40 years after the worst chemical accident of all time: Toxic waste is finally disposed of

By Dirk Godder

New Delhi (India) - Four decades after the industrial disaster in Bhopal, India, which claimed thousands of lives, 337 tons of toxic waste have been removed from the site for disposal.

In 1984, thousands of people had to wait in tents outside hospitals to be treated.
In 1984, thousands of people had to wait in tents outside hospitals to be treated.  © United Press International (UPI)/dpa

According to local authorities, the hazardous waste was loaded into containers within three days under the supervision of experts and transported by truck to an incineration plant around 240 kilometers away.

The incineration could begin immediately, the head of the relief and rehabilitation center for the Bhopal gas tragedy, Swatantra Kumar Singh, told the German Press Agency in Delhi.

The process is considered safe.

However, according to Singh, the incineration process at the Pithampur plant can take up to nine months. According to reports by Indian broadcaster NDTV, civil society organizations in Pithampur had called for the incineration process to be abandoned for fear of toxic gases escaping.

The toxic waste from Bhopal would have to be taken abroad and disposed of there.

Children are still born with deformities today

Pesticides are mainly used as a preventative measure against pests in agriculture.
Pesticides are mainly used as a preventative measure against pests in agriculture.  © Armin Weigel/dpa

On the night of December 2 to 3, 1984, large quantities of the highly toxic compound methyl isocyanate escaped from a tank at the pesticide factory of the US company Union Carbide in Bhopal in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

The methyl isocyanate gases settled over the city like a large cloud. According to human rights activists, more than 20,000 people died and hundreds of thousands fell ill.

To this day, children are still being born with deformities in the affected areas.

According to estimates by activists dealing with the consequences of the poison gas disaster, the amount of toxic waste identified is only a fraction of the waste materials.

Toxic substances would have contaminated the groundwater in around 40 residential areas of Bhopal.