Environment authorities in Brazil are outraged after it was discovered that contaminated household waste had arrived in a shipment from Germany.
Falsely declared as safe items for recycling, the cargo had been illegally shipped from the port of Hamburg. Totally 22 tonnes of hazardous household waste, the refuse was immediately shipped back to its origin. Brazilian officials seized the waste after it was found arriving into the port of Rio Grande last week.
The shipment arrived labeled as plastics arriving from the Czech Republic for recycling and resale in South America. Officials opened the cargo to instead find used diapers, household waste and residual cleaning products. Brazil’s Institute of Environmental and Renewable Natural Resources said that the shipment contained all kinds of contaminated waste.
The environmental authority handed out fines to the South Korean cargo firm handling the shipment to the sum of 664,000 euros. Recoplast, the Brazilian waste disposal plant receiving the items was fined 177,000 euros. Hong Kong-based firm Dashan was handling the German export. Brazil gave the firm a 10 day deadline to ship the refuse back to Germany, which arrived in Rio Grande on 13 August.
IBAMA President Abelardo Bayma said that the shipment was in direct violation of the Basel Convention of 1988, which seeks to reduce hazardous waste exchanges between nations. Mr Bayma added that the violation was an affront to Brazil and showed contempt for Brazilian society.
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