81 / 92
81
Disasters can reveal shortcomings
At times, disasters or accidents can trigger investigations and lead
to the discovery of the illegal trade in waste, informal dumping or
obsolete storage sites. In 2013, an extreme weather event triggered
the flooding of the Tskhenistskali River in northern Georgia, close
to the village of Tsana. The flood washed away the wall of a waste
burial site containing over 50,000 tons of arsenic waste material
– a by-product of the smelting of metal ores. The arsenic waste
material was stored on the site of an old mining factory that had
ceased operation in the early 1990s (UNEP, OSCE, UNDP, 2016).
Often, developing countries or countries in transition lack the
financial resources to map out and/or remediate hazardous waste
sites, posing serious risks to the environment and human health.
The Extractives industry (Oil, gas, minerals)
The extractive industry (oil, gas, metals and minerals) produces
large amounts of waste, some of it hazardous. In these
circumstances sound and safe waste management is particularly
important. Criminal behaviour may involve breaching
environmental and safety regulations for existing activities, or
neglecting risks from previous operations. In addition, loopholes
in legislation and weak enforcement mechanisms provide the
means for illegal or illicit activities.
In the European Union, mineral waste is one of the largest waste
streams, generating 63 per cent of total waste in the 28 EU countries
in 2012 (Eurostat, 2015). A number of EU countries have been
taken to court for failure to comply with EU legislation on mining
waste. Romania, one of the countries that makes up the Carpathian
mountain range, is struggling to deal with abandoned tailing ponds,
including the Bosneag tailing pond. The European Commission
took Romania to court for failure to comply with European
legislation on mining waste (European Commission, 2014).
Armenia, a mountain country in the South Caucasus, has been
carrying out mining activities for decades. However, these activities
are also associated with persistent environmental transboundary
concerns and risks. The failure to enforce environmental legislation
continues to allow unscrupulous actors to manipulate the
reporting of mining waste quantities and qualities, and disregard
safety and security issues – creating the potential for interstate
tensions (Stefes andWeingartner, 2015).
A waste dump close to Kravchenko, a village 18km north of Sochi, was due to be closed several years prior to the games. Due to the construction
boom that occured as Sochi prepared to host the Olympics, locals say the waste dump grew vertiginously.
Photo
©
AbbasAttilay/RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty