Environmental NGO ZERO warns of 30,000 ton hazardous waste dump in Setúbal

  • Lusa
  • 16 June 2020

Environmental NGO ZERO has warned about the environmental consequences of an illegal deposit of around 30,000 tons of hazardous waste near the Setúbal Municipal Athletics Complex.

Environmental NGO ZERO has warned about the environmental consequences of an illegal deposit of around 30,000 tons of hazardous waste near the former Metalimex company facilities, near the Setúbal Municipal Athletics Complex.

The Ministry of Environment and Climate Action (MAAC) recalls that the re-export of aluminium slag imported by Metalimex was completed in 1998 and states that the Lisbon and Tagus Valley Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDRLVT) is already verifying the situation denounced by ZERO.

According to a statement issued on Monday by ZERO, the hazardous waste found about 600 metres from the former Metalimex company could be “a substantial part” of the aluminium slag which was imported from Switzerland and which “was supposedly sent to Germany in 1998”.

“We may be faced with a situation of serious environmental risk if we consider that this hazardous waste has been in contact with the environment all this time and may have led to soil and surface and groundwater pollution”.

ZERO adds that it has already alerted MAAC and asked for responsibility for the existence of this illegal deposit, which it considers to be “a proof of the total incapacity of the Portuguese environmental authorities who, for over 20 years, have been unaware of its existence.”

ZERO also asked MAAC to make available the report of the consultancy firm Bureau Veritas, which at the time audited the process of exporting the waste to Germany, to give an appropriate destination to the hazardous waste detected in Setúbal and to carry out “an assessment of the possible contamination of the soil and groundwater where the waste is deposited.”

According to the association, the results of the analysis of the samples that have since been taken have revealed the existence of various types of hazardous waste – according to the classification given by the EU – some with a high content of aluminium and other metals, or with high levels of oxides of aluminium, magnesium, sulphur, potassium and calcium, which give them hazard characteristics that can cause eye damage or various serious pathologies, including carcinogenic diseases.

In the statement, Zero also recalls that between 1987 and 1990, Metalimex officially imported 30,000 tons of aluminium slag from Switzerland and stored it in the Vale de Rosa, in Setúbal, with the purpose of installing an industrial facility dedicated to the recovery of aluminium and the subsequent manufacturing of aluminium ingots.

However, contrary to what it had announced, Metalimex never managed to meet the necessary conditions for the recovery of that waste, so in October 1991 it was notified by the Directorate General of Environmental to present a plan to send the slag to the countries of origin and thus minimize the environmental impacts resulting from its deposit.

ZERO also recalls that on 18 May 1995, the Governments of Switzerland and Portugal agreed on the re-export and treatment of the slag, and it was determined that the destination of the slag would be a company in Lunen, Germany, with the Governments of the two countries bearing the costs of this operation, which will have cost around nine million euros.

Three months later, on August 18, 1995, an order from the then Ministry of Environment obliged Metalimex to re-export the aluminium slag and decontaminate the land, a decision later confirmed in December of the same year by the Supreme Administrative Court.

It is certain that the export of the slag to Germany only had its first operation in May 1997, followed by another in January 1998 and a last shipment of 2,000 tons of slag in December 1998, which was attended by the then Minister of the Environment and current European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira.

ZERO calculates that Metalimex, which had officially declared the import of 30,000 tons of aluminium slag, managed to re-export 42,000 tons.

This also explains the origin of the approximately 30,000 tons of hazardous waste that have now been detected.

Confronted by the Lusa agency with the complaint of ZERO, MAAC recalls that the process of re-exporting the slag received by Metalimex, following an agreement between the Governments of Portugal and Switzerland, was triggered in 1995 and concluded in 1998 with the last shipment for treatment outside Portugal, observing the proper conditions of movement and transfer of these materials.

In response to the Lusa agency, the MAAC also stated that “the CCDRLVT has already gone to the field for confirmation on the site of these deposits and is complying with the due diligence in order to enforce the law.”