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Environmental activists have hailed last week’s seizure of 113 shipping containers that had carried toxic waste into Indonesia, but contend that the country is still an open dumping ground for such illegal substances from abroad.

Officials inspecting the containers at Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok Port found a hazardous cocktail of metals, refuse and electronic waste. On import documents, their contents had been listed as harmless scrap steel.

Yuyun Ismawati, founder of the Indonesia Toxics-Free Network, said the case was symptomatic of how corruption had allowed Indonesia to become a dumping ground for other countries’ waste.

“We have regulations on hazardous waste traffic,” she said. “The officials could have done better if they wanted to work with more integrity and prioritize the safety of the public and the health of the environment.”

Yuyun said part of the problem was the lack of government coordination.

“The Environment Ministry takes a strong position and has solid regulations regarding this matter, but as usual it lacks good coordination with the other ministries,” she said.

“For their part, these other ministries apply laxer regulations on chemical safety and hazardous substances and waste, thanks to strong lobbying from industry. Most ministries will prioritize the business sector over public health.”

Masnellyarti Hilman, the deputy environment minister for toxic waste management, said Indonesia had banned the import of all toxic and hazardous waste.

She said there were three pieced of legislation on the issue: The 2009 Environmental Protection and Management Law, the 2009 Waste Management Law and the 1995 Customs and Excise Law.

“On paper, the 113 containers held scrap steel, which is not categorized as toxic or hazardous waste,” she said.

“The shipment was green-lighted, but officials then became suspicious. What we found was not just scrap steel but also dangerous plastic waste, dirt and soil.

“You could see right away that the plastic was dangerous because it had the toxic sign [a skull and crossbones] and the corrosion sign [a beaker of acid]. As for the dirt and soil, we need to run lab tests first to determine what it is exactly.”

Anyone who tries to sneak toxic waste into the country, she added, banks on gatekeeper authorities dropping their guard.

“They wait for their lucky break, for conditions to become busy, which is when they think our officials are off-guard,” she said.

However, Yuyun said that should not be an excuse for letting in illegal waste. The monitoring of such shipments should start at the port where they originate and continue through any transit ports all the way to the final destination.

“We should have been able to prevent the ships entering Indonesia if we were tracking the shipments,” she said.

“Ship tracking can be done for free online [at shipfinder.co], but you must also check the potential exporting companies listed for hazardous waste export in OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] countries.”

Yuyun said there needed to be more stringent controls at the nine ports across the country that were allowed to receive restricted cargo.

“The designated ports must be equipped with the proper tools and equipment to check the goods inside suspicious containers,” she said.

“The Ministry of Finance also should empower the customs office to increase its coordination and cooperation with other institutes nationwide, regionally and globally, such as the police, the Basel Convention’s Southeast Asian center, Interpol and NGOs.”

The Basel Convention, an international treaty to which Indonesia is a party, regulates the transfer of hazardous waste between countries, especially the dumping of such materials by developed countries in developing ones. It took effect in 1992.

Indonesia has also ratified the Basel Ban Amendment, which goes further by prohibiting all exports of hazardous waste, including electronic waste and obsolete ships, from a list of developed countries to developed ones.

The Basel Ban Amendment has not yet entered into full force, but it is considered morally binding by the countries that are a party to it.