USA:

Exporting waste
In many areas of the world, rubbish is burnt in huge incinerators. Whilst this destroys most of it, it produces mountains of ash. This can contain various toxins, so it too needs to be disposed of. Of course, no one wants this in their back yard, so companies try and dispose of it elsewhere. In 1986, 14,800 tons of ash from the Roxborough incinerator in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was loaded into the ship Khian Sea, to be taken to an island in The Bahamas and dumped there. However, the Bahamian Government refused to let the ship dock.

Illegal dumping
The ship was then forced to move on but was turned away by the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Guinea-Bissau and the Netherlands Antilles after environmental groups warned the countries that the ash might contain toxic materials. This was, of course, denied by the Pennsylvanian authorities, but that did not reassure governments from Honduras to the Philippines. A large proportion of the waste was illegally dumped in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans (leading to the jailing of two shipping company officials), with a further container load of ash being left on a beach in Haiti.

Return to sender
This ash was apparently to be used as topsoil fertiliser - but the local inhabitants of Haiti protested so hard that eventually it was removed. Two years ago the ash returned to Florida - covered in wild flowers and 5metre high pine trees! Six US states also refused to take the ash, so finally Pennsylvania agreed to take it back. Local villagers are very unhappy about the waste being dumped on them. Also there is currently a dispute between the state authorities of Florida and Pennsylvania about who will pay for the waste's removal.

What's the alternative?
This is not the only incident of the USA exporting its waste to the Caribbean or Central America, as well as trying to find sites within different states of the USA itself. No one wants to have an incinerator in their area, as there have been concerns that the fumes cause health problems. But burying the waste in landfill sites also poses problems - where do you put them, as they take up a large area, and are unsightly to say the least. The only alternative is to generate less waste and recycle more.