Rabat, Morocco (TMT)- The Moroccan Times received a communiqué from Green Peace Mediterranean, a world renowned independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace, in the wake of the shipment of toxic Italian waste to Morocco.
In its communiqué, Green Peace condemned the act, stressing that “this type of trade is immoral and illegal under international laws,” further noting that “the Basel Convention and the Barcelona Convention (the Izmir protocol) prohibits the export of hazardous waste from OECD (developed countries) to non-OECD (developing countries).”
Green Peace said that it already sent on the 6th of July a letter to the Italian minister of environment asking for clarified details about the waste shipment to Morocco, further stressing that “until now, no official answer was received from the italian ministry.”
“Shipping waste to be burned around the Mediterranean is environmentally destructive, it is not acceptable to export waste from Italy to Morocco for burning. Burning waste irrespective of their contents, toxic or not, will create toxic emissions. Greenpeace opposes the burning of all type of waste materials (hazardous, municipal, sludge, medical waste, or other). Incineration of waste contributes to the degradation of human health and the environment. Incineration must be avoided to prevent the dispersal of toxic and persistent poisons throughout the global environment,” Green Peace’s communiqué read.
Greenpeace called on Morocco to rather “focus its efforts on treating its own waste problem and not import additional waste.”
“This pilot announced for 5000 tonnes of waste should be halted and a sustainable development of the cement industry in Morocco should be thought through without the import of waste from around the world,” Green Peace said.
The Moroccan Times.
