Separating the Trash

For decades, India has been the final destination for much of the world's trash: rusty cargo ships, plastic scraps, rags and used engine oil. Even thousands of tons of rubble from the World Trade Center were shipped to India for disposal. Taking refuse for a fee is a basic trade, but it provides satisfactory profits for recyclers.

Trouble is, it's often hazardous. Late last month, 10 laborers were killed in the New Delhi satellite town of Ghaziabad while unloading a pile of scrap metal that contained live 81-mm mortar shells. Over the next few days, hundreds more artillery rounds turned up at about 20 locations. An investigation by the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade concluded that the munitions had come from Iraq, although it wasn't clear to whom they had belonged.

Some junk needs to be handled delicately, which doesn't routinely happen in India. The coast of Gujarat state in western India is the world's biggest naval graveyard, but many of the ships have specialized in carrying poisonous materials. According to the government, about 12,500 tons of toxic waste end up in the Arabian Sea each year. In the past few years, India has insourced the disposal of old computers, which contain lead, arsenic, cadmium and bromides. The country is also the biggest single importer of mercury-contaminated industrial waste.

Indian environmentalists say the outside world shouldn't treat their country as a dump for hazardous waste. But the importers share blame—war-zone scrap is among the cheapest on the market—as do government regulators. "Look outside," says Akram, a supervisor at the Ghaziabad plant where the workers died, pointing to the rubbish-strewn and excrement-paved street next to the factory: "We can blame the world. But it's not like we help ourselves much, either."