When a boat outlives its usefulness where does it go? Who breaks it apart and who disposes of toxic substances, such as battery acid and asbestos? The gruesome answer was revealed at the Planet in Focus Environmental Film festival, which ended yesterday with the documentary Shipbreakers, followed by a panel discussion moderated by David Suzuki.
Shipbreakers takes us to Alang beach, in India. Strewn with metal scraps and toxic waste, Alang serves as the world’s shipbreaking yard. Developed nations send decommissioned boats, some as tall as 10 stories, to Alang, where they are broken down to scrap. Workers use hand torches, ropes and musclepower to break boats down piece by piece.
One worker dies a day, on average, and a quarter of all workers later develop cancer from exposure to asbestos, PCBs and other toxins-all while working for a few dollars a day.
“Everytime I speak to my parents they ask about my health,” said a young worker who moved to Alang in order to support his impoverished family. “They always beg me to come home. I always refuse.”
In the panel discussion that followed, Greenpeace officer Andrew Male condemned Alang’s unsafe conditions. “We want governments to make sure [boats] are decontaminated before they are sent off to Alang,” he said. “We don’t want any workers losing their jobs. We want them working in a safe, clean environment.”
“I think economics is at the heart of this,” said Suzuki. “Whether it’s a boat, your TV, or your automobile they’re going to be sent to Third World countries where someone has to extract the toxic materials. We have to look at every aspect of our consumption and make major decisions.
“If you live in an interconnected world everything you do has repercussions. Everything you do carries responsibility.”
