Greenpeace activists arrived today at the Swiss/French border with 10 tons of aluminium slag. Greenpeace collected the slag from a Portugese waste dump and spent three days transporting it to Basel (November 4th till 7th). The slag was originally sent to Portugal from Switzerland to be recycled. However the faciltities were not available and 30'000 tons of hazardous waste were dumping in the open unprotected since 1987. The waste is endangering the environmental of the Portuguese City Setubal.
Already several times Portugal demanded the Swiss authorities to provide for the return of the hazardous waste which Refonda, a subsidiary of Alu-Suisse, has transported illegaly to Portugal. But the Federal Office for the Environment fails to act and Refonda shirks its responsibility. Greenpeace submit accusaition against both of them.