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Coalition Press Release

The ban, agreed by a consensus of 65 governments including Australia in 994 (Decision II/12) forbids the export of hazardous wastes for any reason from member states of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to non- OECD countries.

This strict ban was agreed following numerous scandals in the late 1980s and early 1990s which saw toxic waste flowing from rich to poorer countries. In 1995 it was agreed that the "Basel Ban" should become a full amendment to the Convention and at the last full meeting of the Convention in December of last year, all 134 Basel members, including Australia, agreed to ratify the ban amendment as a matter of urgency. Even without such ratification however, Australia and South Africa are still obliged to honor the decisions of the Basel Convention.

Yet it has now been confirmed by Australian government competent authority Geoff Thompson, and the Minister of Environment of South Africa, Mr. Minister Valli Moosa, that their governments knew that the waste was regulated under the Basel Convention. Despite this these governments still authorised the export and import of 60 tonnes of "paragoethite" waste containing high levels of lead and arsenic from the mining and smelting giant Pasminco to the South African firm of Mintek. South Africa is not a member of the OECD while Australia is.

"To our knowledge this is the first time that a country has purposefully defied the global ban. It is known that Australia has been among a tiny minority of countries that opposes the ban but the arrogance in this open challenge to the will of the international community is breathtaking," said Jim Puckett of BAN, a global watchdog group on toxic trade issues from Seattle.

Pasminco used to dump a very similar waste they called "jarosite" into the sea before it was forbidden by the London Convention. Now they are looking for new destinations for the toxic residues from their zinc smelting operations in Tasmania.

Australia justified this specific shipment by saying that the 60 tonnes of hazardous wastes were being exported for research reasons and because they were requiring that the residues from the research process be re-exported to Australia. But the environmentalists in both South Africa and Australia denounced this "good bandit" approach.

"Not only has Australia exposed our workforce and environment to this pollution, they have poisoned the international climate of cooperation and adherence to international agreements, said Linda Ambler of GroundWork, a group of community health advocates in South Africa.

"In addition to flouting the global ban, it is well known that the community of African nations have unequivically stated NO to foreign toxic waste dumping on our continent." said Simon Divecha of the Mineral Policy Institute in Sydney.

"It is a sad irony that while Australia gets ready to welcome the global community to the supposed "green" Olympics, they are busy devising schemes to reopen the sad chapter of global waste dumping," said Matt Ruchel of Greenpeace Australia in Sydney.

For more information:

Jim Puckett, Basel Action Network (BAN), Seattle, USA: Tel/Fax: +1-206-720-6426, E-mail: jpuckett@ban.org

Linda Ambler, GroundWork, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa: Tel: +27-33-342 5662, Fax: +27-33-342 5665., E-mail: groundwork@sn.apc.org

Simon Divecha, Mineral Policy Institute, Sydney, Australia Tel +61 2 9387 5540, E-mail: advocacy@mpi.org.au

Matt Ruchel, Greenpeace Australia, Sydney: Tel: 61-+3 94789769, Fax: 61-+3 94789256, Mobile: 61-+408837138, E-mail: matt.ruchel@dialb.greenpeace.org

Bryan Ashe, Earthlife Africa Durban, South Africa, Tel/fax: +27-31-2052178, Mobile: +27-826521533, E-mail: bryan@mweb.co.za

Marcelo Furtado, Greenpeace International, Brazil: Tel: +55-11-30661165, mobile: +55-11-91697954, E-mail: mfurtado@dialb.greenpeace.org