Environmental Dumping - Ocean Dumping

Ocean Dumping

Shipment of waste from country to country can also involve dumping waste into the ocean. Ocean dumping has been a problem since the 19th century. It was legal to dump industrial waste into the ocean until the Ocean Dumping Act was passed in 1972. During the years of 1970 and 1980 alone, it was estimated that 25 million tons of waste including scrap metal, chemicals, and acids were dumped into the ocean. Ocean dumping can lead to eutrophication which depletes the oxygen from the water killing marine life. Ocean dumping is placed into three lists: Gray List, Black List, and White List.

• Gray List: Water is highly contaminated and toxic on the gray list. Some of the contaminants include arsenic, lead, acids, nickel, chromium, scrap metals, and radioactive materials.
• Black List: The materials listed on the black list include mercury, cadmium, plastic, oil products, radioactive waste, and anything that is solely made for biological and chemical warfare. The materials on this list are highly potent and hazardous.
• White List: The white list contains every other material not already mentioned in the above lists. This list is used to make sure nothing will be dumped in the ocean and disturb or damage the coral reef ecosystems.

The most recent example of hazardous waste being dumped into the ocean occurred along Côte d'Ivoire in Africa in 2006. Hundreds of tons of toxic waste were dumped into the ocean from a ship by the name of Probo Koala. The ship was chartered by an international oil trader in the Netherlands. The incident was responsible for killing at least 16 people and forced thousands to flee from their homes. The waste caused damages to the health of almost 100,000 people in the nearby areas. The oil trader (Trafigura) paid 200 million dollars to help with cleanup. The owner of the local company that was responsible for disposing the chemicals in various places was given 20 years in jail.

After this incident some new regulations on the shipment of hazardous and non-hazardous materials were implemented in 2006. According to the new regulations, the EU will no longer be able to export their hazardous wastes to developing countries that do not have the capabilities to deal with the waste in an environmentally friendly way. E-waste, such as computers, cannot be shipped to countries that are not in the EU or the European Free Trade Association. States and countries that are members of the EU or EFTA must conduct inspections periodically to make sure that all regulations are being followed and physically check containers to verify that the containers hold only what is authorized. Finally, if the country that is taking the waste is unable to accept or dispose of the waste then the sender must pay to take their waste back.