SARAH FERGUSON, PRESENTER: The world's largest toxic stockpile of HCB's, or hexachlorobenzene, looks like staying where it is, for now.

Australia's largest chemical manufacturer, Orica, planned to ship thousands of tonnes of its waste to France from its Sydney plant in Botany.

But the French Environment Minister has opposed the plan and French environmentalists have been protesting against the company's proposal at the Tour de France bicycle race.

The company was today fined more than three quarters of a million dollars for a series of other, unrelated, pollution offences in New South Wales.

Matt Peacock reports.

MATT PEACOCK, REPORTER: It's here in the Sydney suburb of Botany that Australia's multinational, Orica, one of the world's largest explosives and chemical manufacturers, is holding the poisonous waste that nobody wants.

This is the biggest stockpile of the highly toxic hexachlorobenzene, or HCB, in the world; a by-product of solvent manufacturing three decades ago.

MARIANN LLOYD-SMITH, NATIONAL TOXICS NETWORK: It's probably one of the most toxic substances that man has ever created. It's a carcinogen, it affects the immune system, the central nervous system, it's incredibly persistent, it bioaccumulates, so we find it in breast milk and blood.

MATT PEACOCK: The waste is expanding. As the toxic chemical corrodes these drums, it's transferred to new ones. The old drums are then crushed and also stored, along with the protective equipment worn by the workers doing the job.

And it's been going on for what?

GAVIN JACKMAN, ORICA CORPORATE AFFAIRS EXECUTIVE: It's nearly 30 years.

MATT PEACOCK: Right. If I were to be exposed to something in those drums, what would it do to me?

GAVIN JACKMAN: So the main - the main risk of exposure is ingestion and then it's a known carcinogen.

MATT PEACOCK: There are about 9,000 tonnes of concentrated waste stored here, with another 6,000 tonnes of lower-level waste.

But residents living close to the Orica factory aren't so sure. They just want it gone.

BRIAN TROY, BOTANY BAY COUNCILLOR: While it remains, it remains a risk. The people of this area have carried that risk for the whole of Australia for over 20 years. Enough is enough. It is time it went.

MARIANN LLOYD-SMITH: It's just simply dangerous to have a huge, massive stockpile of over 16,000 tonnes of one of the most toxic substances sitting there next to the airport. It is just pure folly. So it has to be destroyed.

MATT PEACOCK: And even Orica agrees it must go.

GAVIN JACKMAN: Well I don't think it's a viable option to leave this here stockpiled forever. We've got a commitment under the Stockholm Convention to destroy hazardous waste.

MATT PEACOCK: Orica has tried to export its waste twice before, once to Germany, and four years ago in these containers, to Denmark; but both times, local protestors scuttled plans to ship it to Europe's high temperature incinerators.

MARIANN LLOYD-SMITH: Exporting waste means all you're doing is taking your problem and giving it to another community. And in the case of both Denmark and Germany, the communities there gave a resounding, "No, we won't take it."

MATT PEACOCK: Now, it's the French protesting against Orica's plans.

JEAN-LUC PEROUZE, LOCAL ENVIRONMENTALIST (voiceover translation): It's out of the question, Orica, stop dreaming, your waste will not end up here. We will prevent that from happening - this is dead certain.

MATT PEACOCK: As the Australian Tour de France cycling team sponsored by Orica raced through the French Alps, they were greeted by these French protestors. Locals are determined to block a bid to burn the waste in an incinerator near here, in the tiny town of Salaise-sur-Sanne.

JEAN-LUC PEROUZE (voiceover translation): Orica whizzed by very quickly and it's probably for the best because we would have told them what is on our mind.

MATT PEACOCK: In a victory for the protestors, the French Environment Minister has instructed the local authority to oppose Orica's plans.

JEAN-LUC PEROUZE (voiceover translation): As you can see, the population is really determined. It is completely out of the question for this waste to be burnt here. So like in Germany and Denmark, Orica won't get the authorisation to export its waste here.

MATT PEACOCK: If you can't take it to France, where do you take it?

GAVIN JACKMAN: Well, our application is under review at the moment.

MATT PEACOCK: What does that mean: that you might have to dispose of it here?

GAVIN JACKMAN: Well we're going through a review process at the moment

MATT PEACOCK: The French say Australia should destroy its own waste and the local National Toxics Network agrees, arguing that a modern disposal plant, not an incinerator, would be safe and acceptable.

MARIANN LLOYD-SMITH: I would like to see the Federal Government take the lead, bring Orica to the table, bring all the other stakeholders to the table. Let us look at the types of technology that could destroy HCB and other wastes and finally resolve this once and for all.

MATT PEACOCK: According to Orica, no such local facility has been proven viable.

GAVIN JACKMAN: If a proponent came forward and could develop the technology to destroy the waste here, then that would be something that we would look at.

MATT PEACOCK: Australia's still generating other toxins. Persistent Organic Pollutants, or POPs, have been identified in the polystyrene foam widely used in buildings, which needs safe disposal.

There is another rapidly-growing waste problem that Australia's yet to decide how to deal with, and it's one to be found in most people's houses. All these old TV sets, computers and other furniture and household goods have been treated with a chemical fire retardant, one that will leach and linger in the soil if it's not disposed of properly.

MARIANN LLOYD-SMITH: We need destruction facilities in Australia because this is not the end of the hazardous waste problem. We have what's been described as a tsunami of POPs waste coming towards us because of new listings of POPs chemicals and those are found in some of the building products that we use. A lot of them are also found in the electronic wastes, which we are now storing in sheds all over Australia.

MATT PEACOCK: For now though, back at Botany, it seems Orica's waste will continue to wait where it is.

SARAH FERGUSON: Matt Peacock reporting.