Human
Rights Watch reports that the infamous businesses responsible they have
coined Bangladesh's "Toxic Tanneries" have been fined for their excessive
pollution. As extensively
documented by Human Rights Watch, and mentioned many times by the EcoPol
Project, these Hazaribagh tanneries are the source of immense environmental
damage to the region, their employees, and anyone living nearby. An official in
Bangladesh's Environment Department is quoted as having told Human Rights Watch
that there exists neither monitoring nor enforcement of the tanneries'
In spite of this, fines were levied against
two of the tanneries, the Bay Tanneries
and the Ayub
Brothers tannery, charged $50,000, and $25,000 respectively. Human Rights
Watch is unsure of why these two tanneries were chosen to be the recipients of
fines when nearly 150 tanneries in the
Hazaribagh district of Dhaka collectively discharge nearly 21,000 cubic meters
of waste, without any pre-treatment to abate the levels of toxins. These toxins are responsible for the painful
dermatological diseases as well as the respiratory and gastrointestinal
illnesses all too common in Dhaka. Nonetheless, Ayub Brothers and Bay Tanneries
were singled out and fined for not having effluent treatment plants that would filter
their wastewater and diminish the amount of poison being pumped out by their leather
processing facilities.
90-95%
of the tanneries in Bangladesh are located within the Hazaribagh neighborhood
of Dhaka, employing between 8,000 and 12,000 people, and the excessive toxic
waste being excreted by these tanneries has led to a foul, chemical smell in
the public water and air. In this slum, corrugated tin is often used as construction
material, but the quantity of pollutants present causes the metal to deteriorate
at a rapid rate. Residents report that within six months, the metal is corroded
and requires replacement. It is hard to hear about such horrid conditions, and
yet, we hear about them, or others similar, on a nearly daily basis.
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| Children in a Hazaribagh Tannery. Source: AP |
But as hard as these atrocities are to hear about, it is far
harder to understand why so few tanneries were fined when conditions such as
these are so prevalent. It is harder to understand why only two tanneries were
chosen to pay such negligibly low numbers when so many tanneries are responsible
and making such monumentally massive sums of money. No doubt, it is far harder to
try and comprehend the small sum charged than it is to read the depictions of such
deplorable conditions. It is hard to attempt to comprehend why so little is
done in a neighborhood where there are so many thousands for whom employment is
synonymous with poisoning, and where so many tens of thousands more are essentially
punished because they happen to live within the pollution and poverty provided
by the neighborhood leather industry without receiving any information given about
the potential harmful effects of the chemical compounds they have as neighbors.
In a little over a year, between June of 2011 and July of
2012, these tanneries exported almost $663,000,000 in leather goods. Yet the
total fines that were levied against the two tanneries unlucky enough to
actually receive a penalty added to a paltry $75,000. Not only that, but although Bangladesh's
Environment Department assessed the fine, there is no information given about
how the money will be used, about whether the fines will be used to help construct
waste treatment plants or, at the very least, about whether the fines would
repeat for those two tanneries each year that they are out of compliance, or
whether other tanneries will be fined in future if they fail to produce
wastewater treatment plants. The Environment Department also failed to explain
the reasoning behind deciding upon such small sums for the fine.
To be an efficient deterrent, fines for being out of
compliance with environmental standards are there to encourage businesses to
adhere to those policies. The amounts fined should to be large enough that they
produce a substantially negative impact upon the profits of businesses fined.
These fines should also be large enough that, upon performing a profit/loss
analysis, each business would determine that the cheaper option is to simply
comply with the environmental guidelines.
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| Worker at a Dhaka Tannery with Tannery Waste. Source: AP |
When considering the total devastation in the area, the
immense loss of life, the damages and health issues caused, and the long term
complications that will continue to arise in the region, these fines are far
from fine. There was less than $100,000 charged in total, divided between two
out of 150 tanneries, and likely to make so minor an impact upon their profit
margins as to be almost non-existent. These negligible fines are certainly not
enough to make the costs of installing and operating a wastewater treatment
facility cheaper than paying fines. As the EcoPol
project has detailed, bribery is a huge issue that surrounds
the tannery industry.
And it is for all these reasons that I cannot help but
wonder if these "fines" are a bribe by any other name. The fines came
just four months after Human Rights Watch's report on the Hazaribagh tanneries
drew unparalleled levels of attention to their activities. The timing is
questionable and has the markings of a PR cleanup attempt, rather than an
environmental one. These fines, seemingly randomly assigned, collected without disclosure about where the funds
will be allocated, and shockingly small in comparison to the total profits of
these companies, strike me as a new type of bribe. One that can be made above
board instead of under a desk, in plain view, allowing the corrupt officials to
receive their funds while appearing to be cracking down on environmental issues
in their districts, while in actuality, continuing to allow business as usual,
and profiting from the proliferation of pollutants, all the while pretending to
be working against it.
