Controversial carcinogen suspect hexachlorobenzene stored at Botany since 1991 after two failed attempts to send it overseas

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

The Australian chemicals company Orica said on Tuesday it had applied to ship a vast stockpile of toxic waste to France to end a long-running saga over how to dispose of it.

The company has 15,000 tonnes of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) – a byproduct and suspected human carcinogen of solvent manufacturing – stored at Botany in Sydney's south it has been trying to get rid of for years.

Australia has no disposal facilities and a previous plan to ship some of the waste, produced between 1963 and 1991, to Denmark fell through in 2010 when the Danish government reneged on the deal after protests by Greenpeace. There were similar protests in 2007 when Orica tried to export it to Germany.

Orica said it had lodged an initial application with the government to export 132 tonnes of HCB to a facility in France operated by Tredi SA. If successful, the rest of the stockpile would follow.

"If Orica's application is successful, the company believes it will have identified the means to resolve an enduring industrial and environmental legacy," said Orica’s global head of corporate affairs and social responsibility, Gavin Jackman. "This process can ensure that this legacy is not left for future generations to address."

Australia was a signatory to the Basel and Stockholm conventions that dealt with international protocols for the handling of toxic waste, and Orica said its application complied with both.

"There is no viable alternative destruction method available in Australia, nor is there likely to be in the foreseeable future," Jackman said. "The only other alternative is continued long-term storage at Botany industrial park, which is not acceptable to the community."

Greenpeace said it was opposed to countries exporting hazardous waste owing to shipping risks, and was against incineration, which was what would happen in France.

Greenpeace’s Australia and Pacific head of research and investigations, Adam Walters, said burning the waste raised concerns about harmful air pollution. "That method of destruction will create dioxins,” he said.

“It shouldn't be disposed of through high-temperature destruction. There are other chemical methods of destroying toxic waste that don't involve burning."

He said the size of the stockpile warranted Orica building a facility to dispose of it safely in Australia, but it just wanted “to send it overseas".