Africa, Dustbin of the West? - The Management of Hazardous Waste by Serge Armel Attenoukon and Michael Faure Synopsis Once the cradle of humanity, has Africa become the garbage can of the West? Hazardous wastes are becoming increasingly an issue for international relations particularly between developed countries in north and the developing south. The last example of direct discharge of waste in North Africa is that of Côte d'Ivoire in August 2006. It was highly toxic industrial waste. In the past, thousands of tons of toxic substances were dumped in Cato Ridge in South Africa, Nigeria and Kojo. It was estimated in 1992 that Italian companies dumped one million tons of toxic waste on the coast of Somalia. Benin and Guinea-Bissau signed contracts in 1988 and 1987 respectively for the recovery of toxic industrial waste from Europe and North America. For Western industries, the justification lies in the logic of immediate profit. For African states, it lies in the prevailing financial and economic crisis. How can African countries achieve environmentally sound management of these wastes? How can they ensure efficient management of hazardous waste produced locally and effectively guard against invasion by foreign ones and what are the mechanisms and normative institutional management of this waste? And are they effective?

Review 1 A good read for anyone interested in the international dimensions of waste management, particularly the issue of how to manage hazardous waste. (Posted by Skip Hire)

Review 2 Africa is the dumping ground for the west. Most of what goes on is illegal and companies get away with it. Rivers are polluted, people are dying from drinking poisoned water, and the multinationals don’t give a ***** (Posted by Guerres Sans Frontières)