some Roma (7% ) and Turks (5%). There is no data on differentiation based on ethnicity. Men slightly outnumber women, unlike the average situation for the country, due to employment in the coal-mining and energy generation sectors. 16

The rate of natural increase of the population in both the larger region of Stara Zagora and the smaller area of Radnevo Municipality has been negative for 20002002. While this is is the general trend on national level, the depopulation trend in Radnevo is significantly higher than the average for the entire Stara Zagora region, which is higher than the country average. The demographic trend in Radnevo is characterised by a mortality rate (15 in one thousand in 2000, 17.2 in one thousand in 2002) that is twice as high as the birth rate (8.2 in one thousand 17 in 2000, 7.6 in one thousand in 2002) . Although a thorough investigation of the long-term trends in the health status in Stara Zagora region is not currently available, several trends are symptomatic of the environmental and health costs internalised by the local residents and workers employed in the Maritsa-Iztok energy industrial complex. Disabilities of children aged under 16 appear to be the 18 highest in the country (6.4 in 1000, the national average is 3.3 in 1000 for 2009). Child mortality rates are also higher than the national average: 11.9 per 1000 live

Not including migration.

Доклад за ОВОС на Инвестиционно предложение: “Национален Център за Третиране на Отпадъци”, изготвено от фирма ПОВВИК ООС ООД, Март 2004 / Povvik LTD, March 2004. Environmental Impact Assessment report for Investment proposal “National Centre for Waste Treatment”.

National Centre of Health Informatics, 2010. Annual Public Health Statistics for Bulgaria.

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Hazardous waste ceentre in Radnevo o (Bulgaria)

births as ccompared to o 9 per 100 00 live birth hs.19 Death caused by respiratory diseases iss higher in Stara S Zagora region than the country average (4.9 per 1000 as compared to 3.7 pe er 1000 in 20 010)20, indica ating health impacts from m increased levels of specific polluttants related d to the operration of coa al mines and d coal-fired power plan nts, such as fine f particula ate matter an nd dioxins.

3.1.4 Ec conomic backgroun b nd Not only th he local eco onomy, but also the eco onomy of th he entire Sta ara Zagora region is d dominated by b the extrac ctive industryy: it provide es the larges st share of employmen nt in the reg gion, while th he chief eco nomic activitties are related to coal extraction, energy generation and maintenance e of the mining and ene ergy-related facilities an nd infrastruccture. In Rad dnevo Municcipality, coal mines are the largest employer. Radnevo an nd Galabovo o municipalitties share an a area of 240 2 square kilometres of coal mine es that conta ain the largesst deposit of lignite coal in Bulgaria, amounting to some 2100 million to onnes of coa l. Maritsa-Izttok coal mines account for nearly 9 90% of all co oal extracted d in the coun ntry. Betwee en 25 and 35 5 tonnes of coal are exxtracted from m those mines annually.. The projected extractio on in 2012, calculated based on the demand d by the re egional coal--fired power plants, is estimated a at 32 million tonnes of co oal21. In Bulg garia, the ave erage salary level in the extractive iindustry secttor is higherr than that in n most otherr sectors. Sta ara Zagora region rankks third (afte er capital Soffia and Vratssa) based on average salary level, and is 18% % higher than the countrry average fo or 2010, and d has been the t case in 22 the period 2000-2009 9. The ene ergy producced by the Maritsa-Iztok complex contributess almost 30% % of the enerrgy produced d nationally, coming seco ond only to 23 the Kozlod dui nuclear power plan nt. The M aritsa-Iztok complex is the first industrial ccluster in Bulg garia, named d “The energ gy heart of Bu ulgaria”.

3.1.5 En nvironmen ntal backg ground The propossed project site s comprise es mostly m eadow-type vegetation without w any protected flora specie es. Most off the landsccape is pasture land on top of recultivated d coal-miness, some riparrian areas, h human habita ations, roads s, industrial areas (the coal-fired po ower plants, the coal miines, the tec chnical repair sites, the enrichmentt facilities), the so-ca alled 'anthro opogenic-tec chnogenic' landscapes (include ve ery large traccts of land, diisturbed by in ndustrial exc cavation work ks, tailings, landfills, ro oads, aband doned or operational faccilities and sites, etc.), and some reclaimed and “recultivvated” landsc capes. In clo ose proximitty there are nine water dams that serve as wintering w habitat for sevveral bird species of in nternational importance e: around 50 5 thousand ds birds of 29 water bird specie es, notably 19

Ibid.

Regional H Health Inspectorate-Stara Zago ora, 2010. Disea ase and disability in Stara Zago ora region.

Mini Maritssa Iztok EAD Web W site (www.m marica-iztok.com m/en/).

National S Statistics Institutte, 2010. Averag ge monthly sala ary level by regio on for 2010.

Stara Zago ora Regional Au uthority, 2006. Regional R develo opment strategy y for Stara Zagora, 20052015.

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Hazardous waste centre in Radnevo (Bulgaria)

cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo, Phalacrocorax crispus) and geese (A. albifrons, B. ruficolis) spend the winter there in significant numbers. As a minimum, the expected impacts include: trampling, soil and surface water contamination, drainage of some areas, rock and soil excavation might cause further contamination. Thermal power plants (TPPs) are the top source of dioxin emissions in Bulgaria: between 1998 and 2006, TPPs emitted between 41-51% of all dioxin emissions (consistently over 100 g/year); even after the sharp decrease in total dioxin emissions since 2007 due to better pollution controls, TPPs have remained the top dioxin emitters (over 2 g/year). Fig. 20 A satellite image of the 'anthropogenic-technogenic' landscapes in the project area Source: Za Zemiata based on Google Earth

On and around the project site there are a number of archaeological sites of national significance, that would be irreparably affected or directly destroyed by project construction and operation activities. The municipal regions of Radnevo and Galabovo where the industrial energy complex Maritsa-Iztok (Figs. 18, 19) is located were officially listed as one of fourteen environmental pollution hotspots in Bulgaria, determined by a Decree of 24 the Ministerial Council 1994, based on poor air quality in the selected regions . As the three Maritsa coal-fired power plants use local low-quality lignite coal, they are among the chief national sources of sulphur dioxide emissions, a significant source of CO2 emissions, dust and PM10, dioxins and furans, NOx, mercury, cadmium. Maritsa East 2 (the largest capacity) emits nearly 450 000 tonnes of 25 SO2, which is 50% of all SO2 emissions in the country for 2002.

Постановление N 50 от 16.03.1994 г. в Държавен вестник бр. 25 от 25.03.1994 г / Decree of the Ministerial Council Nr. 50 from 16.03.1994.

Executive Environmental Agency, National Reports on State of the Environment in Bulgaria, years 1998-2009; (http://eea.government.bg/bul/Output/SOE_Report/index.html).

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Hazardous waste centre in Radnevo (Bulgaria)

Fig. 21 Stara Zagora is the heart of the coal industry in Bulgaria. Thermoelectric power plant Maritsa East 2 Photo credit: Za Zemiata

Large parts of the land in the area within 10 km from the project site are already disturbed by ongoing or past excavation works and other industrial activities, or are subject to recultivation after industrial activities (see Figs. 20, 21 and 22).

Fig. 22 Maritsa-Iztok coal mines Photo credit: Za Zemiata

The problems expected from the project are related to hazardous waste treatment, incineration and disposal, plus the increased risk from transporting large quantities of hazardous waste from all over the country to the centralised facility.

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Hazardous waste ceentre in Radnevo o (Bulgaria)

3.2 The T issue in tthis case c is not ab bout trade t in conventional c commodities. c . It is about tox xic remnants r of production p processes p tha at need n to be discarded d

Descripti D on of the e projectt

The plan for f a NHWC included several facilitie es, to be siteed on some 20 2 hectares of land. Th he project in ncluded a 15 000 tonnes/year incinerrator (plus an additional 30 000 to onnes/year incinerator planned forr 2015), a solidification n facility, a physical-chemical Tre eatment facillity, a mercury recyclingg facility, a hazardous waste landfill at the NHWC, a 5.000 tonne es/year asbbestos landfiill, auxiliary buildings and a facilitiess â&#x20AC;&#x201C; all to be sited in Gled dachevo, andd an addition nal regional hazardous s waste landffill to be loca ated in the So ofia region. The issue in this case e is not abou ut trade in co onventional ccommodities. It is about toxic remnants of prroduction prrocesses tha at need to be discarde ed. As the hazardous s waste invollved originatte from a number of larg e industrial enterprises, e they comp prise a dive erse mix of unwanted substances, end productts of social metabolism m. Thus, thiss case is dire ectly related to human heealth and environmental justice. Po otentially affe ected environ nmental asse ets are land, air and wate er. The propo osed capacityy for the fac cilities of the NHWC is eestimated ba ased just on the amoun nts of waste e reported by b industrial waste geneerators in Bulgaria. B No considerattion of house ehold hazard dous waste has been givven, as thos se were not subject to separate co ollection, no or were they y banned froom landfills at the time (2000). Altthough the p project stated d that the po olluter pays pprinciple wou uld apply to the waste taken in by the NHWC, this only reffers to the faact that indus stries would need to pa ay in order to o get their sttockpiled and d freshly gennerated waste treated at the NHWC C. However, the financia al plan for th he project fixxed the cos sts at levels 'tolerable' for the haza ardous waste e generators s â&#x20AC;&#x201C; artificiallyy low costs that were to be in practtice subsidise ed by EU pu ublic funding. Household d sources of hazardous waste w stream ms did not ennter in the ca alculation of the capac city of the N HWC facilities. This exc cludes a widde range of dangerous products and a substan ces, includin ng common household w wastes in Bulgaria that are regula ated by EU le egislation, namely spentt batteries annd accumula ators, waste oils, end-o of-life vehicle es and waste e electric and electronic equipment. In addition, there are the t expired p pharmaceutic cal products, old paints, ssolvents, ligh ht bulbs and mercury th hermometerss, to name ju ust a few of a long list off ubiquitous objects that become hazardous wa aste for which no specia al collection or take bac ck schemes existed in Bulgaria in 2 2000. In 2012 2 the only dis sposal optionn for much of that waste is still the mixed house ehold waste bin, which ends e up in thhe landfill - since s nearly 100% of waste garia is simp w in Bulg ply landfilled d, with extrem mely low percentage of recycling or o reuse. On the fac ce of it, the p roject doesn't involve any y trade in im ported waste e. However, as the prroposed fee es to be ch harged for treatment / disposal pe er tonne of hazardous s waste werre between two t and thre ee times low wer than the e European Union ave erage (in orrder to allev viate the fina ancial burdeen of hazard dous waste treatment for large ind dustrial gene erators), EJO Os had serioous concerns s that once built, the NHWC N could d start taking in importe ed hazardouss wastes in addition to domestic waste. w

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Hazardous waste ceentre in Radnevo o (Bulgaria)

The projecct promoterr is the Bu ulgarian Min nistry of En nvironment and a Water (MOEW). M MOEW wass hoping to fund the pro oject using a 50% gran nt from the European Union's Insttrument for Structural P Policies for Pre-Accession (ISPA), combined w with an EIB loan l as matc ching funding g. The projec ct feasibility studies, s the application form and conceptual c design were conducted by b consultants Fichtner (Germany) and Chemccontrol (Denm mark).

3.3

Im mpacts off the pro oject

The projecct was suppo osed to produ uce positive environmen ntal impacts by b bringing a change in n the way ha azardous waste is manag ged in Bulgaria – the most common practice be eing its storage and disposal in la andfills. Neg gative impac cts include aggravation n of human and enviro onmental hea alth problem ms in one of the most heavily polluted regions in the coun ntry. In addittion, there is s the further injustice of dumping (m mostly industrial) toxic waste to an a area dominatted by the co oal industry – where mo ost people livve and work in worsened d environmen ntal condition ns, in order to maintain n a 'strategicc' industry (frrom the persspective of 'energy independence') generating some of the e dirtiest pow wer in Europ pe, in terms of pollution per unit of energy pro oduced. Bulg garia, agains st trends in other Europ pean countriies, seems determined d to maintain n a dirty coal industry forr power gene eration. Thus s, the Stara Zagora reg gion has be ecome a “p pollution hottspot”, perve ersely attrac cting other polluting industries.

Toxic waste w dumped d to an area dominatted by the coal ind dustry, where most m people live and d work in worsene ed environm mental conditio ons, in order to mainttain a 'strategic' industry

The geogrraphic distrib bution of ind dustrial haza ardous waste e sources is s such that between 9 90% and 97% % of the wa aste generatted comes from f outside e the Stara Zagora Re egion, and most m of them m are situatted at signifficant distances to the proposed location of the NHWC.26 Apart fro om greatly increasing the t risk of accidents d during transsportation of the waste, this fact als so indicates a skewed distribution n of the unw wanted produ ucts of the ssocial metab bolism that is i tends to happen aw way from morre affluent re egions such as Sofia (ac ccounting for 30-50% of hazardous wastes gen nerated) and d into an are ea that, although relatively well-off economica ally, has been b formally categorissed by the authoritie es as an 'environme ental pollution hotspot' where w there iis 'increased d health risk due to air pollution'. Industrial hazardous waste in Bulgaria B betw ween 2000--2009 avera ages some 27 706000 ton nnes annually and is mo ostly landfille ed. Thirty enterprises e account a for over 90% of the total industrial hazardous h w waste genera ated, with metallurgical industry ass the leading g generator, followed byy the cemen nt, pharmace eutical and petrol indu ustries, and including als so some wa aste water treatment pla ants and a factory pro oducing millitary equipm ment and a arms28. Inciidentally, metallurgical 26

Chemconttrol, Fichtner and Polyconsult EKO, E 2001. Wasste Survey – Fin nal. Included in the preparatio on of the ISPA Application A Form m for the project “Establishmentt of National Hazardous Waste Centre” .

Executive Environmental Agency, Nation nal Reports on S State of the Env vironment in Bulgaria, years 1998-2009 9 (http://eea.govvernment.bg/bul/Output/SOE_R Report/index.htm ml).

Ibid.

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Hazardous waste ceentre in Radnevo o (Bulgaria)

The projectt proposed to o use a large amou unt of public money. Ten enterprises generate arround 60% of haza ardous waste and own the same share e of all stockpiled wastes hazardous w

industry is s among the e top export industries in Bulgaria, accounting for some 6 2 billion BGN (roughly 3 billion Eurro) in 2010.29 A brief loook at the wa aste survey conducted d by the proje ect consultan nts reveals th hat ten enterrprises generate around 60% of hazardous wasste, and the same ten en nterprises ow wn the same share of all 30 stockpiled hazardous w wastes . The projec ct proposed tto use a large amount (55.5 million E Euro) of public money, in the form of an ISPA grrant, supplem mented by a loan from thhe European Investment Bank, in order o to fina ance the cos stly construc ction and opperation of the t NHWC, which, if th he projection ns on which the t project is s based are ccorrect, would serve the needs of a dozen indu ustrial enterp prises, and would w not acccommodate e household hazardous s waste at a all. Nevertheless, the EIA E report cclaims beneficial social effects of the project, such as dire ectly and ind directly generrating econo omic growth and emplo oyment in th he region, im mproving regiional infrastrructure, redu ucing health and enviro onmental rissks from cu urrent practic ces of hazaardous wastte disposal, educationa al and aware eness raising g effects reg garding hazaardous substtances. It is unclear ho ow the last p point would be b realised, considering that the pro oject targets just industrial enterprisses.

3.4

The confl ict

3.4.1 Sttakeholde ers The main stakeholderss historically y involved in the conflict aare describe ed in details below. The Minis stry of Env vironment and a Water (MOEW): ( thhe main initiiator of the project, clearly in a p position of conflict of intterest, beingg at the sam me time the proponent, the investo or, and the authority a resp ponsible for aassessing th he quality of the EIA off the projectt and for imp plementing effective e mo nitoring of th he project's environme ental perform mance. The MOEW M attem mpted to solvve the growing problem of accumulated haza ardous wastes in the country byy betting on n a single technological fix â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a centralised complex of hazardouss waste trea atment and disposal facilities. In contradiction n with the general g statee-prescribed actions to alleviate problems p in tthe fourteen n environmen ntal hotspotss (see p.4), the MOEW chose to consider c the abandoned village Gled dachevo, locaated in one of the most polluted arreas in the co ountry, as the single candidate for prooject site. Chemcon ntrol a/s: A Danish co ompany that participateed in the consultancy c consortium m which deve eloped the entire project documentatiion (preliminary studies, EIA, ISPA application fform, etc.). Fichtner: A German company th hat participated in the cconsultancy consortium which developed the e entire projectt documentation (preliminnary studies, EIA, ISPA application n form, etc..). Incidenta ally, the verry same coompany is involved in

Capital Weekly. W Myths ab bout Bulgarian exports. e 29 April 2011 (www.capital.bg/politika_i__ikonomika/bulga aria/2011/04/29/1 1082287_mitovette_za_bulgarskiiia_iznos/).

Ibid.

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Hazardous waste ceentre in Radnevo o (Bulgaria)

developing g the future e Sofia waste manage ement conc cept, which entails a significant level of RDF F (higher tha an the rate off recycling) to t be incinerrated in the coal-fired p power plantss of the cen ntral heating g company located l in th he densely populated u urban area of o Sofia city. Phare Pro ogramme wa as the main channel c for tthe European Unionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fin nancial and technical ccooperation with w the cou untries of Ce entral and Eastern E Euro ope, widely used in the e form of gra ants for techn nical assista nce and feasibility studie es for large infrastructu ure projects. Instrumen nt for Structu ural Policies s for Pre-Ac ccession (ISPA): is one of o the three financial in nstruments of o the Europe ean Union (a along with Phare P and SA APARD) to assist the ten candida ate countrie es from Cen ntral and Ea astern Europ pe in their preparation n for accesssion by providing financi al assistanc ce of up to 85% 8 of the costs for infrastructure e projects in the EU p priority fields s of environ nment and transport. In order to receive a grant, proje ects need to o undergo a thorough appraisal a and get a fin nal approval by the ISPA A manageme ent committe ee. Criteria include eco onomic feasibility, cost-b benefit analyysis, compatiibility with na ational and Communityy policies an nd objective es in the fie lds of environment and d transport, proper envvironmental integration of o the proje ect, including g consultatio on with the public affeccted by the proposed p dev velopment. The MOEW W was hopin ng to receive e an ISPA g grant for 50% % of the estimated 56 million Euro project costs. c Throu ughout the project dev velopment period, p the prospect o of receiving an a ISPA grant has been n used by th he MOEW to o persuade opponents of the projecct to become e in favour off it. European Commissio on (EC) an nd its agen ncies (speciffically Regio onal Policy Directorate e-Generale, Environment Directorate e-Generale, the EC Delegation in Bulgaria): decides how w and if IS SPA funding is granted to project proposals. Decisions are made ba ased on com mprehensive appraisal of o the submittted project proposal an nd all accom mpanying doc cuments. The EC re ejected the project p twice â&#x20AC;&#x201C; first in 20 001 and nex xt in 2005, because b of serious co oncerns rega arding violattions of the e public con nsultation process and deficient pu ublic health impact asses ssment in the e project area a. European Investment Bank: exp pected to loa an most of the remaining 50% to cover the p project investtment costs. EJOs: nattional (Za Zemiata, CEIE) and inte ernational (C CEE Bankwa atch) EJOs followed cclosely the project p deve elopments, rrequesting access a to in nformation, analysing tthe available e information n, pointing o out the weaknesses in the project design and d public con nsultation process, mai ntaining corrrespondence with the relevant insstitutions invvolved and warning w the p public, media a and instituttions about the dangerrs of the proje ect. Environme ental Assoc ciation Za Zemiata Z is a an independ dent, non-profit, grassroots based organisatio on, establish hed in 1995 w which aims to promote sustainable s living and ccombat explo oitation of pe eople and na ature. Za Zemiata had an assigned coordinatorr for the cam mpaign, which significantlly facilitated the forging of o alliances

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and buildin ng up of join nt campaign with both lo ocal and inteernational co ommunities. Za Zemiatta is a memb ber of the CE EE Bankwatc ch network, aand worked closely with IPEN at th he time of t he campaign, which sig gnificantly im mproved the capacity to influence national n and international stakeholders. The Centre for En nvironmenta al Informatiion and Ed Education (CEIE) was established in 1994 wi th the missio on to increas se the inform mation provision, to raise awareness s and provid de education n and training to the ccitizens, volu unteers and members of NGOs and instittutions reprresentatives in Bulgaria on the environme ental subjectss and problems, to encou urage the effficient use off the natural resources and the susstainable dev velopment on local, natioonal and reg gional level. CEIE's participation w with experienced activists s, such as P Petko Kovach hev, was of central importance forr the succes ss of the cam mpaign. CEIIE is also a member of CEE Bank kwatch. Several other Bulgaria an NGOs also o supported the campaiggn by signing g on to open letters and d statementss developed d by Za Zem miata and C CEIE: Borrow wed Nature, TIME Foun ndation, Balkkani Wildlife Society, etc. CEE Ban nkwatch Ne etwork is an n internation nal non-goveernmental organisation o (NGO) witth member organisation ns from cou untries acrosss central and a eastern Europe (C CEE), monito oring the actiivities of inte ernational finnancial institu utions (IFIs) which op perate in th he region and promo ote environm mentally, so ocially and economica ally sustaina able alterna atives to th heir policiess and projjects. CEE Bankwatch h contributed d its expertise in lobby ying with insstitutions wh hich finance projects us sing public m money, such h as the EC and EIB. It w was also ve ery useful in reaching out o to interna ational activis sts and NGO Os through its ts 'Active Ban nkwatchers' action ale erts informattion system,, which disttributed the call to writte to Stara Zagora's Regional R Govvernor, and also a for gathering the suppport of som me 70 NGOs who signed onto the op pen letter ad ddressed to the ISPA proggramme. The Intern national POP Ps Eliminattion Network k (IPEN) is a global netw work of more than 700 public p interesst non-goverrnmental org ganizations w working toge ether for the elimination n of persisten nt organic po ollutants, on an expediteed yet socially equitable basis. IPE EN gave indiispensable support s to th he campaignn by providin ng targeted training of NGO campa aigners and including Ko ovachevo villlage in the in nternational report on dioxin d and PC CB levels in egg samples s from 18 coountries. Local inittiative comm mittees: the e five village es situated nnext to the project site (Kovachev vo, Novosellets, Pet mogili, m Rade etski, Mlekaarevo, Polsk ki Gradets) organised their own co ommittees off resistance, which combbined forces in a United initiative committee, he eaded by a local medica al doctor, higghlighting the e enormous significanc ce of the pu blic health concerns c exp pressed by llocal commu unities. The united initiative committtee was bac cked by the regional r strucctures of the two largest trade unio ons in Bulga ria, Confede eration of ind dependent trrade unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) and a the Conffederation off labour "Pod dkrepa", worrking to prote ect the right to safer working w cond ditions for more m than 15 5 000 workeers in the Maritsa M East energy com mplex. The l ocal committtees were ve ery effective in obtaining information from locall authorities,, organising protests an nd demonstrrations and expressing

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their oppossition to the project. p In the eir numerouss letters and appeals to all a levels of state autho orities in Bu ulgaria, the United U comm mittee referrred to the fa act that no additional ssources of po ollution are needed n or wa anted by the local popula ation of one of the mosst heavily pollluted regions in the cou untry, threate ening civil dis sobedience in case the eir opinion remained unhe eard. Local and d regional authorities s: The mu unicipal councils and mayors of settlementss in the vicin nity within 10 0 km from th he project sitte, the Gove ernor of the Stara Zago ora region.

3.4.2 History of th he conflict The first ro ound The projecct for a National Hazard dous Waste Centre was s first initiate ed in 2000, using a grant from the e PHARE prrogramme to o contract th he consultants Fichtner and Chemcontrol to co onduct the necessary fea asibility stud dies, concepttual design and Enviro onmental Imp pact Assessm ment (EIA). The projecct was first re evealed to th he public in JJanuary 2001, when the Ministry of Environment and Wate er (MOEW) la aunched a lo ocal awarene ess campaign targeting the population in the vicinity v of the e planned sitte for the ha azardous wa aste centre. Later all o options were e dropped but b one â&#x20AC;&#x201C; tthe site of an a abandoned village, Gledachevvo. In April 200 01, at the tim me of the firstt formal mee eting intended d to present the project to the publlic, local peo ople reacted negatively to o the possibility of a new w factory to be built in the region, and walked out of the p presentation. Local auth horities and project lea aders accused the loca al people off being â&#x20AC;&#x153;ill-m manneredâ&#x20AC;? and a project developme ent proceede ed without any public invo olvement. On May 2 20, 2001, att the local public heari ng organise ed as part of o the EIA procedure, there were no local pe eople from th he affected villages of Kovachevo, K Pet Mogili, Radecki, and Novos selec presen nt, except representativ r ves of the municipal a authorities. People P from Kovachevo stated that they t were no ot informed of the mee eting; neithe er were they aware of itts purpose and a importan nce for the future realisation of the e project. Jus st two days la ater, on May y 22, in glarin ng violation of the EIA procedu ures specified in Bulg garian legis slation, the Supreme Environmental Expert Council (SE EEC) of the e Ministry off Environment voted a preliminaryy approval of the EIA report, so thatt the applica ation for fund ding of the project cou uld be submittted to the IS SPA program mme at the en nd of May 20 001. In August 2001 people e from Kovachevo forme ed a Civil co ommittee and d collected 408 signatu ures (where there are ab bout 580 resi dents with th he right to vo ote) against the constrruction of th he NHWC. With the he elp of the Stara S Zagorra regional governor, M Maria Neikovva, the petitiion was sub mitted in the e Bulgarian Parliament. P Two meettings with the local authorities a a and MPs fo ollowed. Pe eople from Kovachevo o were inform med that the project was already welll under way, and it was impossible to stop or to t even deba ate it. Also, tthey were to old that it wa as better to agree, as tthey would benefit b from the project.. Later on, tw wo more loc cal citizens'

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petitions against the prroject were in nitiated in Pe et Mogili (singged by 726 people) p and Novoselec c (signed by 4 493 people).. In an atte empt to influ uence the decision-making process on the fina ancing end, Bulgarian NGOs soug ght the sup pport of their internationnal counterp parts, which resulted in n an open lettter of Septe ember 10, 20 001 to the invvolved direc ctorates and officials off the Europ pean Commission. The letter calledd for a cha ange in the objectives and policy of financing projects in the area off waste management in Bulgaria to owards emp phasis on prrojects that prevent wasste generatio on and are environme entally safe. The letter was signed by 75 N NGOs from around 30 countries. The answe er of Mr. Je ean-Marie Se eyler, Actingg Director of o the ISPA program to the NGOss Open Lettter stated th hat "the Bulggarian autho orities have given certa ain assurancces" for "full public consu ultation in linne with the EU E Directive on EIA". Before rev viewing the final EIA rep port, the SE EEC of the M Ministry of Environment E was inform med of the local people eâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s petition. Without takking the loc cal peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arguments s into accou unt, the SEE EC approved d the EIA reeport, openin ng the final stage of the t decision--making pro ocess needed to allow pproject realis sation. One month afte er the SEEC C decision for approval, local people were formally asked to present their argumentts. During th he special me eeting on Occtober 22, 20 001, Deputy Minister of o Environme ent Dukov, stated sev veral times that NGOs had been manipulating the loca al communities, in partic cular accusinng Za Zemiiata. It was made clea ar to the loca l people thatt the project was w in such an advanced d stage that public inpu ut was no lon nger welcome. Meanwhile e, EJOs' con ncerns state ed during the project deevelopment stage were neglected:: it took the M MOEW more e than 5 mon nths to respoond to Za Ze emiata's first position sttatement. Th he key objec ctions to the e project statted by NGO Os were the following: 1) No stud dy of the exissting dioxins s and furan pollution p leveels had been n conducted in Bulgaria a and particu ularly in the Stara Zagora Region, nnor the Gled dachvo site. According to the Ann nual Bulletin on the statte of the ennvironment in i Bulgaria, published by the Minisstry of Enviro onment, The ermal Powerr Plants emitt around 50 % of total dioxins emisssions in Bu ulgaria. There e are three tthermal pow wer plants in the area. 2) No asse essment of tthe cumulativ ve and synergistic effects ts of dioxin emissions e in combinatio on with existiing pollutants s has been made. m 3) No pro oper investi gation of th he quantity and sort oof hazardous waste is conducted d. 4) No alterrnative treatm ment technollogy is consid dered differeent than incin neration. These arguments were e presented in a face-to--face meetinng between NGOs, N local committee es and the M OEW on the e 19th of December 2001 , when NGO Os proposed that the MOEW M shou ld order a fresh f environ nmental imppact assessm ment of the project, which should include a new n study of o the healthh risks that the project entails forr the local p population an nd involve international experts; an nd that new

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public conssultations sh hould be con nducted, thiss time involv ving all of th he affected villages and the workerrs at the Maritsa-Iztok ind dustrial energ gy complex. The attitud des communicated by the e Bulgarian governmentt boil down to accusing local peop ple of being ill-mannered d, because they did no ot want to accept a new constructio on in their re egion until the existing e nvironmenta al problems are a solved; unintelligen nt, because e they listen n to the a arguments of o NGOs, or, o as the governmen nt put it “allo ow to be ma anipulated”; iincompetent, because th hey did not accept the e EIA experts’ statemen nts as conv incing enough to ensurre that the project is h harmless. In conclusiion, the Euro opean Comm mission's deccision was th hat the proje ect was not ready and it would no ot be financ ced in 2001 . The Comm mission also o proposed further inve estigation to be made fo or the dioxin contaminatio on risk. The Ministry of Environment did not re eceive the IS SPA grant, n nor the EIB loan necess sary for the project in 2 2001.

The secon nd round In 2003 the e MOEW re-initiated pre eparation of the project for f National Hazardous Waste Ce entre, aiming g to submitt an applica ation for its s funding to o ISPA in Septemberr 2004. A co onsultation on the EIA sccope was co onducted on March 15, 2004 by tthe MOEW with repres sentatives off NGOs, wh ho provided feedback, demanding g that additional data and d analyses be e included in the EIA repo ort. Za Zemiata initiated a court case e at the Sup preme Admiinistrative Co ourt, in an attempt to negate the minister's approval of th he project in n 2001. The claim was rejected on n grounds off lack of lega al interest, ass the positive e decision to o go ahead with the prroject, based d on the EIA A report is o only valid for one year, which had already passsed at the time of the co ourt case. Of all setttlements sittuated neare est to the project site,, the most noticeable resistance to the projecct came from m Radnevo, where the newly n elected d municipal council on January 15, 2004 voted unanimouslyy against hav ving the plan nned facility on their terrritory. On the 7th of April a joiint declaratio on by the loccal affected people p and the workers at the 3 TPP supporte ed by the tra ade-unions w was submittted to the President of Bulgaria, th he Bulgarian Parliament, local authorrities and me edia. The peo ople stated that no offficial represe entative took their opin nion into acc count, threattening civil disobedien nce as an exxtreme meth hod of fightin ng against the t construc ction of the NHWC. This time th he United committee c p presented a petition against the realisation of the NHWC C project signed by 2750 0 people. On the 28tth of June 20 004 a MOEW W presentati on about the e new propo osal for the National Ha azardous Wa aste Centre provoked a d demonstratio on at the pro oject site by people from m affected villages. v Follo owing the prresentation, local protestters arrived at the plan nned project site with ba anners decla aring, "No to o the hazard dous waste centre", "W We yearn forr a sip of cle ean air - und derstand us"" and “We'd never join Europe using lies”.

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In the sum mmer of 200 04, an appea al for action was circulate ted througho out the CEE Bankwatch h member a and supporte er networks, asking activvists to send d a letter to the Stara Zagora Z regio onal Governo or, Maria Neikova, callingg upon her to o defend the people sh he representts and to demand a cleaner alternnative for dealing d with hazardous s waste. Mea anwhile, NGO activists worked w on deeveloping th he collective capacity fo or campaign ning by deve eloping a cam mpaign plann and detaile ed guidance for local activists. a Za Zemiata's campaigner,, Ivaylo Hle barov, wentt through a special tra aining on co ombating inc cinerators, organised byy IPEN, whe ere targeted strategies were explain ned. Numerous s requests fo or informatio on (well ove er 20) were prepared and a sent to various in nstitutions in n an attem mpt to obta ain official information about the environme ental and fin nancial aspe ects of the project, andd about the health and pollution status s in the Stara Zago ora region. Background B iinformation, fact sheets and leafle ets on the p project and on the harmful impaccts and risks of waste transportation incinera ation were developed d fo or the campaaign, which were used with media and in lo obbying mee etings and correspondeence with th he involved institutions s. Informatio n about non n-incineration n technologiees for hazardous waste treatment was compile ed and provided to the MOEW, M com mprehensive information about the project was published on nline on Za Zemiata's Z weebsite, in Bu ulgarian and English. Two public c hearings re elated to the new EIA rep port were sccheduled for 9th and 10th of Septem mber 2004 in n the municiipal centres of Radnevoo and Nova Zagora, as announced d in local me edia.

Fig. 23 Local commu unities protes st the plan to o build a haza ardous waste treatment an nd disposal fa acility in on, on the pla anned site of the project their regio Photo cred dit: Za Zemiata a

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This mean nt that inte erested loca al people ffrom the most m affecte ed villages neighbourin ng the proje ect site wou uld be forced d to to go to t Radnevo and Nova Zagora durring working g hours, in to otal disregard rd of the deliberate request sent to the MOEW W by the loccal initiative committee c o of Kovachevo o village thrree months earlier, askking that pu ublic hearing gs take placce in the afffected villag ges, which received no o response from f the Miniistry. To makke matters worse, w just two copies of the EIA rep port were ma ade publicly available a in tthe region: on ne in Radnev vo, and the other in No ova Zagora. This T made it practically im mpossible for villagers to review the Report and d prepare sttatements: in n order to do o so, they would w have to t travel to Radnevo o or Nova Zago ora, in orderr to read the document which w is more than 300 pages long g. Moreover, local citizens who reque ested a copy of the EIA re eport using the Aarhus Conventio on and the Bulgarian Ordinance for Access to Public Information n â&#x20AC;&#x201C; had not yet received d anything b by the time of the public c hearings. Only one month wass allowed fo or reviewing g the EIA report and submitting statementss and comme ents. The appro oach taken by b the MOE EW provoked d NGO activ vists to state e that â&#x20AC;&#x153;the developme ent of this pro oject up to now n has dem monstrated th he remotenes ss of those in power fro om the real problems p of ordinary peo ople, just like e before 1989 9. The only difference now is tha at democratiic procedure es are bein ng simulated d which is supposed to 'persuade' the financial donors that the pe eople have given their consent."31

Fig. 24 P Public hearing g in Radnevo o, September 9, 2004. The presence of security gua rds anticipates an outburst off public prote est Photo credit: Za Zemiata 31

Petko Kovvachev from the e Center for Env vironmental Info ormation and Ed ducation quoted in a pressrelease byy Za Zemiata off 11.08.2004.

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Fig. 25 Public hearring in Nova Zagora, Z Septe ember 10, 2004. The prese ence of securrity guards anticipates urst of public protests an outbu Photo cre edit: Za Zemiata

The public c hearings concerning the Environ nmental Imppact Assessment (EIA) report on September 9-10 were extremely e we ell attended by local res sidents who openly exp pressed theirr opposition to the projec ct, stating thaat they will fight f it using all legal means. m The p presence of guards g in the e hall in bothh meetings betrayed b the organizers s' expectatio n of public opposition and a possiblyy unrest (see e Fig.7 and Kovachevo Village Fig.8). The e mayor of K V stood d steadfast bbehind his constituency c and he re efused to su upport the project. The e positive sttatement pre esented by Radnevo Deputy D Mayo or, which wa as immediate ely counteredd by a representative of the Radne evo Municipa al Council wh ho reminded the audiencce about the unanimous vote of the e Radnevo M Municipal Co ouncil from January J 20004, rejecting the project. The local leader of the e Confederattion of Indep pendent Tradde Unions in Bulgaria at the Marits sa-Iztok Min nes, also su upported the e local peopple: "We will back the protests. Iff necessary w we will be am mong the firs st ranks." Pressure on o local cam mpaigners was w applied after a the pubblic hearings s with some local news spapers asse erting that, "IIf Bulgaria do oes not startt the constru uction of the National Hazardous H W Waste Treatm ment Centre, the countryy will not be accepted a in the EU." According A to Zheljazko Zheljazkov Z frrom the villagge of Pet Mogili: "Such propagand da suggests that we are e protesting against thee accession of Bulgaria rather than n because w we are afraid d for the health of our fam milies. The newspapers n are scarem mongering. W What's wrong g with wantin ng to live in a non-toxic environment e and to breathe clean a air?32"

NGO pres ss release of Occtober 7, 2004, "Don't waste ou ur health" demoo held in Sofia".

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Fig. 26 R Representativ ves of the loc cal initiative c committees protesting p in front off the MOEW building, b Octo ober 7, 2004 Photo cred dit: Za Zemiata a

In the 7th o of October 20 004 some 50 0 people from m the affecte ed villages organised o a protest in front of the Ministry of Environmen nt and Wate er (MOEW) during the session o of the Supreme Ecolo ogical Expe ert Council which reviewed the Environmental Impact Assessmen nt report fo r the National Hazardo ous Waste ge. Centre. The event rece eived good media m coverag In early 20 005, Za Zemiata took sam mples of free e-range hen eggs from Kovachevo village to b be tested ass part of an internationa al study cond ducted in 18 8 countries, 3 initiated byy the IPEN.33 The study y came just ahead the first f Confere ence of the Parties to the Stockh holm Convention on Pe ersistent Orrganic Pollutants. The Bulgarian P Parliament ra atified the Co onvention in September 2004. 2 Chicken eg ggs were chosen for the study beca use they are e a common food item, their fat co ontent makess them appro opriate for m monitoring chemicals such as POPs that dissolvve in fat, and d eggs are a powerful sym mbol of new life. The study focused on free-ran nge hens be ecause they y can easily access and d eat soil an nimals and therefore their eggs are good tools for biomonitoring of env vironmental contaminattion. The resultss of the laboratory anallyses reveal ed evidence e of alarming levels of dioxins and d PCB conta amination in Kovachevo village, scoring one of the t highest levels of dioxins ever measured m in chicken egg gs. Dioxins in n eggs from Kovachevo exceeded the Europea an Union lim mit more than n twenty times. The leve el of PCBs 33

IPEN, Arnika and Za Zem miata, 2005. Con ntamination of cchicken eggs fro om Kovachevo, Bulgaria by dioxins, PC CBs and hexach hlorobenzene. (http://english.arnika.org/ffiles/documents s/Bulgaria_eggssreport.pdf).

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found in th he eggs wass more than double d the proposed EU limit. On the e eve of the Easter on the 1st of M May 2005, Za Z Zemiata sent s an invittation to the Minister of Environme ent and Wa ater, Dolores s Arsenova,, the Ministter of Healtth, Slavcho Bogoev, and to nation al and regional media, in nviting them for an officia al tasting of dioxin-load ded Easter e eggs from Ko ovachevo. In June 20 005 NGOs h heard from the t European Commissioon that the project had been rejec cted and wou uld not receiive ISPA fun nding. Neverttheless, the MOEW still attempted to keep thiss information n under cove er in its officiial correspon ndence with NGOs. In January 200 06, in response to Za Zem miata's queryy, the Bulgarrian Ministry of Environ nment claim med that “...tthe application for fundding through h the ISPA programme is being p processed in accordance with the recceived comm ments.” This statement came in dire ect contradic ction with the e official writtten confirmattion sent by the European Commisssion almos st six months s earlier thaat the projec ct had been dropped due to seriouss deficiencies in the asse essment of p ublic health impacts.

Aftermath h CEE Bank kwatch had a meeting with w officials from Europpean Commission's DG Environme ent in Brusssels in October 2005 which did nott yield much h additional information n on the stattus or problems with the project. p As a resullt of the cam mpaign condu ucted by EJOs, and the insistence of o the Stara Zagora Re egional Govvernor, a 'scrreening' of some s 3000 children from m Radnevo and Galab bovo was co onducted, rev vealing incre eased levels of pulmonary diseases and allergies, and two o to three tim mes higher incidence off bronchial asthma than observed in areas whe ere no TPPs s operate. Th he screeningg was repeatted in 2007, with the same results . In consequ uence, a hea alth program mme was developed for the Stara Zagora regio on, including g measures for decreasi ng pollution levels, and improving health mo onitoring and awarenes ss of the local population. The implementtation of the e programme e was to be e paid for m mainly by Sttara Zagora municipalitty and the ch hief polluting g industries (the ( TPPs annd the coal mines). m The poor health status in th he area was s also formally recogniseed in 2008 by y Ministerial Decree, which w declare ed Radnevo “a “ region with increased health risk in n relation to 34 air pollutio on” . Currently the t project h has been pu ut on stand by. The MO OEW has osttensibly not undertaken any new initiative tow wards realising the NHW WC. Howeve er, this is a project tha at might be re-initiated at a any time. Indeed, it iss included as a a priority investment project in the current National Programme oon Waste Management M Activities for f the perio od 2007-2013, with an allocated a buddget of 75 million m BGN (around 38 8 million Eu uro), which would w come from privatee investors or o a publicprivate partnership. Th here doesn't seem to be a fully deveeloped new proposal p for the NHWC C, however, the Nationa al Programm me mentions no incineration facility, but only landfills, so olidification, physical-che emical treattment plant and other 34

Постанов вление N 822 о от 19.12.2008 г.. / Decree of the e Ministerial Couuncil Nr. 822 fro om 19.12.200 08.

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auxiliary fa acilities. Stilll, the plan to t seek privvate rather than public funding is nt's previous probably a lesson learrned from the e governmen s attempts to o finance a highly dubious and bad dly calculated d project with h EU public funding. f

3.5

Po olicy rec commend dations

Throughou ut the conflictt, EJOs provided the MO OEW with dettailed comme ents on the project, askking repeatedly that the hazardous h w waste problem m should be addressed not in a ce entralised and hurried ma anner, but o nly after a comprehensiv c ve study of alternative technologie es and sites s. In 2001 and again in 2004, Za Z Zemiata complied a comprehensive list off referenced d non-incinerration technologies for treatment o of hazardouss wastes and d provided it to the MOE EW. CEE Ban nkwatch, in collaboratio on with Bulg garian EJOs s produced an issue pa aper addressed to EC decision-m making agencies, which proposed that an altternative ap pproach to hazardous waste trea atment shou uld be take en in Bulga aria â&#x20AC;&#x201C; one based on prevention,, reuse and recycling, and a non-incin neration metthods of trea atment and final dispossal. These re ecommendations are sti ll applicable to Bulgaria's industrial hazardous waste. In addition, it sh hould be em mphasized that domestic hazardous waste, alth hough more difficult to capture, c is g growing in quantity with the rise in consumer electronics consumption n, and shou ld be properly addresse ed as well, focusing on the top le evels (preven ntion, reuse,, recycling) of o the waste e hierarchy stipulated in EU's Wastte Frameworrk Directive (2 2008/98/EC)).

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Conclusions C

4 Co onc clus sions 4.1

Analysis A o of the ca ases

This reporrt investigate ed shipbreak king in the world w greatesst yard and a proposed hazardous s waste inciinerator in Bulgaria, B an nalysing the social, eco onomic and institutiona al logics at pllay. Economic developme ent, through h economic c growth aand globaliz zation, has considerab bly increased d the magnitude of the global social m metabolism. In the firstt case, the sshipping industry repres sents the keyy infrastructu ure through which matterial flows trravel around the world. The T increasee in physical trade flows portional inc (Fig. 4) lea ads to a prop crease in the shipping caapacity (the number n and size of ships; Fig. 5), w which leads— —sooner or later— to ann increase in n the supply of ships for scrap (for A ASSBY see Fig. 9). In the sec cond case, ccontrary to public perce eption, indusstrial waste -in quantity terms- is around five e times urb ban waste. A fraction of industria al waste is hazardous s, in the sensse that poses s substantiall or potentiall threats to public p health and the en nvironment. languages of valuation In both ca ases compe eting value frameworks, f n and truth claims came at clash h. Environm mental and civil c activistss as well as a business interests and public authorities s framed th he issue aas one of economic, environme ental and eq quity values.. In the Bulgarian casee European institutions, under civil society presssure, finally decided to withdraw w funnding and the e project did not take place. Instead d, at the Sup preme Courtt of India thee local comm munities and the activis sts emphasizzed the inju ustice of an unequal disstribution off costs and benefits and the disprroportionate environmenttal and sociaal damages at the local scale, considering loca al livelihood and a ecosyste em losses ass incommens surable with benefits at a other scalles. The bus siness intere ests and puublic authoritties instead valued mo onetary and e environmental benefits at the nationaal scale, assu uming them commensu urable with local losses s, and finding a positivee balance. Facts F apart, different la anguages off valuation clashed c and the Suprem me Court dec cided in the favour of the t language e of the powerful, interpreting sustainnable develo opment as a positive ec conomic ben nefit at the na ational scale. ‘Developmeent’ turned out o to be the dominant ideology wi th a substa antive powerr to signify. The Supreme Court's decision is s based on a (controversial) utilitarian n reasoning rrather than on o (Kantian) rights and d, instead o of recognizin ng value plu uralism, the so called ‘principle of balance’ is s based on a trade off be etween development andd environmen nt that does not recogn nize the inco ommensurab bility among the t expresseed values. It rests upon the idea th hat economicc benefits ca an compensa ate for enviroonmental deg gradation. It

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Conclusions C

would be interesting to t know how w would the e Court und dertake a cost–benefit analysis (C CBA) and how w much wou uld it count a worker's life e, how much the loss of livelihood a and how mucch the irreverrsible damag ge done to lo ocal ecosyste ems. The above are not justt rhetorical questions. Th hey show the e irreducible difficulty in the call ma ade by econo omists to inte ernalize exte ernalities. Furthermore, our analysis shows thatt there are im mportant reas sons why exxternalities arre not interna alized. The dumping (o or dangerouss incineration) of toxic w waste, ratherr than a marrket failure, can be see en as a cost shifting succ cess (Kapp, 1950) this being b made possible p by social asym mmetries in the distributtion of politiccal and economic powe er, property rights and income (Ma artinez-Alier and O'Conn nor, 1999). Racism R shou uld also be accounted as a driving g social forc ce for enviro onmental ine equality (Pellow, 2007), both at inte ernational an nd national levels, where e in the India an context, caste c plays an importa ant role (lose ers tend to be b of lower caste than winners). w Sh hipbreaking can also be seen as a an ecolo ogically une equal excha ange because of the ‘externaliza ation’ of environmentally damaging d isposal activ vities to the periphery p of the world-ssystem as a consequence c e of exchang ge relations with w more ind dustrialized countries ((Hornborg, 1998). As sta ated by Rice e (2009), the ere is an usurpation of waste assimilation prop perties of ecological systtems in a ma anner that en nlarges the domestic ccarrying cap pacity of the e industrializzed countrie es to the de etriment of peripheral societies (Rice, 2009).

4.2

So o, what has h to be e done an nd how? ?

Using the terminologyy proposed by Martine ez-Alier, AS SSBY is the erefore an example of the ‘waste disposal fro ontier’ of the e world's soc cial metaboliism, where those who o maintain the t power (ship ( owners rs, ship brea akers and authorities) a manage to perpetuate a system of ‘accumulatio on by contam mination,’ exercising de facto property rights. However this is not alw ways the ca ase as the story from Bulgaria sh hows. Just as a in the cas se with clima ate change, the crucial question is not only wh ho is to pay and a who is to o be paid, bu ut who is the owner of the e sinks? Whether im mprovementss in ASSBY or other wassteyards of the t global ec conomy will ever becom me true, are e then a que estion of so ocial and political struggle and the ability of th hose who cu urrently loose e to affirm ttheir own rig ghts. This is the lesson from Bulga aria where an effective alliance a betw ween NGOs and local co ommunities managed tto reverse power p relatio ons and stop p the incine eration projec ct avoiding From this potential n negative imp pacts over public p health h and the environment. e perspective e, greater an nd effective opposition o en ncountered by b ship owners and ship breakers re egarding the eir shifting off environmen ntal costs wo ould result in n improved sustainability, potentiallly both loca ally and glob bally. Locally y for the pollutants that would not be discharge ed into the environment e ; globally be ecause an increment in the operattions' costs for the shiipping indusstry, might slow down the social nd its multiple impacts. People metabolism m (by increassing the costs s of trade) an P who struggle fo or environmental justice e potentiallyy contribute to the env vironmental sustainability of the eco onomy (Martínez-Alier, 20 002).

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4.3

Mutual M lea arning

4.3.1 Role of the Courts India has a 'common n law' legal system and in environm mental conflicts judicial activism, in n both nation nal High Cou urts and Supreme Courtss, is rather co ommon (i.e. Public Inte erest Litigati ons). In gen neral the Co ourts have bbeen quite progressive, p meaning supportive s o of social and environmen ntal causes. However, as a the case described here, the jud dges are mo ore and more e assimilatinng developmentality and neo-liberal ideological position. Instead, in n Bulgaria, w with a civil la aw legal system, the situuation is quite different. The annua al monitoring g reports pro oduced by the European Commission n under the Co-operation and Veri fication Mec chanism (CVM) consistenntly criticise Bulgaria for the state of o its justice system, esp pecially with respect to thhe slow pace e of reforms and ineffe ective high-le evel anti-corrruption mea asures. Wheen seized by EJOs on environme ental issues â&#x20AC;&#x201C; access to o information, punitive acction against offenders, etc. - Bulg garian courtss have syste ematically shown a ratheer conservatiive attitude, often disca arding EJO ccomplaints on o grounds of o 'absence oof legal interest', that is, EJOs are frequently d dismissed fro om seeking environmenntal justice, because b by Bulgarian administrativve code in many m occasions they are nnot considerred a legally interested party. This w was the situa ation in the Radnevo R casee as well.

4.3.2 Different so ocial allian nces of sta akeholderrs Building alliances is esssential for winning w an environmenta e al conflict. In n the Indian case, fishe ers, villagers , workers an nd activists have not mannaged to com me together. Fishers live scattered a along the coast and com mmunication aamong and with w them is not easy. Villagers are e not organiz zed. Workers s are immigrrants form other o states, speak diffe erent langua ages and ha ave a differen nt culture. A Activists live far away in the urban centres and visit ASSBY Y only from time to time. O On top, among all these actors, the ere are impo ortant caste differences d which w constittute a barrie er for fruitful collaboration. Efforts a are being ma ade to organize and ally,, but there is s still a long way to go o, also becau use of the pressure p (sometimes alsso physically violent) by some ship pbreakers. Instead, in n Bulgaria, the historic dependenc ce of the Sttara Zagora a region on employme ent in the co oal industry has h led to th he formationn of rather strong s trade unions. Considering C tthe relative economic wellbeing oof people em mployed at Maritsa-Izttok, the prosspect of open ning up a ne ew industrial facility, the NHWC, did not appea al to local ccommunities, as it mea ant more poollution witho out offering benefits for the local population. T significant economic b Thus, the Stara Zagora trade unio ons expresssed their su upport for th he fight of the local committees, c providing a strong allyy with considerable capacity to put pressure on n the state. Even now w, in 2012, th he trade uniions at the Maritsa-Iztok M k coal mines s are set to strike, dem manding thatt employees s receive increases in paayment that correspond to the annual increase in the comp pany's profits.

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4.3.3 Po opular epidemiology y, parallells in issue es of healtth, un ncertaintie es about to oxics and manufactturing of un ncertainty by authorrities In environm mental conflicts, the sam me situation iss often repro oduced. Auth horities and enterprisess assure tha at contamina ation levels are under controlled c an nd properly monitored. On the contrary commu unities, trade e unions and d EJOs question official arguments and data, sometimes s generating the eir own (i.e. eggs with dioxin). d The Bulgarian ccase is emblematic as th he presidentt of the Unite ed initiative committees c of the villages around the project site was a m medical docttor working at the coal mines who o had long-te erm personal observation ns of the epid demiology off coal mine workers. T The campaig gn through 'A Active Bankw watchers' su ucceeded in prompting the Region nal Governo or of Stara Zagora Z to de emand that surveys of the health status of ch hildren and also a adults be conducted d in the region. As a result, the state initiated he ealth screenings for child dren from Ra adnevo and Galabovo in n 2005 and 2007. Inste ead in India authorities a claim to be m onitoring reg gularly, but data are not made publiicly available e.

4.3.4 Lin nks to inte ernationall aspects, both in th he promottion of prrojects and d in the re esistance Environmental conflictss often have e to do with different geo ographic sca ales. In the case of sh hipbreaking, the main responsible off the local im mpacts are the t original ship owners and the internationall institution (like IMO and EU) whic ch allow a continued ssituation of impunity. Forr these same e reasons, also resistanc ce organize at the inte ernational levvels, with NGOs like Grreenpeace or o BAN very y active on convention n negotiation (i.e. at IMO) and the S Shipbreaking Platform, which keeps in contactss activists and d researcherrs from differrent countries s. In the case e from Bulga aria, EJOs we ere more succcessful than n the Bulgarian state in making a cconvincing case before the t EU instittutions involv ved, and this s led to the effective abandoning of o the projec ct for lack o of funding. This T strategy would not have been n so useful ifi local sourc ces of fundiing for the NHWC N were e available. Local EJO Za Zemiata was in conta act with and received support from in nternational organizatio ons such as CEE Bankw watch and tthe Internatio onal POPs Elimination Network.

4.3.5 To oxic waste e goes to relatively r poor area as, a generral ph henomeno on? This happe ens in the ca ase of India, but for Bulga aria the area a considered is one the economic w well off area of the country because o of the mining g activity. So it might be better to talk of margina al areas, rath her than onlyy of poor area as.

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Key le essons from th he cases 1 Organizing

Local social groups (in these cases vvillagers, fishers s and workers) need n to self orgaanize and might need the help of o experienced activists a in politiccal mobilization like environmentalists or tradee union leaders. Key skills have to t do with involv ving people, fac ilitating, skill-sharing and coord dination.

2 Research

Resea arch means und derstanding as m much as one can of the questio oned project, how ow public authorrities and compa anies operate, who w makes deciisions, and whe ere the best pres ssure points aree for public actio on.

3 Strategy

Strategy is an overall map that guide es the use of tac ctics and specific actions (i.e. ci circulating petitio ons, writing letterss, staging a prote est,...) toward cclear goals. Plan nning and strate egic thinking aboout what is mos st likely to be effective can make a huge difference e, and help to av void groups was sting precious tiime, energy and d money. The steps to keep in mind include definin g: objectives, message, m messe engers, audiencce, resources, gaps and evalua ation criteria.

4 Communicatiion

Comm munication strate egies goes beyo ond writing a pre ess releases an nd refer to how tthe campaign ‘frames’ its public messages, and d how it uses ind dependent med dia, social media a, websites, selff-produced telev vision and radio. Environmental conflicts are fou ught largely in th he court of public opinion, so thhat it is hard to overestimate o the importance of how w to communica ate.

5 Alliances

Once social groups are organized, th hey should build d long term alliances based on affinities (again villagers, fisherss and workers), but also on sho ort term ones for specific objecttives. The least formal coalition ns are networks - groups tha at don’t meet tog gether but do sh hare information n. More formal aare coalitions in which one organiization may take e the lead, but w with no formal membership m or structure s - as cooalitions get more formal they may create membership criteria, beg gin holding regular meetings, de evelop a sharedd budget, etc.

6 Direct action

We refer to non-violen nt direct action, like mass civil disobedience, d th hat can be a poowerful and effective strategy where e other tactics ca ame up short.

7 Legal strateg gies

Relyin ng on legal strate egies (going to Court) can occu upy a lot of a ca ampaign’s time, energy and mo oney, and shift the ma ain site of action n to an arena we ell out of most campaigners’ c ex xpertise and inflluence, disempo owering the base of o a campaign. Nonetheless, N it can be a really useful thing for a campaign to do. Even if one e is likely to lose a case, pursuing it can help to g get press covera age and build allies. It’s not eassy to enter into legal territory withou ut legal training so it makes sen nse to enlist groups that are fam miliar with this kkind of work. Thiis could mean a law firm, f an environ nmental law NGO O, or legal supp port collectives.

8 Multiple issue es and scale

Powerrful actors in the e conflict, like sh hipbreakers and d Indian authoritties, attempt to m manipulate the terms of the conflicct in their favourr by concentratin ng on a single is ssue (i.e. labourr safety, but nott environmental impacts), divide the opposition (workers versuss environmentalists) and frame the issue only at one scale like the national. More in gene eral they attemp pt to simplify the e complexity to come out with pproposals which h favour them and make m invisible the e opposition cla aims. Therefore the opposition should give visiibility to the com mplexity and articulate coherently claims c which are e multidimensio onal (social, env vironmental and economics) an nd multi-scale (local, national and global).

9 Shareholder and financier stra ategies

Targetting the financin ng that supportss controversial projects p can in certain c situationss be extremely effective for achievving significant improvements in n the project de esign and implem mentation, or in preventing its realisation r altoge ether. In the Rad dnevo case, the e most effective campaign move e taken by NGO Os was keeping the constant fire byy maintaining ac ctive correspond dence with the in nstitutions who had the authoritty to finance the e project – the European Commissio on and the EIB. Numerous lette ers were sent to the EC and EIB B, pointing out the serious issuess related to the project's p design , environmental and health imp pacts, financial vviability and com mpromised public consultation process, and calliing for higher en nvironmental requirements to bbe applied in solving the hazard dous waste prob blem of Bulgaria a. As a result, th he project was stopped s twice pprecisely becaus se it was refuse ed funding by the e ISPA program mme of the EU, based on the ap ppraisal of EC eexperts.

Table 6 Key lessons from the ca ases Source: Ad dapted from th he report 'Beatting Goliath' (2 2011) by the Democracy D Ce enter (pp. 28-443). More reso ources for each strate egy can be fou und in the original documen nt. Available att http://democrracyctr.org/corrporate/resources-foraction-2/38 876-2/

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Acknow wledgments

A Ack knowle edg gm men nts Federico D Demaria (ICT TA UAB), au uthor of the case study of India, th hanks Joan Martinez-A Alier, Gopal Krishna, K Giorrgios Kallis, G Giacomo D'A Alisa, Giusep ppe Munda, Ignasi Puig g Ventosa, John O'Neill, Julien F. Gerber, Ch hristos Zogra afos, Leah Temper, B Beatriz Rodriguez Labajo os, Begum O Ozkaynak, Venny V Krishn na, Richard Christian, D D&D and all the interview wees. Evgenia Ta asheva and Ivaylo Hleb barov, autho ors of the ca ase study on n Bulgaria, thank Anellia Stefanova a, Maria Ma atorova, Petkko Kovachev v, Dr. Vulev,, G. Binev, the membe ers of the lo ocal initiative committee es of Kovac chevo, Novoselets, Pet Mogili Rad detski, Mleka arevo, Polsk ki Gradets, Prof. Joan Martinez-Alier, Beatriz Rodriguez Labajos, Federico Dem maria and a all activists who took part p in the campaign.

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