The Pirates of Rubbish
The new Italian government will have to solve the garbage crisis in the south of Italy. Berlusconi has even promised to run the country from Naples three times per week until all the rubbish accumulated for months has been cleared. Indeed the crisis is serious, its frightening echo resonates abroad and many claim that this is yet another billion dollar racket of organized crime, which traditionally handles garbage in Italy. But how many global market consumers know that organised crime handles our toxic waste, from old cell phones to discharged batteries, and that it ends up in the garbage dumps of the world, particularly in poor developing countries, contaminating the environment? How many know that this illegal activity is a multi-billion dollar business that involves the entire industrialised world, including our governments? Those who manage this unpleasant industry are part of a new generation of globalization outlaws: the pirates of rubbish.
Wealthy countries have said no to ‘uncomfortable’ refuse that pollutes the environment and globalization has permitted them to easily dispose of it. Cost and environment are at the root of this decision. Following the directives of the European Union, decontaminating and disposing of toxic waste costs in the West over $1000 per ton. The pirates of rubbish offer prices ten times lower including the cost of transport beyond national borders to ‘dispose’ of the waste. This explains why 47 percent of European garbage, including toxic materials such as electronic waste from old computers to medical equipment, is almost completely shipped by sea to developing countries, frequently on board pirate ships.
In order to avoid controls, pirates use ‘flags of convenience’, which frequently change en route. Although international law stipulates that the country of registry is ultimately responsible for controlling the ships’ activities, some states permit vessels to fly their flag for hundreds or a few thousand dollars without any supervisions. Amongst them is Sierra Leone, a country ruled by warlords and Uzbekistan, a landlocked country.
The toxic waste business is global. According to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), the annual global production of electronic waste ranges from 20 and 50 million tons, comprising recyclable and non-recyclable material. The former generally ends up in India or China where it is auctioned to aspiring Asian industrialists; the latter ends up in the hands of pirates.
Modern piracy presents all the characteristics of classic piracy, i.e. it bears little resemblance to the contemporary romanticized image of pirates. Forget the blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean. Picture instead, the model of organized global criminality operating on a world scale and apply it to the oceans, which cover 80 percent of the world’s surface and upon which anarchy reigns. In the last decade, marine piracy has increased 168 percent and the attacks are more and more violent, warned the transport commission of the English Parliament in July of 2006. Coincidentally, this report was released shortly after two attacks on British ships carrying aid to the tsunami victims in Indonesia. But it is the toxic waste industry that since the early 90s has been growing at a rate never seen before... The_Pirates_of_Rubbish
