Dirty Business: Shipbreaking in India

First broadcast December 2006

Vast amounts of waste are exported daily from the industrialised world to developing countries - all in the name of recycling.

But much of this trade is illegal, dangerous and environmentally disastrous to the countries who receive it.

Liz Carney travels to India, Nigeria, Czech Republic and the USA to lift the lid on the multi billion dollar trade that dumps western waste on some of the world's poorest nations.

Part One: Shipbreaking in India

The Blue Lady, once one of the world's most glamorous cruise ships, is currently beached at the huge ship-breaking yard of Alang in India.

Environmental groups argue that the asbestos-riddled ship is toxic waste and say the ship was dumped on India as a cheap place to scrap it.

But ship breakers say Alang meets the necessary health and safety standards. They maintain that if Blue Lady is turned away from India, the work will simply go to a cheaper yard, probably in China.

The situation is set to get worse, 200 single hulled oil tankers need to be disposed of by 2015.

The BBC's Liz Carney asks who is going to deal with them and at what economic and environmental cost.

Next in this series: E-waste in Nigeria

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