Thousands of Tonnes of Suspected Toxic Waste Returns to Albania from Trip to Thailand

Environmentalists reveal contamination at the Thai import facility and request split sample of wayward cargo

Durres, Albania. October 28, 2024. An estimated 2,100 total metric tonnes of suspected hazardous waste packed in 102 containers aboard the Turkish-flagged container ship MOLIVA finally returned to Durres, Albania today after travelling thousands of miles across the globe to Southeast Asia and back. The massive shipment of what is suspected of being waste pollution control filter dust from the steel industry, first left Durres on July 4th, 2024, on two Maersk chartered ships. Shortly thereafter, the Basel Action Network (BAN), following a tip from a whistleblower, alerted authorities of Albania, multiple transit countries, and the intended destination country of Thailand that the ship was likely involved in the criminal trafficking in hazardous waste. As a consequence, the Thai government stated they never agreed to accept the waste and asked the Singaporean government to stop the shipment.

BAN’s Director Jim Puckett, was in Durres port when the ship arrived and is calling on Albanian authorities to have a public opening and sampling of the containers to ensure a transparent sampling and analysis process. He is seeking a split sample so that his independent NGO can conduct a parallel analysis to determine confirm the hazardousness of the waste and will be meeting officials of the Ministry of Environment this week.

“This is a massive victory for global environmental governance because in this instance the Basel Convention mechanisms has addressed illegal trade in hazardous, ensured return to sender and also negated what most likely would have ultimately resulted in massive environmental contamination with impacts on human health”. Musa Chamane, Waste Campaigner at groundWork.

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