Measures regarding the destination of the 1,200 tonnes of British rubbish sent to Brazil by the United Kingdom are already being carried out by the Ministry of the Environment and its agency the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama). Specialists from both institutions met on Monday (20) to discuss how to oficially address the incident when forwarding it to the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations (MRE). The latter will be in charge of specifying adequate diplomatic measures to be carried out in this case.
The rubbish - which included old televisions and computers, chemical toilet seats, dirty nappies and used condoms and syringes - left the British port of Felixtowe and arrived at the southern ports of Rio Grande (state of Rio Grande do Sul) and Santos (state of São Paulo) in container ships. The cargo was imported as "recyclable polymers" (or simply plastic) - but Brazilian customs soon realized that the 89 shipping containers were full of rubbish. The illegal cargo began to arrive in Brazil last February.
The incident violates Brazilian environmental legislation and the Basel Convention (the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal), of which Brazil and England - amongst other countries - are signataries.
According to Rosaura Morais - from the MMA's Secretariat of Climate Change and Environmental Quality -, the ministry is going to fill out a specific form indicated by the Convention for cases such as this one. The document will be handed in to the MRE with a report by Ibama containing details of the whole incident and of actions already carried out by the institution.
Ibama has imposed fines on the three companies so far found to be involved in importing the rubbish. Ibama president Roberto Messias said it was "difficult to believe" they were innocent of any wrongdoing.
According to Gilberto Werneck de Capistrano Filho, an environmental analyst at Ibama, some of them have already demonstrated interest in repatriating the cargo. "All adequate procedures are being rigorously applied," he said.
"We will ask for the repatriation of this litter," said Messias. "Clearly, Brazil is not a big rubbish dump of the world."
Redes Sociais