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Amnesty international and greenpeace netherlands
key facts of the case
Summary of the key facts of the case Akouédo dump site. This is the location where Trafigura contracted with a small Ivorian company to dispose of large amounts of toxic waste without treatment. © Amnesty International
In late 2005, a multinational trading company called Trafigura decided to buy large amounts of an unrefined gasoline called coker naphtha. Trafigura intended to use the coker naphtha as a cheap blendstock for fuels, but first needed to find a way of refining it. This was done through an industrial process called caustic washing, initially carried out on land, but later at sea, on board a ship named Probo Koala. Internal Trafigura email communications which came to light during court proceedings in the UK in 2009 confirm that the company was aware before starting the caustic washing process that the resulting waste would be hazardous and difficult to dispose of. In June 2006, after several unsuccessful attempts to dispose of the waste, Trafigura contacted a Dutch company, Amsterdam Port Services (APS), and arranged to deliver the waste in Amsterdam. The Probo Koala arrived in Amsterdam on 2 July 2006, and APS began to unload the waste on to one of its barges. However, a terrible stench emanating from the waste led APS to test it. They found it was far more contaminated than they had thought, and raised the price for treatment, from €27 per m3 to €1,000 per m3.