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Bloomberg has again devoted an article to the scandal of toxic waste that was sent by ship from the port of Durrës to Thailand and that, after the alarm of environmentalists, will return to where they started.
Bloomberg has requested information from the Albanian authorities who have said that the suspected toxic powder was sent without authorization from Albania.
"Albanian officials say they are investigating how 800 tons of suspected hazardous industrial waste were transported from its port without authorization, bound for Southeast Asia, after the suspected cargo was supposed to be returned," writes Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, an AP Moller-Maersk A/S vessel carrying some of the suspected cargo unloaded the containers in Singapore over the weekend, having initially sailed near the port before returning to dock in an unusual move. About 40 containers that environmental groups claim contain toxic waste dust will be transferred Monday onto an MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company SA ship that will ship them to Europe, according to MSC's shipping tracking website.
Maersk…
Officials have been working to stop the shipment since the Basel Action Network, a US-based nonprofit that tracks the toxic trade, informed Thailand earlier this month that the containers it believes are filled with potentially harmful arc furnace dust electric were going to its port.
Bloomberg News could not independently verify what the ships were carrying.
The companies exporting and receiving the containers have not been identified. The MSC did not respond to requests for comment, while authorities in Singapore said they were unable to comment yet.
Maersk said none of the containers had been declared to contain hazardous waste, otherwise it would have refused to transport them.
Environmentalists have been working to stem the flow of waste from developed countries into Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, from polluted plastics to industrial and electronic waste that is often laced with toxins. Under the United Nations Basel Convention, a global pact signed by many developed economies, countries must consent to waste.
When the ships approached Cape Town, South African officials tracked the ships and made a plan involving the navy, police, port authorities and the environment department to conduct a thorough inspection when the ships docked, a Forestry Department spokesman said. , Fisheries and Environment.
After communicating with Maersk, the company told South Africa that the ships were not scheduled to dock there and would continue on to Singapore.
The Ministry of Tourism and Environment of Albania had not given authorization for the export of suspected hazardous waste, according to the spokesperson Erjon Uka.
"Albanian law enforcement forces are conducting investigations with the Anti-Fraud Office of the European Union about "the circumstances and all the logistical connections that have carried out this suspected transport from Europe to Southeast Asia" , he said.
The waste is suspected to come from an international company operating near a metallurgical complex in Elbasan, near Durrës, he added.
Furnace dust, which requires treatment, is a hazardous waste product that usually comes from steel scrap recycling and contains toxic metal oxides such as cadmium and chromium that are harmful to health and the environment.
"International conventions and local legislation in accordance with them, foresee a series of obligations for producers and transporters of such waste. The implementation of these obligations is also the subject of ongoing investigations" , said Uka.
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