CHEMICAL giant Orica is making another bid to get rid of a huge stockpile of highly toxic and carcinogenic waste, which has been stored at Botany for decades.
The company said yesterday it had applied to the federal government to export 132 tonnes of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) for incineration in a specialist facility in France.
It envisaged further shipments would follow until the entire stockpile of 15,000 tonnes was removed.
HCB was a waste by-product of solvent manufacture, since discontinued, at the Botany Industrial Park between 1963 and 1991.
In 2010, a plan to ship the waste to Denmark was aborted after Greenpeace activists staged a dramatic protest inside the Botany storage compound, and the Danish government reneged following political opposition.
A previous plan for the waste to be sent to Germany was rejected.
The latest proposal involves a smaller amount of the substance to be handled by Tredi SA, which Orica described as "an international leader in the destruction of industrial waste, including HCB waste".
"Tredi's high temperature incinerator operations have safely and effectively destroyed around 7500 tonnes of HCB related waste from other countries," an Orica statement said.
"It is envisaged that, if approved and successfully destroyed, further applications would be made to progressively destroy the remainder of the Botany stockpile at the Tredi facility."
If approved, the waste would be transported 1.5 kilometres by road from the storage site to Port Botany, from where it would be shipped to France via Singapore, the Suez Canal and Portugal.
DISPOSAL DOUBTS
IN 2010, Greenpeace activists broke into the Orica plant, chained together 44 storage containers, spray-painted them and attached skull-and-cross- bones banners and placards.
Greenpeace said Orica should put in place the technology to dispose of the deadly waste in Australia.
Orica said yesterday it had elected to seek approval for offshore destruction after an exhaustive evaluation of potential alternatives.
“There is no viable alternative destruction method available in Australia nor is there likely to be in the foreseeable future,’’ executive global head, corporate affairs and social responsibility, Gavin Jackman, said.
‘‘The only other alternative is continued long-term storage at Botany Industrial Park which is not acceptable to the community.’’
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