When it ends up pumped out of factories in the form of
clean-looking, coloured window blinds, electrical cables or
children's toys, there is little evidence of the dirty and
dangerous path PVC has taken to reach its retail shape. Few think
of how it will end, too - in the landfill or burned in an
incinerator, with no possibility of recycling. Today Greenpeace
activists peacefully exposed one of the main steps in the
manufacture of the toxic plastic by blocking the Rhone a Fos canal
in Port-de-Bouc, France.
Atofina, a subsidiary of the petrochemical giant TotalFinaElf,
is better known for the explosion at their fertiliser plant in
Tolouse one year ago, which killed 30 people and injured thousands.
They are the largest PVC producers in France, which includes the
manufacture of its "building block", vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)
as well as toxic additives used for giving PVC different properties
in the manufacturing process.
VCM is a carcinogenic and highly explosive gas which is carried
in quantities of 2500 tonnes in a barge, three or four times a week
along the Rhone river between Marseille and Lyon. These transports
expose unaware communities along the river, with no proper safety
legislation to protect them, and today we were determined to
denounce this hazardous and irresponsible practice.
Today, beginning early morning, Greenpeace activists peacefully
blocked for 14 hours the Barcarin lock, on the Rhone a Fos canal,
to stop one of the VCM barges from going up the Rhone River to
Lyon. The activists unfurled a banner saying "Atofina - Stop PVC".
Forced from its original route along populated centers, and
prevented from going through the locks, the 2500-ton barge laden
with explosive products finally moored in harbour 1, in front of
the GDF methane globe, endangering safety and in spite of
Grenpeace's stated wish that it return to its origin at the
petrochemical port. "The director of the Atofina factory decided
that the barge and its cargo were no longer under his
responsibility, but that of the transporter", commented Yannick
Vicaire, toxics campaigner for Greenpeace France. "It is a transfer
of responsibilities that is incompatible with the safety of
dangerous transports".
PVC is a chlorinated plastic that poses numerous environmental
and health problems. Numerous toxic additives used in PVC products
contribute to contamination of the environment and the dioxins
released by incineration of wastes to contamination of the human
body. The market price of PVC does not reflect this - all the costs
to human health and the environment are (or will be) paid by
someone else. Given that all uses of PVC are substitutable by safe
or less problematic materials, is there any reason to keep making
this dangerous plastic? "The risks to the workers of Atofina and
the public are inadmissible because there are enormous hazards with
no benefits to society from the production of this plastic", said
Vicaire.
"We won't negotiate under threat" declared the head of Atofina
Lavera. The real threat, though, is not peaceful protesters but
Atofina's transports of VCM four times a week, exposing unaware
communities to high risks not even covered by a proper industrial
safety legislation. Fittingly, Atofina's parent company,
TotalFinaElf, is no angel either. It was responsible for the Erika
oil spill in 1999, the Total La Mède refinery explosion in 1992 and
is accused of serious human rights violation in Myanmar
(Burma).
"Our action on Thursday is only the first episode in a peaceful
struggle against the wrongdoings of the PVC industry", concluded
Vicaire.