TED Case Studies

Turkey Waste Imports

          CASE NUMBER:          73 
          CASE MNEMONIC:      TURKEY
          CASE NAME:          Turkey Waste Imports

A.        IDENTIFICATION

1.        The Issue

     In the fall of 1987, the Landratsamt Goppingen authorized a
West Germany company, Weber of Salach, to export 100,000 tones of
fuel substitute to Turkey.  The fuel substitute contained several
types of hazardous materials.  Although the chairman of the
Isparta Chamber of Commerce had issued import permission, the
Chamber had not been authorized to do this.  In May 1988, Turkish
Environment Minister Atasoy visited his West German counterparts,
Mr. Toepfer in Bonn and Mr. Vetter in Stuttgart to call on West
Germany to take the waste back.

2.        Description

     According to a 1988 United Nations report, "Certain West
European countries" commonly export "industrial and domestic
wastes" to Turkey as industrial fuel or for storage.  "Since no
legislation exists on permission requirements for the importation
of wastes, Turkey claims to be unable to control and assess such
movement and is, at present, preparing relevant legal provisions,
as well as technical facilities, for such control" (see BARREL
case).

     Following a proposal by a representative from the Social
Democratic Party, Mr. Guerseler, the Turkish parliament decided
on March 3, 1988, to ban imports of industrial wastes.  Two
Turkish officials, Mr. Tuc and Mr. Yilmaz, told Andreas
Bernstroff of Greenpeace West Germany that the environmental
directorate of Prime Minister Oezal has since been trying to
prevent all waste imports other than waste paper.  Turkish
officials stated that it is impossible to control every inch of
the long Turkish shore, and called for strict controls on waste
exports from the countries of origin.

     In 1987, The Landratsamt Goppingen authorized Weber of
Salach to export fuel substitute to Turkey.  The fuel substitute
consisted of 50 percent sawdust, 40 percent paint and enamel
sludge and 10 percent waste oil, and was to burned in a cement
factory in Isparata, West Anatolia.  Weber said that it had
supervised the burning of 40 of the first 1,620 tones delivered.

     The fact that the fuel substitute contained toxic heavy
metals and chlorinated hydrocarbons provoked a public outcry. 
Sevker Demirel, chairman of the Isparta Chamber of Commerce, had
issued the import permission.  However, the Chamber had not been
authorized to do this.  Sevket turned out to be the brother of
the Suleiman Demirel, a leading conservative politician who
happened to own the cement factory.

3.        Related Cases

     BARREL case
     MEDIT case
     JELLYWAX case
     KHAIN case
     BASMEX case

     Keyword Clusters         

     (1): Trade Product            = WASTE
     (2): Forum                    = TURKEY
     (3): Environmental Problem    = Pollution Land [POLL]

4.        Draft Author: Sawsan Al-Ali

B.        LEGAL Clusters

5.        Discourse and Status:  DISagreement and COMPlete

     In May 1988, Turkish Environment Minister Visited Mr.
Toepfer in Bonn and Mr. Vetter in Stuttgart to  call on West
Germany to take the waste back.  Mr. Toepfer said that the waste
had been falsely labeled and agreed to take it back, but Vetter
said that the project had been technically legal and tried to
work out a generally acceptable solution.

     On July 30, 1988, the Arktis Trader, a vessel owned by the
Danish Elite Shipping Company, left the port of Antalya, Turkey,
loaded with 1,580 tons of the fuel substitute.  Elite spokesman
Mogens Anderson claimed that the wastes were paint from a Turkish
car manufacturer and non-toxic.  But he feared "that Greenpeace
would appear when the ship docked" in Rotterdam.

     After Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom refused to
accept the waste, it was transferred to two smaller Dutch
vessels, Denzo and Barend, and shipped to Stuttgart.   Three
truck loads of waste have since been burned in the incinerator
for hazardous waste in Biebesheim, Hessen.  Since mid-January,
1989, one hundred tones of fuel-substitute per week have been
shipped to SARP Industries' incinerator at Limay, northwest of
Paris.  Burning 1,500 tones of "fuel-substitute" in a West German
incinerator would have cost 1.2 million deutschmarks.  At Limay,
Weber pays one-sixth of the West German price.

     Six hundred and ninety tones were still sitting on a barge
at Stuttgart in May 1990, although authorities had ordered Weber
to dispose of them before January 1990.  By the end of 1990 they
were incinerated in France.

6.        Forum and Scope:  TURKEY and UNILATeral

     This is a bi-lateral dispute between Turkey and West
Germany.  The Turkish Environmental Minister visited both Bonn
and Stuttgart called on West Germany to take the wastes back. 
Stuttgart agreed, but Bonn did not.

7.        Decision Breadth:  2 (Turkey, Germany)

8.        Legal Standing:  LAW

     This action should have been covered by both German and
Turkish law (see BASEL case).

C.        GEOGRAPHIC Clusters

9.        Geographic Locations

     a.   Geographic Domain : MIDEAST
     b.   Geographic Site   : North Mideast [NMID]
     c.   Geographic Impact : TURKEY

10.       Sub-National Factors:  NO

11.       Type of Habitat: TEMPerate

D.        TRADE Clusters

12.       Type of Measure:  Import Ban [IMBAN]

13.       Direct vs. Indirect Impacts:  DIRect

     The ban on the export of waste from Italy to Turkey is a
direct impact.

14.       Relation of Measure to Environmental Impact

     a.  Directly Related to Product   : YES  WASTE 
     b.  Indirectly Related to Product : NO
     c.  Not Related to Product        : NO
     d.  Related to Process            : YES  Pollution Land
                                                  [POLL]

15.       Trade Product Identification:  WASTE

     The waste products include sawdust, paint, enamel, sludge
and waste oil.

16.       Economic Data

17.       Impact of Measure on Trade Competitiveness:  BAN

18.       Industry Sector:  WASTE

     Although this is used as a fuel, the primary inputs to the
product is waste.

19.       Exporter and Importer:  GERMany and TURKEY

E.        ENVIRONMENT Clusters

20.       Environmental Problem Type:  Pollution Land [POLL]

21.       Name, Type, and Diversity of Species 

     Name:          Many
     Type:          Many
     Diversity:     2,025 higher plants per 10,000 km/sq (Turkey)

22.       Resource Impact and Effect:  LOW and PRODuct

     This one case will not have a large impact on the
environment, but the case precedence might.

23.       Urgency and Lifetime:  LONG and 100s of years

24.       Substitutes:  Bio-degradable [BIODG] products 

VI.       OTHER Factors

25.       Culture: NO 

26.       Trans-Border: NO

27.       Human Rights: YES

     The fouling of developing countries by industrial waste from
industrial countries is a human rights question.  In developing
countries, the waste dump sites also tend to be home for poorer
classes.

28.  Relevant Literature

Dufour, Jean-Paul and Denis, Corinne.  "The North's Garbage goes 
     South."  World Press Review 35 (Nov. 1988): 30-32.
"Hazardous Wastes Spark EC Dispute."  Transportation and
     Distribution 33 (February, 1992): 20.
Millman, Joel.  "Exporting Hazardous Waste."  Technology Review 
     92 (April 1989): 6-7.
Hilz, Christoph.  The International Toxic Waste Trade.  New York:
     Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1992.
Ketchum, Bostwick; Kester, Dana; and Park, Kilhol.  Ocean Dumping
     of Industrial Wastes.  International Ocean Dumping
     Symposium (1st, 1978, University of Rhode Island).  New
     York: Plenum Press, 1981.
Millman, Joel.  "Exporting Hazardous Waste."  Technology Review 
     92 (April 1989): 6-7.
O'Sullivan, Dermot A.  "UN. Environment Program Targets Issue of
     Hazardous Waste Exports."  Chemical Engineering News 66
     (September 26, 1988): 24-7. 
Phillips, Andrew.  "Poison in Poor Lands."  Mclean's 101
     (August 1, 1988): 51-2.
"Ending the Traffic in Toxic Waste."  UN Chronicle 26 (June 
     1989): 71. 
"Toxic Wastes: Poisoning the Planet."  UN Chronicle 29 (June 
     1992): 61.

                           References