How most affluent nations poison the Global South

The issue of land was central for the independence fight in most colonies, because in the majority of cases Africans had been displaced to reserves while colonialists occupied fertile territories and exploited vast natural resources.

But no sooner had African countries gained independence did they realize that colonialism on the continent was not only limited to resource exploitation, but also meant using Africa as a dumping ground.

Waste colonialism is defined as the trans-boundary disposal of a variety of hazardous and toxic materials, including electronics, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), industrial waste, decommissioned ships, municipal solid waste, radioactive waste, and other toxic elements shipped from the Global North to the Global South.

Consequently, the land policy agenda dominated the continent’s politics during the first decades after independence, resulting in different types of resolutions.

By the 1980’s African countries were aware of the growing practice by transnational corporations (TNC’s) and other enterprises from industrialized countries, of dumping nuclear and industrial waste on the continent, which they could not dispose of within their territories.

Zome African countries were happy to make deals with such corporations and enterprises to facilitate the dumping of nuclear and industrial waste within their territories.

For example, Colbert Brothers exported about 275 drums of hazardous waste from US military armed forces agencies to Zimbabwe in 1978.

The government of Benin and Sesco, a company registered in Gibraltar, signed a ten-year toxic waste disposal contract under the false term complex organic matter and ordinary industrial wastes, in 1987.

Dioxin-laden industrial wastes from Philadelphia, USA, were dumped in Guinea and Haiti. In March 1988, Kassa, a resort island, near Conakry, Guinea, received 15,000 tons of waste falsely listed as raw materials for bricks from a Norwegian shipping company, A.S. Bulk Handling Inc.

In the 1980’s the average cost of dumping 1 ton of hazardous waste in Africa was from $2.50 to $50, while in the Global North it was $100 to $2,000.

As a result, the council of Ministers of the OAU (Organization of African Unity, the predecessor of the African Union) in May 1988 adopted a resolution on deposing of nuclear and industrial wastes.

It declared the practice a crime against Africa and the African people and condemned all TNC’s and enterprises involved in the introduction, in any form, of nuclear and industrial wastes in Africa.

It also demanded that the TNC’s clean up areas that were already contaminated and called upon African countries with deals or in negotiations on dumping nuclear and industrial wastes to cease or cancel them forthwith.

Currently in the 21st century it costs around $400 and above to treat one ton of toxic waste in the Global North, while it costs a tenth of that to treat that same waste in the Global South.

This might explain, but does not justify, why in Africa waste colonialism is still rampant,  despite the declaration of the practice as a crime against Africa and the African people.

The Global North waste-brokers also know the negative effects of the unethical disposal of hazardous waste to Africa, yet they continually conceal the real content of the waste and continue to ship it to African countries.

In 2006 the cargo ship Probo Koala, a Panama-registered cargo tanker, chartered by Dutch multinational oil trader Trafigura dumped tons of toxic waste that had been rejected by the port of Amsterdam in Côte d’Ivoire, killing 17 people and poisoning thousands.

According to the Global E-waste Monitor 2024, around 5.1 billion kg of used e-waste are shipped from one country to another annually.

Of that total, 3.3 billion kg (65%) are uncontrolled trans-boundary movements, most of which are from the Global North to Global South.

The Agbogbloshie site in Ghana, for example, used to be one of the largest e-waste hubs, where only about 39% of e-waste was treated, before it was shut down in 2021.

It was listed among the top 10 most polluted places in the world. Research conducted by WHO has confirmed a link between e-waste exposure and thyroid dysfunction.

But also, adverse birth outcomes, behavioral changes, decreased lung function and adverse changes that can be seen at the cellular level among the citizens. Africa accounts for most uncontrolled e-waste imports.

For example, in 2019, out of 546 million kg of transboundary e-waste imports into Africa, 19 million kg (3.4%) was controlled and 527 million kg (96.5%) was uncontrolled, meaning its treatment is unknown and likely not managed in an environmentally sound manner.

RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2025.