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Jakarta Foils Bid to Dump Toxic Waste
Zakir Hussain - Straits Times Indonesia | January 29, 2012

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quas
7:00pm Jan 29, 2012

Whoever is responsible for this deserves to be locked up for good inside one of these containers.

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Customs officers have foiled a bid to smuggle 113 containers containing hazardous and toxic waste into Indonesia.

The seizure was one of the biggest in recent years and illustrates the ongoing challenge facing developing countries like Indonesia in their efforts to counter attempts by waste disposal agencies to get rid of potentially harmful substances — much of them from used computers and electronic devices — on the cheap.

The containers, which on paper originated in Britain and the Netherlands, arrived in five shipments from late last month with their contents falsely listed on import documents as scrap steel for melting by Banten-based company Hwa Hok Steel.

Officers inspecting several of the containers found a cocktail of metals, refuse and electronic waste, some of which had leaked when two ministers were checking the seized containers at Tanjung Priok port yesterday.

Such waste is believed to raise the risk of respiratory illnesses and other health hazards.

“Scrap must be dry and clean,” said Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya. “This is wet, leaky, and contains other substances that are harmful.”

An officer added: “This looks like trash lifted straight from a landfill and dumped in a container.”

Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said investigations into the offence, which flouted Customs, environmental and trade laws, were ongoing.

“Once we’ve established a crime has been committed, the perpetrators are looking at a penalty of between five and 15 years in jail,” he said.

The Customs department, which is under the Finance Ministry, yesterday said 89 of the containers were imported in three shipments from Felixstowe in England while 24 others came in two shipments from Rotterdam.

But alarm bells rang when it was noticed that the Dutch shipments were listed as being from W.R. Fibers, a scrap metal exporter based in California. The British shipments were listed as being from steel trader Stemcor UK.

The 113 containers seized last month will be left in port until the case goes to court.

Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055.