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Australia is unlikely to impose a two-year moratorium on exports of
toxic waste, as recommended by the expert panel it commissioned to look
into the thorny issue of how to dispose of ‘intractable waste’. But it will
look more favourably on the panel’s proposal that Australia should refuse
to import toxic waste from Pacific island nations for disposal in Australia.

The recommendations come in a report from the Independent Panel on Intractable
Wastes presented this week to the Australian and New Zealand Environment
and Conservation Council, an organisation of environment ministers.

The panel, set up by the Australian government and the state governments
of New South Wales and Victoria, has been considering what to do with Australia’s
toxic waste ever since a public furore over plans to build a high-temperature
incinerator in Corowa, a small rural town in New South Wales. Australia’s
waste became an international issue in September when 18 tonnes of PCBs
from Western Australia were shunted around Europe until the French government
allowed them to be disposed of in an incinerator near Lyons.

The panel says that Australia should not build its own large high-temperature
incinerator. It would be too expensive and was widely opposed by rural communities
throughout the country who believed that it would ‘blight’ their farm produce.
A poll conducted by the panel showed that few people thought Australia’s
road and rail system could handle the transport of toxic wastes to one central
location.

Instead, the panel recommends that Australia should develop a range
of technologies, including portable systems that could be taken to wherever
they are needed. These technologies can be tailored to the particular properties
and characteristics of the waste. The government looks likely to adopt this
approach.

A proposal to ban all exports of toxic wastes from Australia while these
technologies are being developed and tested is more controversial. The government
does not want to be seen to be bowing to pressure from Greenpeace, which
opposes exports. Also, there is the possibility that France might take legal
action if companies in Australia do not honour their contracts with the
French waste company, EMC-Services Tredi. One contract calls for the incineration
in France of 1050 tonnes of PCB waste material, including contaminated capacitors
and transformers. A French delegation has recently been in Australia arguing
its case.

The panel believes it would be morally acceptable to export waste if
at the end of two years of testing there were still some wastes that could
not be dealt with in Australia. ‘The technologies are coming along so fast
that it is highly likely we will be able to deal with them all,’ said Ben
Selinger, chairman of the panel. The era of high-temperature incineration
is coming to an end, he said.

According to Selinger, the panel was advised ‘quietly’ that it should
not recommend importing toxic wastes from Pacific island countries. Selinger
would not reveal the source of the advice but said it came from the ‘customs
side’. The panel was told that the islands may export more waste than they
could be reasonably expected to generate themselves. The extra waste could
come from other countries. ‘The islands could become a funnel for nonlegitimate
waste,’ Selinger said.