Nigeria

The price of oil: Shell in the Niger Delta

Posted by jamess — 7 October 2011 at 3:00pm - Comments
UN confirmed that Shell's oil spills could take 30 years to clean up
All rights reserved. Credit: George Osodi
UN confirmed that Shell's oil spills could take 30 years to clean up

A guest blog from Ben Amunwa, campaigner with oil industry watchdog Platform

This time last year I was standing in a vast pool of oily water. It used to be a fish pond for local villagers, but now everywhere was coated with oil and the stench of petroleum was overpowering. A light rain was falling.

Article tagged as: climate, climate change, go beyond oil, human rights, niger delta, nigeria, oil, platform london, shell

Shell coughs up to keep human rights trial out of court

Posted by jamie — 9 June 2009 at 2:46pm - Comments

Shell has ducked out of the major international trial it faced over human rights abuses in Nigeria, and last night opened its wallet to fork out $15.5m (£9.6m) in a last minute settlement. After 13 years of bringing this case to court, it's a relief for the relatives of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others executed for campaigning against Shell's human rights abuse and environmental crimes in the Niger Delta.

Article tagged as: africa, human rights, ken saro-wiwa, nigeria, oil, shell

World’s most carbon intensive oil company, anyone?

Posted by jossc — 20 May 2009 at 9:42am - Comments
Before and after Shell: tar sands extraction in Alberta, Canada © Jiri Rezac/WWF-UK

Not every barrel of oil has the same carbon footprint - some extraction processes radically increase the amount of greenhouse gases which are released. We've been collaborating on research to identify the worst offenders, and our report (released yesterday to coincide with the company's Annual General Meeting) singles out Shell as the most carbon intensive oil company in the world, based on its total resources.

Article tagged as: canada, nigeria, shell, tar sands

Success! Philips make a recycling policy u-turn

Posted by jossc — 26 February 2009 at 3:27pm - Comments

An old Philips TV at a scrap yard in Ghana

An old Philips TV at a scrap yard in Ghana

Last week we broke the shocking story about what actually happens to our electronic waste; instead of being safely recycled in the UK or Europe, much of it is instead being exported as 'second-hand goods' to places like Nigeria, China and India. Once there it's either sold for scrap, illegally dumped, or broken apart for recycling by some of the poorest people in the country, with no safety measures to protect them from the dangerous toxic chemicals like mercury, cadmium and lead which the e-waste contains.

Article tagged as: africa, e-waste, nigeria, philips, successes, toxic chemicals, toxics, TVs

How your TV could end up in Nigeria to be illegally dumped

Posted by jamie — 18 February 2009 at 11:18am - Comments

Television are shipped from the EU to Nigeria to be sold, scrapped or illegally dumped

Television are shipped from the EU to Nigeria to be sold, scrapped or illegally dumped © Greenpeace/Buus

As you may have seen on Sky News or the cover of the Independent this morning, our researchers have been conducting a three-year investigation in what really happens to electronic waste. The results show that, instead of being recycled responsibly like it's supposed to be, e-waste is being disguised as second-hand goods and being shipped of to (in this case) Nigeria. There, it's sold, scrapped or illegally dumped.

Acting on a tip-off, we launched our operation in collaboration with Sky Television to see just where some electronic waste was ending up. We took an unfixable TV, fitted it with a tracking device and brought it to Hampshire County Council for recycling. Instead of being safely dismantled in the UK or Europe, like it should have been, the council’s 'recycling' company, BJ Electronics, passed it on as 'second-hand goods' and it was shipped off to Nigeria to be sold or scrapped and dumped.

Article tagged as: africa, e-waste, nigeria, sky tv, toxic chemicals, toxics, TVs
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