Brazil Demands Repatriation of UK Hazardous Waste 110
Peace Corps Online writes "BBC reports that Brazilian authorities are demanding the return of more than 1,400 tons of hazardous British waste found in about 90 shipping containers on three Brazilian docks. The waste, which includes syringes, condoms, and bags of blood, has been identified as being of UK origin from the names of British supermarkets and newspapers among the rubbish. Reports in the UK media say the waste was sent from Felixstowe in eastern England to the port of Santos, near Sao Paulo, and two other ports in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. The British government has launched an investigation into how and why the waste was sent to Brazil and the British Embassy in Brazil has said in a statement that it was investigating and would 'not hesitate to act' if it was found that a UK company had violated the Basel Convention on the movement of hazardous waste. Meanwhile Brazil is demanding the immediate return of the rubbish to the UK. 'We will ask for the repatriation of this garbage,' says Roberto Messias, head of the Brazilian environment agency. 'Clearly, Brazil is not a big rubbish dump of the world.'" Two UK companies named by Brazil as suspected exporters of the waste are owned by a Brazilian, based in the UK, who says that anything that was in the containers other than the expected recyclable plastic is a problem to take up with his suppliers.
Why is this on Slashdot ? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why is this on Slashdot ?
Re:Why is this on Slashdot ? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is nothing but a pitiful attempt to flamebait the British, the Brazilian and the peanut gallery over here for more ad clicks.
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Huh? I read US or Canada based fuckups all the time here. Some little variety won't hurt!
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But that would mean it was actually observing something USEFUL. The odds of that are staggeringly low.
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What, you don't think boats use technology?
'Technology' is more than 'computers', you know. Or, I guess, you don't.
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Last time I checked 'Technology' included the wheel and fire.
Which is why any cool advancements in plasma physics are at least moderately likely to show up on slashdot.
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Because despite what you may think, it *is* "stuff that matters" (and by that I mean how big companies/governement - for now there's still a difference - are handling waste).
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Is there any other kind of government besides big government?
What a surprise that it's posted by kdawson. I wish you could filter slashdot by admin who posted.
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Re:Why is this on Slashdot ? (Score:4, Funny)
Like clockwork.
The SWISS way (Score:2)
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If "stuff that matters" is the only criteria for getting on Slashdot, then every news story should be posted. News is, after all NEWS. I thought this was a tech blog and "stuff that mattered" would be inside the tech field.
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Oh, like all the stories about american politics you mean ?
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I like the way The Register [theregister.co.uk] handle it. They basically have IT and technology divided up into various natural categories, and only run a story if it fits into one of them.
Or if it has to do with sex.
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This "news" has diddly fucking squat to do with technology, and as this is a technology site, it doesn't belong here. Doesn't matter if you consider yourself a nerd and this is news to you, cuz guess what, the vast majority of useless mainstream entertainment news would most likely be news to you and it still wouldn't belong on Slashdot.
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Because it's a slow news day?
"News for nerds" my ass...
Re:Why is this on Slashdot ? (Score:5, Funny)
Garbage in Garbage out maybe?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbage_In,_Garbage_Out [wikipedia.org]
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Oh stop complaining, what the hell else are you going to do?
Go outside and get some exercise?
Wow. Truth really IS so much stranger than fiction (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Wow. Truth really IS so much stranger than fict (Score:5, Funny)
This is why we should make a giant ball of garbage and shoot it into space!
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It's happened before in real life (Score:5, Informative)
The Mobro 4000 was a garbage barge that had to cruise back and forth [wikipedia.org] between the U.S. and Central America back in the '80s.
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So just torpedo the fucking thing.
riiiiight.... (Score:5, Insightful)
who says that anything that was in the containers other than the expected recyclable plastic is a problem to take up with his suppliers.
Did he ship it? Did his company sign the manifests and declarations? Did his company pay the mooring fees? Sorry, that's the cost of doing business. It's his problem.
"I didn't know what was in the bag" doesn't work for smugglers.
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Yes and no.. one of the things about container shipping is that most of the time the shipper never does know what is in the container other than what the supplier says is in it. They pick up the container box closed and sealed and it remains so until it reaches its destination (this is considered a strength of container shipping and not a weakness - less "falling off the back of the truck" sort of thing).
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No, it really is a problem for his suppliers. I brought the site I work on into compliance with EU waste regulations and one of the principles is that waste remains the responsibility of the producer. If the Waste Transfer Notes for the shipments said the containers were full of recyclable plastic then the person who shipped the waste in good faith isn't liable.
Given the volume of waste involved then this looks like a screw-up at a waste management company somewhere. Quite how they could've mixed up plastic
Could be worse. (Score:5, Funny)
I hear that the Port of Buenos Aires was sent 31 shipping containers of British food.
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Re:Could be worse. (Score:5, Funny)
Yes. Although they sometimes call it pudding.
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Re:Could be worse. (Score:5, Funny)
Reminds me of the old saw:
Heaven - Where the police are British, the lovers Italian, the chefs French, the cars German, all organized by the Swiss.
Hell - Where the police are German, the lovers Swiss, the chefs British, the cars French, all organized by the Italians.
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Reality - Where the police are Traffic Analyzers, the lovers Video Clips, the chefs Pizza boys, the cars Public Transport, all organized by Linus.
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The British police aren't heaven anymore. Seen the news coming from there recently?
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You're wrong. The cops who murdered that Brazilian electrician on the tube because they mistakenly assumed he was a terrorist got away scot free. There was also that killing during the G20 protests about which little will be done.
The police in this country are largely unaccountable.
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Re:Could be worse. lovers (Score:2)
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"Brits eat waste?"
It was full of McDonalds, Burger King, KFC and Pizza Hut then. ;)
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Poster was talking about British food. Not International-Food-that-happens-to-be-findable-in-Britain. Curry is no more British than Crepes.
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Poster was talking about British food. Not International-Food-that-happens-to-be-findable-in-Britain. Curry is no more British than Crepes.
Au contraire, curry is very British, particularly if you had family who left India in '48 like me.
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Poster was talking about British food. Not International-Food-that-happens-to-be-findable-in-Britain. Curry is no more British than Crepes.
He did not say Curry, he said "Curry Sauce", there is a difference. Curry sauce is about as related to curry is as McDonalds is to Rump steak. They might have some similar ingredients but the similarity ends there. It is certainly not an Indian creation since they have better taste.
Both curry sauce and mushy pease are strange liquids that us Brits pour over chips (thick cut French Fries but made from real potato, not reformed mash). Curry Sauce is this strange muddy brown liquid that looks disturbing like d
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I can think of few attitudes more likely to indicate you are not British yourself. Curry is regarded here, as one of the most British foods you can get. What matters that it originated elsewhere. Everything in Britain did!
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It still surprises me that a country with the best restaurants and best chefs in the world.
Is there a country that doesn't claim that?
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May I suggest that next time you don't spend your time eating at chippies, greasy spoon cafes, pubs and fast food places? Try some of the good restaurants, you can find them in most towns, even those in the Fens, it just takes some effort to look them up. British food isn't just about the full English breakfast and fish and chips. They have an extensive range of foods and dishes (and heck, it even varies in style from region to region) and don't deserve tourists who can't figure out a pub from a restaurant
Black Puddings (Score:5, Funny)
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So with used condoms it's a "Special Black Pudding" and it costs twice as much I guess.
Dumb question, why put these things in a container and ship instead of incinerating??
And the problem is... what? (Score:2, Insightful)
Plus, it seems like a simple problem of foul play between companies, why does the government get involved?
I know waste disposal is a huge problem, but this sounds like attention-whoring.
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Plus, it seems like a simple problem of foul play between companies, why does the government get involved?
because at one stage companies in developed countries were pushing thier waste problems on to less developed countries where they were far less likely to be dealt with in a safe and environmentally friendly manner.
It was decided this was a bad thing and so international agreements were signed forbidding it. Someone has broken that agreement and it is now the governments job to punish them for doing so.
Hopefully this makes the article a bit more pallet (Score:5, Informative)
Since the article does not touch on it, and the information i will be presenting IS related to technology, i will hope that my lack of account (i just don't have one) will not be too much of a hindrance.
Sending one country's waste to other countries may seem like a fluke, but in fact it's a pretty big illegal industry. PBS FRONTLINE/world did a show on how old computer and technology hardware was being sent to third world countries in bulk and outside of legal channels. For those looking for the connection to 'news for nerds' this is probably as close as you can get. The old hardware is given to recycling companies who then give it to 'other companies' which ship it to third world countries where it's essentially dumped on the poor. Think parts of India, Ghana and China. The citizenry then break/corrode/melt the materials (out of necessity) using extremely toxic and unsafe means in order to sell the various valuable pieces. Furthermore, many of the hardware pieces are still in near working order, things like harddrives specifically can still be hooked up and read accurately (at one point in the show they get a harddrive from one of the dumps and it has a whole album of family photos on it, as well as financial information).
Anyways, if anyone is interested in how this practice works and why it exists, here is the link to the story as well as the video: http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/ghana804/
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Re:Hopefully this makes the article a bit more pal (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, there are rules about this sort of thing, but they are actually relatively difficult to enforce.
The fact is that some private company in Brazil, probably owned at least in part, by some very senior Brazilian officials, contracted to receive this waste, knowing full well what it contained. They got busted, and of course, claimed innocence.
"Medical waste, Oh, we thought it was Medical paste, WTF, send this stuff back !"
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Hmm.. we're not allowed to ship medical waste. Maybe I'LL just describe what we're shipping, without referring to it's condition.
Shipping Manifest: 1.) Sanitary Napkins
2.) Disposable Diapers
3.) Prophylactics
4.) Hypodermic Syringes
Easy, eh ?
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The west needs to get with it (Score:2)
Look UNDER the waste (Score:2)
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Brilliant. It probably is cheaper to send an iPhone this way, rather than pay brazilian taxes.
All UK wastes are belong to us! (Score:1)
pwnage will be ars.
Just a minute (Score:2)
People are talking as though the whole of the UK has got together and decided to send their shite to Brazil.
Though I don't doubt such a plan has its merits, the summary does makes it clear that it was SOME BRAZILIAN OUTFIT that perpetrated the misdeed: "We'll get rid of your waste for you. Don't worry. We have a safe place to put it."
No propblem. Let Brazil send it back, and let the Brazilians who initiated the wrongdoing take care of it.
Blame where blame is due, please. :rolls eyes:
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Next misleading headline: "Brazilian Company Importing 1400 Tons of Hazardous Waste From Brazil Into UK"
Condoms??? (Score:2)
Tm
Alice's restaurant (Score:2)
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1400 Tons is how many containers? (Score:1)
For those who want to know:
A standard 40foot long container (the ones you usually see on flatbed units in Europe) is
12m long (approx) (exact 12.192m)
2.5m high (approx) (exact 2.438m)
2.5m wide (approx) (exact 2.591m)
volume is 67.5 cubic meters
and can hold a dry max volume of 26,600kg (26.6tons)
So it would appear that someone filled up 50 odd containers with mixed non-shippable waste.
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My mistake apparently it was 90 containers.