Illegal trash exports from Sweden put Africa at risk
Published: 9 May 12 07:38 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/40716/20120509/
The illegal export of Swedes' discarded washers, televisions, and other waste has police scrambling to prevent what is becoming a growing environmental problem for west African countries.
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In the last three years, authorities have halted around 60 different shipments from Sweden carrying nearly 900 tonnes of waste.
Most of the shipments consist of large 12-metre long containers filled with old car parts, discarded computers, refrigerators, printers, televisions, and other electronic waste.
The shipments are generally destined for countries in western Africa.
"There are all kinds of ways to earn money doing this," Henrik Forssblad, an environmental crimes specialist with the National Swedish Police Board (Rikspolisstyrelsen).
In destination countries, parts from an old refrigerator can be retooled, resulting in a working product which can then be resold and automobile scrap can be resold as spare parts.
The simple methods used in the retooling process can often result in the release of dangerous chemicals like lead and dioxins which can harm both people and the environment.
Unscrupulous companies in Sweden often end up profiting from the illegal export of discarded appliances and other waste.
"It costs companies money to properly dispose of a refrigerator. That's something you avoid if you export it illegally and earn some money in the destination country," said Forssblad.
"If you have a lot of fridges, you fill a container and that can save you a bundle."
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And are the Africans doing the business alone?. No swedes involved?.
@skogsbo
You have a point.
The answer is to require Swedes to sell to Africans at a loss.
"if it provides an income and a living to those in Africa, perhaps rather than halting the shipments, Europe could assist in setting up a more environmentally friendly recycling point, so that everyone can benefit."
Not such a good point, since there is not enough info. According to the game theory, we would not do illegal stuff, unless the benefits outweigh the risks. If it would be profitable to "properly" recycle the items and then ship them to Africa, it would be done.
In this case the companies do not have to pay taxes on this extraordinary income. If Sweden would arrange such recycling points, the items would have to be declared as income items and then paid for to be shipped off. With this limited info, it is probably reasonable to assume that it would not be beneficial to the companies.
Hence, the africans have no fridges and we throw away something that could potentially benefit thousands. And THEN the same newspapers are all chocked at the amounts of goods that are thrown away or melted into oblivion, whereas people in poor countries have never seen a telephone...
I would like to understand the "extraordinary income" point better. In the case of the Swedish companies, I would think the old refrigerators, etc. must be sold for an amount greater than their value for there to be taxable income in Sweden. I suspect the refrigerators have no value so Swedish companies are incurring a business expense to pay for the shipment so it is costing them money. With all the regulations I suspect it would cost more to rebuild an old refrigerator etc. than to build a new one. At those prices there would be no market for expensive rebuilt refrigerators. Whether people like it or not this is an example of the market at work.
When the old refrigerators etc. are remanufactured in Africa and then sold locally I would assume those countries would collect both sales tax on the transaction and income tax from the African company.