THOR CHEMICALS’ FOREIGN MERCURY WASTE CONTAMINATION OF CATO-RIDGE, SOUTH AFRICA

Objectives of Team Project:
To broaden education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global/societal context; to recognize need for and the ability to engage in lifelong learning; and to understand contemporary issues.

Each team will research Thor Chemicals’ Foreign Mercury Waste Contamination of Cato-Ridge, South Africa according to the project details given below. A project report will be submitted at the end of the semester complemented by a team PowerPoint presentation in class.

Background (Excerpt from http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/Jones/thorchem.htm)

Cato-Ridge is a small, industrial village in the self-governing province of Kwazulu-Natal (Kwazulu means land of the Zulu) in eastern South Africa. Thor Chemicals, Inc., owned by Thor holdings of Manchester, England, “runs one of the world’s largest mercury reclamation facilities” at Cato-Ridge. Prior to Thor Chemicals’ move to South Africa in 1988, a mercury plant was operated, beginning in the mid 70s, at Margate, Kent, England. During the 1980s, concerns were raised by the Health ad Safety Executive (HSE) when allegations of excessive levels of mercury in the air and in workers’ urine were investigated. Threatened by prosecution by the HSE for over-exposure of workers to mercury, Thor closed its plant in 1987, relocating to South Africa, where untrained and unskilled Zulu-speaking labor was employed. Within a year, the local water board there (in Natal) found high levels of mercury pollution in a nearby river.

The Thor Chemical plant in Cato Ridge http://www.igc.org/saepej/thor.html

What began in the 1970s and continued unethically into the 1990s was a terrible industrial disaster. A result of technological, industrial, legal and human error, the incident took the lives of workers, injured people in the area and has left continued contamination to this day. Thor Chemicals established a “reclamation” facility in South Africa and imported wastes from the UK. Thor Chemicals, Inc. offered little to no health consideration for its workers and was unbelievably careless. Documents were recovered proving that the company had imported 135 tons of spent mercury catalyst from Italy and the US in addition to the UK imports. Rivers used for bathing, washing and drinking water were found to be contaminated with 1.5 million parts per billion (ppb) of mercury, which is 1500 times the regulated US limit. Mercury is a metal that can be easily absorbed into the body through food, air or skin contact and accumulates; therefore the effects of this contamination are evident. The most seriously affected people however were those who were hired at the plant, taken advantage of by the company and their government who overlooked the contamination initially.

Team Assignment
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Reports must be stapled in the upper left-hand corner and have 2.5-cm margins on all sides. The type font must be Tines Roman 12 points. The line spacing should be 1.5 spacing. Refer to Section 6.6H of Fogler and LeBlanc in writing this report.

A letter of transmittal must be addressed Dr. Jahan.
The cover sheet must contain the title of the project, names of individuals in the group with the group leader designated, course number, and date submitted.
Executive summary: The report must contain a summary, not more than one page in length.
Project Description

Problem Statement ( 1page)
Background (Introduction to Cato-Ridge, South Africa) (2 Pages)
Mercury (3 Pages)
The Thor Chemicals Crisis in Cato-Ridge, South Africa (4 pages)
Current Status ( 2 Pages)

Regulatory Impact ( 2 Page)
Ethical Issues ( 2 Pages)
Conclusions (1 Page)
References

Related Links to the Project

http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/Jones/thorchem.htm

http://www.earthlife.org.za/campaigns/toxics/thor.htm

http://www.ban.org/ban_news/foreign_mercury.html

http://www.uct.ac.za/depts/dpa/monpaper/98-no25/thor.htm

http://www.afsc.org/pwork/0599/0514.htm

http://www.sunsonline.org/trade/process/followup/1999/01260499.htm

Links to South Africa

SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT: http://www.gov.za/

GEOGRAPHY AND STRUCTURE OF SOUTH AFRICA: http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/zatoc.html

http://www.geocities.com/~dialworld/africa/southafr.html