Illegally Shipped Waste to Return to U.K.

When Brazilian port workers began inspecting the contents of a cargo ship from the U.K., they were surprised to find more than 1,400 tons of waste, labeled as recyclable plastics, included with the cargo.

The waste, packed in 89 shipping containers, was unloaded in three southern Brazilian ports and was said to contain batteries, computer parts, DVDs, cleaning product containers, clothes, shoes, old toys, baby diapers, food remains and medical waste, among other items.

The U.K. and Brazil are both signatories of the Basel Convention, the United Nations treaty that controls the cross-border movement of hazardous waste. An investigation has been launched to determine how the waste was exported and if the companies responsible for the export were in violation of the international treaty.

According to the Times Online, public anger in Brazil was fueled when a note, written in Portuguese, was found on a container of dirty toys advising the toys be washed before being given to "poor Brazilian children." Photo: timesonline.co.uk

Roberto Messias, head of the Brazilian environment agency, IBAMA, declared Saturday that Brazil was “not a big rubbish dump of the world” and called for “repatriation of this garbage.”

Britain’s Environment Agency (EA) said Sunday that arrangements are being made for the waste, most of which is reportedly domestic rather than hazardous, to be returned to the U.K.

EA Director of Solid Waste, Liz Parks, warned that British courts take the dumping of hazardous waste seriously.

“We do prosecute people,” Parks told BBC News. “We’ve had a number of successful prosecutions in recent years. And in fact in the crown court, people can be fined unlimited amounts and prison sentences imposed.”

Parks indicated that return of the waste to the U.K. could take weeks.