Albania's 102 containers set out by boat from the port of Durres in early July this year, arrived in Thailand but were prohibited from landing, and boarded the ship to return to Albania but were refused to land, and are still stranded at sea, exposing a global waste trade dispute.

    Official documents reviewed by AFP show the containers were loaded with waste that was to be shipped to Thailand for processing and destruction.

    According to Albanian media reports, the 102 containers were loaded from a Turkish steel plant in central Albania. The Albanian company Sokolaj bought the waste, resold it to its subsidiary in Croatia and then exported it to Thailand for processing.

    Sokolaj lists the waste as "iron oxide," a non-toxic substance that is not banned.

    However, the Basel Action Network, which tracks toxic waste, was tipped off that the containers contained not only iron oxide but also toxic waste. The group then contacted Maersk, the group responsible for carrying the containers.

    The Basel Action Network asked Maersk to direct the two ships carrying the containers to stop, but the container ship did not respond, turned off its transponders and continued on to Singapore. The Basel Action Network contacted Thai authorities, who refused to let the containers into the country.

    Maersk told AFP that its container ship had handed over the containers in Singapore to a Mediterranean shipping vessel, which would take them back to Albania.

    Maersk also said it would have refused to ship if it had known it was carrying toxic waste.

    Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama defended the containers, but refused to allow them to return to Albanian ports.

    As of Thursday, those 102 containers were still at sea, with one ship off the Italian coast and another off the Egyptian coast.

    Western countries have long dumped a large amount of "foreign garbage" in developing countries in Asia and Africa. Countries such as China, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia have been receiving foreign waste for years, China has stopped importing solid waste since 2018, and other ASEAN countries have also tightened restrictions on foreign waste imports.

    The waste management trade is a multi-billion dollar industry. The Group of Seven's Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering said tackling illicit substances alone could generate 9 billion to 11 billion euros (about 11.5 billion to S $14.1 billion) a year. However, many of them are hazardous substances that may be harmful to human health or the environment.

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