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France reclaims toxic ship

Ship being scrapped, Alang, Gujarat, India. Enlarge Image

See you in India...

The trade in toxic waste is outlawed in many countries. However this trade still continues away from the public gaze or under another name. We teamed up with internet activists to expose a common form of toxic waste trade.

Ship being scrapped, Alang, Gujarat, India. Enlarge Image

Nature reserve or scrap yard?

The little known west African state of Guinea Bissau, sandwiched between Senegal and Guinea, includes the Bijagos Archipelagos. The islands are home to a huge range of wildlife and are an internationally recognised wildlife reserve and important local fisheries. Sounds like a fabulous place to dump toxic ships, doesn't it?

Workers at Alang shipbreaking yard Enlarge Image

Tricks of the trade

The ship breaking industry provides one of the clearest examples of exploiting the environment and workers for profit. But thanks to the exposure of this toxic trade and public pressure, the industry is slowly realising it must clean up its act. Help us maintain the pressure.

Greenpeace activists scale the EU building 'Berlaymont' and display a giant banner stating "Clean toxic ships now". Enlarge Image

Deadly asbestos exported to Asia

Asbestos is cleaned from buildings in Europe because of the hazards to human health. But Europe still exports asbestos to Asia in the form of old ships full of hazardous waste which are scrapped on beaches by unprotected workers. We are acting to put an end to this practice.

A oil cleanup volunteer holds a Comorant covered in oil from the sunken Prestige oil tanker on the coast of Galicia, Spain. Enlarge Image

UN Maritime body seeks to evict Greenpeace

In the eight months since the Prestige spilled an estimated 12,000 tonnes of oil, Greenpeace has been active, demanding an accelerated ban on single-hull tankers, a scale-back in the use of oil worldwide, and a tightening of loopholes that allow dangerous rust buckets to sail under flags of convenience. Today the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), which is charged with protecting the health and safety of our seas, leapt into action with their response: they kicked Greenpeace out.

Obsolete vessels from the US National Defense Reserve Fleet, or ghost fleet, anchored in the James River, near Norfol, VA. Thirteen of the vessels contain toxic materials and are slated to be towed to the UK for shipbreaking. Enlarge Image

Toxic ghost fleet

Two former US Navy ships are now crossing the Atlantic for scrapping in the UK. Contaminated with toxic waste, the failure of the US to clean them up at home has caused outrage in Europe. But have a closer look at the issue of shipbreaking: putting toxic vessels out of sight and out of mind is the rule rather than the exception -- and the recipients are usually developing countries.

With international agreement that ships can be considered toxic waste, better controls on shipbreaking should result. Enlarge Image

Victory - Toxic ship export controlled

In a major victory for the environment and workers in developing nations the dumping of old ships, often containing tonnes of toxic trash, has now been controlled under international law. This should mean an end to toxic horrors such as workers sorting asbestos with their bare hands on open beaches in Asia.

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Act now: Send a message to the UN on shipbreaking. Play 'tricks of the trade' to find out more about the industry. Are you connected to the shipping industry, a shipspotter, a harbourmaster, a crew member or in any other way able to localize the positions of ships? We need your help! Learn More: Find out more about the problems of shipbreaking and the solutions. Also in Francais, Nederlands.