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Australian POPs Hotspots
A briefing paper on facilities and sites with
confirmed or inferred POP’s pollution.
Author: Lee Bell
March 2009
1
Introduction
This briefing paper is intended to provide a snapshot of selected sites and
facilities in Australia that are affected by Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP’s)
contamination or are the source of POP’s emissions. The list is not intended to
be exhaustive as there are many sites in Australia where POP’s (particularly
PCDD and PCDF) are inadequately monitored or investigated.
In too many instances industrial facility types that are known internationally to be
major sources of POP’s emissions are not required to monitor for these
pollutants in Australia.
The sites and facilities listed are categorised as confirmed POP’s hotspots on the
basis of emission monitoring or contamination investigations. Sites or facilities
classified as inferred hotspots are those which are highly likely to generate
POP’s due to the activities undertaken at the location currently or historically but
where monitoring data is unavailable. For instance, it can be inferred that an
Australian incinerator burning chlorine-rich medical waste will emit dioxins to
either ash or atmosphere even in the absence of monitoring data. This is based
on the weight of evidence available from overseas experience and published
technical literature on the subject.
In this report there is a disproportionate number of sites listed in Western
Australia (WA) compared to the rest of the country due to the availability in WA of
publicly available contaminated sites register.
Why is NTN involved?
National Toxics Network (NTN) is a NGO (non-government organisation)
network working for pollution reduction, protection of environmental health and
environmental justice for all. As the Australian focal point for the International
POPs Elimination Network (IPEN), NTN works for the effective implementation of
the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) 2001 and
other relevant international and regional chemical treaties. NTN has a particular
focus on children’s environmental health and is committed to a Toxic Free Future
for all.
NTN believes that the monitoring and management of POP’s waste and
emissions in Australia is currently inadequate to protect human health and the
environment. This briefing paper is intended to highlight some of the POP’s
issues that are currently causing concern in Australia – in particular the poor
regulation and management of POP’s contaminated ash and water from scrubber
technologies at industrial facilities.
(Cover photo – Medi-Collect waste incinerator, Welshpool, Western Australia)
2
‘Waste Control’ Contaminated Site
Location:
Status:
POP’s type:
Bellevue, Western Australia.
Confirmed POP’s hotspot.
Dioxin and Furan, assorted OCPs
Prior to February 2001 the ‘Waste Control’ site in Bellevue, Western Australia
was the location of Waste Control Pty Ltd – a hazardous waste treater/recycler
whose main activity was distillation of perchlorethylene (dry cleaning chemical).
The facility was very basic consisting of an old house, two distillation units and a
laboratory in a transportable hut. Bellevue is mostly a residential suburb east of
Western Australia’s capital city Perth. The location of the Waste Control site is in
a mixed residential/light industrial area a few hundred metres from the Helena
River.
Figure 1 Waste Control site prior to 2001 fire
The waste control facility accepted a large range of hazardous wastes including
mercury and other heavy metals, organochlorine pesticides, halogenated
hydrocarbons, solvents and paint waste from domestic and industrial sources
throughout Western Australia.
On February 15 2001, it is believed arsonists started a fire at the site which
quickly erupted into Western Australia’s biggest and most dangerous chemical
fire in history. Flaming drums of hazardous waste were launched hundreds of
metres into the air and landed in residential properties, nearby businesses and
local bushland sparking much larger fires. Liquid chemical waste from the fire
poured into the street and into local drains which led to the local school and
wetlands and soaked into the ground. Professional fire crews poured millions of
litres of water onto the fire which accelerated the movement of the chemical
wastes into the environment.
3
Volunteer firefighters fought the rapidly expanding bushfires around the site
unaware that they were caught in clouds of toxic smoke. Many reported health
problems after the fire.
In the aftermath of the fire it became clear that large quantities of hazardous
chemicals had soaked into the ground contaminating groundwater. Plasticized
droplets of waste sludge littered the streets and residents houses were covered
in hazardous soot and ashes from the fire. A school bus depot was near the
scene of the fire and the buses were allowed to pick up children despite obvious
contamination of the buses. Children reported becoming ill after using the buses
and the vehicles were ordered off the road for decontamination.
Subsequent site testing revealed soil and groundwater at the site was
contaminated with dioxin and a wide range of chlorinated solvents and heavy
metals. The wide range of chemicals on-site and the temperature of the fire
created many novel chemical compounds that could not be identified by mass
spectrum gas chromatography.
A large plume of dioxin laden smoke was
carried across the city of Perth and a
large amount of the contaminated
particulate was modeled to have dropped
into the Swan River near the centre of the
capital city Perth (see left).
In the days following the fire anecdotal
reports emerged of hundreds of bird
deaths on a large property several
hundred metres from the fire which were
buried in a large pit. Many residents
reported unusual symptoms and illnesses
they believed were associated with the
emissions from the fire and the gases
leaving the site after the fire. The Government established a health register to
4
track the health of residents and firefighters over time. At this point the site has
not been remediated (cleaned-up) and the groundwater contamination is moving
towards the nearby Helena River. The site has been placed on the Government
register of contaminated sites with the following comments;
Preliminary and detailed investigations of soil and groundwater have been conducted at the
Source Site. These have confirmed the presence of soil and groundwater contamination,
resulting from both the site operations and the fire. Elevated concentrations of hydrocarbons,
including chlorinated solvents, have been identified in groundwater beyond the boundaries of
the Source Site. The general direction of contaminated groundwater movement is towards the
Helena River.
Hydrocarbons (particularly compounds used as industrial solvents), polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons and heavy metals are present in soils at concentrations exceeding the
risk-based soil criteria developed for the Source Site.
The maximum detected concentrations of heavy metals and various organic chemicals used
as industrial solvents including petroleum hydrocarbons; chlorinated hydrocarbons;
brominated hydrocarbons; and acetone are above the risk-based groundwater criteria derived
for the Source Site.
The Risk Assessment concluded that remediation of groundwater, and potentially soil, is
required to protect human health, the environment and environmental values. The Source Site
has, therefore, been classified as "contaminated - remediation required".
In addition to the post-fire clean-up activities, interim remedial works have been carried out to
prevent direct contact with contaminated soils. The measures include covering exposed soils
with clean fill and installation of a temporary cap over a previously unsealed area of the
Source Site, and revegetation of affected land adjacent to the eastern boundary of the Source
site.1
Dioxin was detected in all samples across the
site and on adjacent properties although only 17
samples were taken. Of these samples the
highest level was 38ng/kg I-TEQ. Dioxin was
also identified in groundwater in 20032. Levels of
chlorinated solvents in groundwater are
extremely high. Community groups are still
pressuring the government to clean up the site
but as yet no plans have been presented as to
how or when the remediation will take place.
The cost of the remediation is expected to
exceed Aus$10 Million.
1
Department of Environment and Conservation (2009) Contaminated Sites Act 2003. Basic
Summary of Records Search Response. 1 Bulbey Street, Bellevue
2 Golder Associates, (2006) Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment. Former Waste
Control Site, Bellevue, WA. Volume 1 p.92 p.99
5
Medi-Collect: medical waste incinerator and contaminated site
Location:
Status:
POP’s type:
Welshpool, Western Australia.
Confirmed POP’s contaminated site
PCB, Dioxin and Furan
The Medi-Collect medical waste incinerator (formerly known as the Stephenson
and Ward Incinerator) has a long and controversial history. The incinerator
(pictured on cover) was commissioned by private operators in 1980 to burn
medical waste, dead animals, photographic waste and confidential documents.
The incinerator is situated in an industrial zone which is only a few hundred
metres from residential areas and schools.
By 1981 it was being used as an experimental destruction technology by the
Health Department of Western Australia to destroy stockpiles of PCB. The
experiment went horribly wrong. It was alleged that incinerator operators
deliberately poured drums of PCB onto the ground outside the incinerator
because of difficulty with incineration of the waste. Official reports say the cause
of the contamination is unknown but is perhaps due to leaky pipes at the site.
The official investigation documents and outcome have never been made public.
In any event, the soil beneath the incinerator was heavily contaminated by PCB
Arochlor 1260. In addition, groundwater sampling found PCB contamination had
left the site and was being detected in shallow groundwater on the south side of
nearby Welshpool road.3
Community groups had been raising concerns about the incinerator emissions
since the 1980’s. Many locals were concerned about the growing number of
leukemia cases in children attending the local primary school. Other reports of
illness among local residents were also frequent.
Residents concern grew when it was confirmed in 1984 that emissions from the
incinerator had deposited ‘significant’ amounts of PCB’s onto soil and trees in the
local area.4
In 1996 a Unilabs stack monitoring report recorded dioxin emissions of I-TEQ 2.8
ng/min. The emissions record also showed mercury emissions of around 72kg
per annum. The Medi-collect incinerator does not currently report PCDD PCDF
emissions to the National Pollution Inventory of Australia as would normally be
expected of a medical incinerator.
3
4
Unilabs Environmental Report No. APR 96009 Report to Stephenson and Ward Incinerator Co. 1996
This testing was conducted by La Trobe University on behalf of the City of Canning in 1984.
6
At full capacity the incinerator is expected to generate around 300kg of ash per
day which is disposed of to landfill. No testing is conducted for the PCDD PCDF
concentrations in the incinerator ash. Dioxin stack testing of the incinerator in
2000 claimed ‘zero’ dioxin emissions – a result which cannot be taken seriously
for a range of technical reasons.
The WA Government confirms that the site is still contaminated;
This Source Site is currently used as a medical waste incinerator and historically was utilised
to destroy Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) Waste via incineration. A contamination
investigation was conducted following a report that contamination was suspected at and
around the Source Site. The investigation identified PCBs (such as from electrical
transformers) were present in soils at concentrations exceeding Ecological Investigation
Levels and Health-based Investigation Levels for residential land use, as published in
'Assessment Levels for Soil, Sediment and Water' (Department of Environment, 2003). The
investigations focused on PCBs, and did not consider other potential contaminants in detail.
PCBs were present in groundwater at concentrations exceeding Freshwater and Marine water
levels, as published in 'Assessment Levels for Soil, Sediment and Water' (Department of
Environment, 2003).5
Action Required:
 Clean-up of PCB contaminated soil and groundwater at the site
 Investigation of the extent of PCB contamination from historical deposition
of PCB and PCDD/DF in the vicinity of the incinerator
 Full public disclosure of PCDD/DF emissions from incinerator
 Testing of incinerator ash to determine PCDD/DF content of waste.
Midland Railway Workshops
Location:
Status:
Midland, Western Australia.
Confirmed POP’s contaminated site
POP’s type: Unspecified OCP’s
This site is located east of Western Australia’s
capital Perth. The old Midland Railway Workshops
were closed in the 1990’s and have been the
subject of environmental investigations in recent
years. The site was used for nearly a hundred
years and involved large scale metal fabrication,
casting and general engineering. A wide range of
hazardous chemicals were used on site and most
residues were buried in different areas around the
site.
5
Department of Environment and Conservation (2009) Contaminated Sites Act 2003. Basic
Summary of Records Search Response. 1 Felspar Rd Welshpool.
7
Contamination is widespread across the
site with high concentrations in the
former hydrocarbon dump on-site.
Remediation to date has only involved
the removal of soil from surface areas
and significant contamination remains
beneath this layer.
Recent government reports confirm that
contamination of the site is still a
problem.
There is a solvent plume in groundwater beneath the site. The extent of the plume is
unknown. There are hydrocarbon plumes at isolated locations across the site, including
phase separated hydrocarbons. Heavy metals are present in groundwater. Pesticides have
also been detected in the groundwater.
There are waste fill deposits over a large portion of the site containing heavy metals,
asbestos, hydrocarbons, pesticides and solvents. A dedicated asbestos dump containing
buried asbestos material is located in the central part of the site 6.
Action Required
 Full remediation of site and treatment of OCP’s by environmentally
acceptable technology.
 Dioxin assessment of soil contamination.
Cockburn Cement (Munster)
Location:
Status:
POP’s type:
Munster, Western Australia.
Inferred POP’s hotspot.
Dioxin Emissions
Cockburn Cement is a large manufacturer of quicklime and cement products in
Western Australia. Its major facility is in Munster, south of Perth. Cockburn
Cement has been the subject of community concern over its emissions in recent
years.
Residents complain of fine dust that settles on their houses and cars damaging
paint and bleaching ceramic roof tiles. According to its reporting of emissions to
the National Pollutant Inventory (Australian Federal Government Database)
Cockburn Cement is one of the biggest emitters of dioxin in Western Australia
6
Department of Environment and Conservation (2009) Contaminated Sites Act 2003. Basic
Summary of Records Search Response. Midland Railway Workshops
8
with 2.2 grams per annum. However Cockburn Cement does not report its
emissions as I-TEQ and hence the true levels and toxicity of their emissions is
unclear.
Action Required
 Independent assessment and reporting of dioxin levels in I-TEQ
 Complete regulatory ban on the burning of waste oils for fuel and the use
of ‘alternative fuels’ where they would be deemed as hazardous waste
under the EU classification system for hazardous waste.
Western Mining Corporation Nickel Refinery Site
Location:
Status:
POP’s type:
270 Patterson Road Kwinana, Western Australia.
Confirmed POP’s contaminated site.
PCB
270 Patterson Rd is currently the location of a nickel refinery in Kwinana,
Western Australia. The refinery is located within 1000m of Kwinana Beach as is
part of the heavy industrial strip which includes chemical manufacture, alumina
production, nickel refining and gas production.
According to government records:
When the refinery was constructed several Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB) transformers and
capacitators were installed. In August 1996 a PCB contamination remediation project was
undertaken. This project involved the removal of soil from around 18 of 27 transformers,
flushing 16 PCBs containing transformers and removing all PCB filled capacitors from service 7.
Unfortunately the cleanup was not able to remove all of the PCB contaminated
soil and deep contamination remains. In addition groundwater at the site is
contaminated by arsenic. Concentrations of PCB beneath the site are not
available.
Although direct human exposure to the PCB’s may be limited, the close proximity
to the beach and Cockburn Sound is an ongoing problem in terms of the
movement of groundwater contamination below the site which migrates westward
towards the sea.
Action required
 Complete clean-up and environmentally acceptable treatment/disposal of
PCB waste beneath the site.
7
Department of Environment and Conservation (2009) Contaminated Sites Act 2003. Basic
Summary of Records Search Response. 270 Patterson Rd Kwinana, WA.
9
Oil Energy Corporation Pty Ltd (ToxFree) Hazardous Waste Incinerator
Location:
Status:
POP’s type:
20 Schillaman St. Wedgefield, Western Australia
Inferred POP’s hotspot.
Dioxin and furans
The Oil Energy Corporation incinerator is situated 6.5km south-west of Port
Hedland, a mining town in the north west of Western Australia. It is located within
the Wedgefield Special Control Area- a mixed industrial residential area that
houses nearly 200 caretaker properties. The incinerator is directly adjacent (200300m) to a 600 person workforce accommodation village.
The incinerator has a history of controversy with the local community who have
lodged numerous complaints about odours, emissions, ash fallout and unusual
coloured smoke. There have also been large uncontrolled fires at the site over
recent years where waste oil and other chemicals have burst into flames.
Some workers in the accommodation village a few hundred metres from the site
have complained of health effects after breathing fumes and emissions that blow
from the incinerator but no official investigation has occurred.
The incinerator is very basic consisting of a small inclined rotary kiln and stack. A
large range of wastes are incinerated including:








waste oil, grease
hydrocarbon materials
sulfinol and ethylene glycol
pesticide wastes
halogenated wastes
photographic wastes
industrial washwaters
contaminated soils and drilling mud from oil and gas fields.
10
From 2001 to 2003 trials were conducted for incinerating perchlorethylene
wastes, pesticides and halogenated wastes but the application to continue the
practice was withdrawn before agreement could be reached with regulators. The
incinerator can operate at temperatures of up to 1000oC. The gas scrubbing
equipment is limited to a wet venturi scrubber and wet cyclone.
The Department of Environment and Conservation have concluded that odorous
VOC emissions from the site and particulate matter are ‘high risk ‘. Acid gases
are considered medium risk. No mention is made anywhere in licensing
documents about dioxin control or levels in either emissions or ash.
The nature of the wastes burned and the temperatures at which they are burned
indicate that dioxins and furans will be created – potentially at high levels.
Community complaints include:
 emissions of ash, yellow and dark smoke
 uncovered ash loads blowing into the environment as they leave the site.
 Strong oil burning and sulfurous odours
 Demands for health investigations for those living nearby.
Incinerator ash is currently recycled back through the incinerator to bulk up liquid
wastes. This practice results in concentrations of PCDD/DF becoming very high
11
as the ash continues to adsorb these compounds time after time. There has been
some evidence of ash disposal/spills on-site. When the ash becomes too
contaminated to feed back through the incinerator it is taken off site to an
‘approved’ landfill.
Most rural landfills in Western Australia are unlined allowing for contamination of
groundwater to occur. Ash is not tested for dioxin. Therefore ash which would
inevitably contain concentrated levels of dioxins and heavy metals are being
disposed of to landfill somewhere near Port Hedland.
Action Required:
 Immediate closure of the incinerator.
 Assessment of on-site soil and groundwater for POP’s contamination.
 Health investigations of nearby residents to assess impacts of emissions.
 Off-site testing for dioxin contamination.
 Assessment of dioxin levels in ash.
 Investigation of fate of ash generated to date.
Nufarm Coogee
Location:
Status:
POP’s type:
Mason Road, Kwinana. Western Australia
Inferred POP’s hotspot.
Dioxin and furans
The Nufarm Coogee site is currently used for the manufacture of a range of
agricultural chemicals. Liquid wastes from production are injected via a deep
bore into the Cockleshell aquifer causing contamination of the aquifer with
herbicides. However, POP’s contamination in soil and water beneath the site is
believed to be due to the activities of a previous company that occupied the site Chemical Industries Kwinana (CIK).
CIK manufactured 2,4,D and 2,4,5,T at the site for use in the Vietnam War as
Agent Orange. The Cockburn Sound Management Plan8 acknowledges that a
plume of contamination of chlorinated phenol remains beneath the site and has
migrated to other nearby industrial sites. Quality control in the production of 2,4,5
trichlorophenol and 2,4D by CIK was often poor and ‘bad batches’ were disposed
of in pits on-site and from time to time were burned.
The poor quality material was believed to contain levels of dioxin above the
regulatory controls of the day. Open burning of these chemicals is likely to have
8
CSIRO. Trefry and David et al., (2006) Status of Groundwater Quality in the Cockburn Sound
Catchment. Final Report to the Cockburn Sound Management Council. p.54.
12
created dioxin contamination at the site even if the chemical waste was initially
free of dioxin or contained low levels.
CIK had a sister company operating in Eagle Farm Queensland manufacturing a
similar range of chemicals. Recent reports indicate that similar contamination
may be present at that site.
The CIK site (pictured above in 1968) was also used to bury drums of
unidentified chemicals and chemical mixtures and these are believed to have
contributed to the groundwater contamination. When Nufarm took control of the
site it inherited hundreds of drums of chemical waste including high strength
OCP’s and many unidentified chemical wastes and mixtures which were
eventually disposed of by in a manner acceptable to Western Australian
environmental authorities.
13
Action Required:
 Investigation of dioxin levels in soil, groundwater and in surrounding
surface soils
 Complete remediation of POP’s related waste at the site.
The Contaminated Cattle Tick Dip Sites
Location: Contaminated cattle tick dipsites (1,647) were identified in a
region covering approximately 23,000 square kilometres on the north coast of the
state of New South Wales in Australia. This region called the Dip Quarantine
Area encompasses an area from the Queensland border in the north, to the rural
town of Grafton in the south and west to Tenterfield.
Status: Confirmed POP’s contaminated sites
POPs type: DDT (also arsenic)
The main contaminants associated with the dips are DDT and arsenic.
As many of the 1647 sites have not been fully assessed, the overall quantity of
DDT contamination is difficult to assess. Some early estimates were made
suggesting a figure of more than 50 kilograms of pure DDT at each dip
The dips were built by the Tick Control Board, a State Government body, on an
approximate 3-4 kilometre grid on private property and then leased back to the
NSW Department of Agriculture. The company clearly responsible is the NSW
Department of Agriculture. Affected residents are currently testing the liability in
the courts.
The source of contamination is from many decades of inappropriate disposal of
the dip bath sludge and effluent, as well as ‘drip’ from treated cattle waiting in the
dipyards. Leakage from broken dipbaths or overflow from flooding is also a
factor.
14
The dipsite consists of a concrete bath into which the cattle were herded and
forced to swim through a chemical solution. Each site was surrounded by about a
quarter of an acre of holding yards and due to the need for water to mix with the
dip chemicals to fill the dipbath, many were built adjacent to streams, rivers and
waterways. Each time the dip was cleaned, emptied or ‘refreshed’, the highly
persistent contaminants were either emptied into a burial pit close by, or dumped
onto the ground next to the dipbath, which became known as the ‘scooping
mound’. Sometimes, the dip solution would be pumped out of the bath onto the
adjoining yards and allowed to soak into the ground.
The documents gained from the NSW Regional Agriculture Department under
Freedom of Information (FOI) included sampling data showing very high levels of
contamination of DDT and Arsenic in the soil taken from around the dips. Soil
sampled from the ‘scooping mound’ of a representative dip had DDT residues of
a 100,000 parts per million (ppm), around 10% of the dipsite soil. Arsenic had
been recorded at levels of up to 3000ppm in the disposal pit area and an
organophosphate, Ethion, which had replaced DDT was detected in one disposal
pit at 45,000ppm. The levels for DDT and Arsenic are far in excess of Australia’s
current investigation levels for DDT (200ppm) and Arsenic (100ppm).
The multiple nature of these heavily contaminated sites and disposal areas
spread over an extensive area provides a significant source of ongoing POPs
contamination to water, wildlife and soil. The region affected is recognised as the
second most significant area for biodiversity in Australia and already
demonstrates high levels of DDT/DDE contamination in its wildlife and human
populations.
Levels as high as 27,000 parts per million of DDT were found in one derelict dip
in the heart of regional suburbia, less than 10 metres from the closest house,
which was situated down the slope. By January 1992, the then NSW Department
of Agriculture acknowledged that there were 41 houses built directly on top of or
adjacent to cattle tick dip sites in the north coast region. Other incidences of
where re-zoning/landuse change has led to not only houses but pre-schools and
public buildings being built on unremediated dipsites.
Very little remediation action has taken place with the majority of the dips
remaining in their original condition. In some cases, the highly contaminated soil
has been transported to local landfill and most dips have had their structures
removed and have been covered with ‘clean’ soil. In one particular case, soil
from the dip was used to build a ‘flood levy pad’ at Lismore Airport.
Action required: Immediate remediation action needs to be undertaken to treat
the DDT waste particularly the hotspot scooping mounds or disposal pits. Due to
the mixed nature of the waste (DDT/Arsenic/others), a combination of
technologies would need to be used such as thermal desorption systems, molten
15
media processes and/or plasma arc systems. All would require final storage or
disposal of the concentrated Arsenic waste.
References:
Beard, Dr John, “The Evaluation of DDT Contaminated Soil Associated with
Cattle Tick Dipsites” The Health Risk Assessment and Management of
Contaminated Sites, Proceedings of the Second National Workshop on the
Health Risk Assessment and Management of Contaminated Sites, Edited by
A.Langley & M.Van Alphen, No 2 1993, pp119-133
Craven, J., Community Participation in Environmental Management, The Cattle
Dip Site Model Unpublished Report, University of New England Northern Rivers,
Faculty of Resource Science and Management. 1993 Appendices p89.
DIPMAC, Report on the Management of Contaminated Waste at Cattle Tick
Dipsites in North Eastern NSW, Prepared by the Cattle Tick Dipsite Management
Committee, March 1992 p5. Grinter, M., “Soil Residues in NSW, A Community
Perspective", Toxic Chemical Load, Public Health and Environmental Issues
Conference, T.E.C. July 93, p 45-50
Homebush Bay
Location: Homebush Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Status: Confirmed POP’s Contaminated site
POP’s type: Dioxins and furans, DDT/DDE/DDD in sediment: 80 000 tonnes
(estimate)
The site is contaminated due to disposal of industrial waste from 2,4,5-T
manufacture by Union Carbide.
Homebush Bay is 12 kilometres from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and flows into
the Parramatta River. From the earliest days of Sydney's industrial development
Homebush Bay has been the site of some of Australia's most polluting industries.
The bay was originally envisaged as the “Gateway” to the 2000 Olympic Games,
until the full extent of contamination was realised. Timbrol Ltd established
operations at Rhodes in 1928 and after World War II established a chlor-alkali
plant on the site for the manufacture of a range of organochlorine chemicals,
including DDT, hexachlorobenzene, dichlorobenzenes, 2,4-D and 2,4,5- T.
In 1957 the multinational chemical giant Union Carbide purchased Timbrol Ltd
and continued chemical production at the site until 1985. From 1957 to 1976
Union Carbide continued production of the chlorinated herbicides 2,4-D and
2,4,5,-T, the two chemicals which make up the infamous Agent Orange used in
the Vietnam War. Union Carbide abandoned Australia and its toxic legacy in the
early 1990s. Polychlorinated dioxins and furans (often simply referred to as
16
dioxins), are produced as byproducts during the production of organochlorines,
such as 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. Large areas of the Rhodes Peninsula were reclaimed
from the bay using solid wastes from the Union Carbide factory as the primary fill
material. The wastes were heavily contaminated with a wide range of persistent
organic pollutants (POPs), including dioxins, organochlorine pesticides (DDT,
DDE, DDD), and chlorinated phenoxy and aliphatic compounds. Together with
the very real likelihood of direct discharge of pollutants via the Union Carbide
stormwater system over decades, Homebush Bay is now one of the most
contaminated waterways in the world.
In June 1997 Greenpeace investigations revealed an orphaned stockpile of thirty
six, 200 litre drums, and fifteen, 50 litre drums of highly dioxin contaminated
waste adjacent to the former Union Carbide factory site. Results of sampling from
the stockpile were alarming. The analysis found that the waste contained 98.1
ng/g of 2,3,7,8 TCDD (108 ng/g I-TEQ), which is consistent with residues and
wastes from pesticide 2,4,5- T manufactured by Union Carbide Australia Limited
up until the late 1970s.
Greenpeace sampling of fish from Homebush Bay found high levels of dioxin in
the food chain. Two Sea Mullet were found to have 252 and 345 pg/g I-TEQ of
the most toxic form of dioxin 2,3,7,8-TCDD. The samples of fish from Homebush
Bay were over three hundred times higher than levels reported in fish fillets from
Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne and are the highest recorded dioxin contaminated
fish in Australia. Earlier studies of Homebush Bay highlighted the extent of the
contamination and a fishing ban is in place. Sediment sampling carried out
between 1987 and 1990 found levels of dioxins over 550 ng/g I-TEQ. [EPA 1996]
Since Greenpeace publicised the dioxin contamination at Homebush Bay political
pressure has resulted in a large scale clean-up of the land-based contaminated
site by contractors THIESS. This clean-up is close to completion but the
sediments of the Bay remain highly contaminated and in recent years Sydney
harbour has been closed at times due to high dioxin levels in the fish and
crustacea of the waterways. Professional fishermen and their families have also
been tested for dioxin and elevated levels were confirmed.
Action required: Complete cleanup of the sediments of Homebush Bay and
treatment/disposal of the waste by environmentally acceptable technologies
References: Greenpeace Australia, Special Dioxin Report, June 1997
(http://www.greenpeace.org.au/Toxics/69.html) EPA File CH2012/9, Report: draft
Homebush Bay Screening Level Risk Assessment – prepared for Office of
Marine Safety and Port Strategy, by Parametrix Inc and AWT Ensight., March
1996.
Port Kembla, Steel Smelter
17
Location: Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited – BHP
Steel Sinter Plant, Port Kembla, New South Wales 2025
Status: Confirmed hotspot stack emissions from sinter plant in integrated steel
mill
POP’s Type: Dioxins and furans
Iron is manufactured from its ores (i.e. magnetic pyrites, magnetite, haematite,
and carbonates of iron) in a blast furnace. Iron ores may undergo sintering to
enable better processing in the blast furnace.
In sampling undertaken between 1993-1997 dioxin emissions from the sinter
plant ranged between 1.84 ng/m3 – 7.0 ng/m3. Sintering plants are, as a part of
the traditional iron making process, where a mixture of iron ore fines, coke
breeze and waste material collected from other parts of the works are
heated up to provide a suitable size aggregate to put in the blast furnaces.
Dioxins are formed because of contamination with chlorinated material, poor
combustion control and because electrostatic precipitators used to reduce
particulate emissions provide an ideal environment for dioxins formation in
flue gases. Modern steelworks however avoid the need for sintering by using the
direct reduction process.
Sinter plants in Sweden were reported to emit up to 3-ng TEQ/Nm3 stack gas or
2 to 4 g TEQ/per plant to the air (Vesar Inc 1996 Rappe 1992). Bremmer et al.
(1994) reported the results of stack testing at three iron ore sintering plants in
The Netherlands. One facility equipped with wet scrubbers had an emission
factor of 1.8-ng TEQ/dscm (dry standard cubic meter). The other two facilities,
both equipped with cyclones, had emission factors of 4.5 and 6.8 ng TEQ/dscm.
Lahl (1993; 1994) reports stack emissions for sintering plants in Germany
(after passage through mechanical filters and electrostatic precipitators) ranging
from 3- to 10-ng TEQ/Nm3. Environment Australia estimated that an emission
range from Sinter plants are between 5.7 -7.3 microgram /tonne of sinter
produced (Pacific Air & Environment 1998) Local community groups with
assistance from Greenpeace Australia and the South Coast Labour Council have
formed a Dioxin Action Committee to campaign for dioxin elimination. Local
residents have been concerned about pollution in the industrialised Port Kembla
area due to the discovery of leukemia clusters and birth defects in the region.
Since these earlier stack tests results were reported BHP has committed AUD70
million for a pollution reduction Program. As a result of implementing parts of this
programme BHP claim:
Prior to installing the gas cleaning plant, dust in the waste gas stream was
around 80-100 milligrams per normal cubic metre and dioxin levels were at
around 3 nanograms per normal cubic metre of waste gas Tests to date indicate
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the plant is achieving its target for less than 20 milligrams of dust per normal
cubic metre, an 80 per cent reduction, and is exceeding the dioxin target of 0.3
nanograms per normal cubic metre, and achieving a reduction of nearing 97 per
cent.
While the reduction of dioxin emissions to air is a good achievement it should be
noted that the dioxin emission rate is still 3 times the internationally accepted
standard of I-TEQ 0.1 ng/Nm3 down from 30 times the limit before the reduction
plan. The transfer of the dioxins (and other pollutants) from the stack to the new
char filter bed eventually results in the filter bed becoming ‘full’ of pollutants. The
filter bed must then be ‘re-activated’ at high temperature, which destroys the
dioxins.9
There is no explanation as to how the high temperature baking of the char bed
destroys the highly concentrated dioxin in the filter medium, or where this occurs
in the process facility. Generally high temperature applied to dioxin laden char
filter mediums simply re-generates the dioxin emissions. The destruction claims
must be verified.
Action required: There is a clear need for further dioxin elimination and
verification studies at the steel works particularly in relation to scrubber wastes
and filter regeneration.
References:
Bremmer, H.J. Troost, L.M. Kuipers, G., DeKoning, J., Sein, A.A.
Emissions of dioxins in The Netherlands. National Institute of Public
Health and Environmental Protection (RIVM) and Netherlands
Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO)., Report No.
770501018., 1994.
Bremmer, H.J. Troost, L.M. Kuipers, G., DeKoning, J., Sein, A.A.
Emissions of dioxins in The Netherlands. National Institute of Public
Health and Environmental Protection (RIVM) and Netherlands
Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO)., Report No.
770501018., 1994. Also found in Vesar 1996.
Darcovich, K., Freeman, K., (1998) Pilot Air Toxics Project., Technical
Report., New South Wales Environment Protection Authority., EPA
98/21., May, 1998
Environment Australia, Persistent Organic Pollutants – Dioxin
emissions Project, a report prepared by Pacific Air and Environment
for the Environment Protection Group, November 1997.
Lahl, U., Sintering plants of steel industry – the most important
thermal PCDD/CDF source in industrialised regions. Organohalogen
Compounds 11:311-314., 1993
Lahl, U., Sintering plants of steel industry – PCDD/F emission status
9
BHP Health Safety Environment and Community Report 2004
http://hsecreport.bluescopesteel.com/environment/air-case-studies.html
19
and perspectives. Chemosphere 29 (9-11): 1939-1945., 1994.
Lexen, K, DeWit, C., Jansson, B., Kjeller, L.O., Kulp, S.E., Ljung, K.,
Soderstrom, G., Rappe, C., Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and
dibenzofuran levels and patterns in samples from different Swedish
industries analysed within the Swedish dioxin survey. Chemosphere
27 (1-3): 163-170., 1993. Also found in Vesar 1996 and Dyke et al
1997.
Rappe., C. Sources of exposure, environmental levels and exposure
assessment of PCDDs and PCDFs., Organohalogen Compounds., 9:5-8., 1992. also found in Vesar 1996.
Vesar. Inc., Formation and Sources of Dioxin-Like Compounds: A
Background Issues Paper, prepared for the U.S Environmental
Protection Agency., National Centre for Environmental Assessment.,
Washington., November 1996.
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