Red Sludge

Kolontar, a small village in Hungary, is on the map this week for having been deluged in around one million cubic meters of red mud, a by product from an alumina plant. Aerial photos show the extent of the spill that spreads like a blood stain across the landscape and through the streets. The spill is now heading towards the Danube, a river that is already heavily polluted from the five rivers that flow into it and the millions of people in 19 countries in the Danube river basin that pour pollution into it.

The internet and the papers are awash with contradictory information, as ever. A quick google search was enough to confuse my Sunday afternoon brain: it is highly caustic and full of heavy metals, it is not really that dangerous, the Danube is threatened, the Danube is not threatened etc. Red mud is, however, a long term problem because it is very difficult to dispose of, hence it sits round in giant drying ponds that can never be built on or farmed again. Or, of course, they can burst and kill a number of unfortunate people who probably relied on the alumina plant for employment and to support the local economy.

picture from guardian.co.uk 

I did not know much about bauxite mining and aluminium production until last week and I had certainly never come across red mud before. I did know that it is difficult and energy intensive process and that there were pollutants associated with. I am also vaguely aware of the problems associated with many industrial processes: the dyeing industry, the leather industry, DDT, the coltan mining industry, artisanal gold mining…I could go on all day.


In my internet ramblings I came across the Blacksmith Institute who publish an annual report cheerily titled the World’s Worst Polluted Places report. They have changed the emphasis for the 2009 report to focus on successful cleanup stories rather than on a gloomy list of disasters. It still makes for pretty depressing reading although there is certainly hope and the Blacksmith Institute are keen to highlight how change can happen when national and international communities work together. They cite the phasing out of leaded gasoline and the Chemical Weapons Convention as examples of positive action.


We have our own minor contamination occurrences to deal with on our site, asbestos being the most prevalent and one that affects a huge number of public buildings including many schools. In the past we have also found unidentified cans of something, old batteries, shell casings and all manner of scrap metal left by the Navy. The regulations surrounding disposal of waste are getting more and more stringent and that has to be a good thing. You can’t throw computer monitors and TVs full of toxic waste into landfill, you can’t dump fridges and you can’t bury asbestos in a hole in the ground as commonly practiced in the old days. And more polluters are being called to account in a number of landmark cases including the Multinational company Trafigura who were found guilty of exporting toxic waste to the Ivory Coast where, as reported by Amnesty, thousands of people fell ill and there were 15 reported deaths.


On a day to day level, bear in mind that it takes 5% of the energy to recycle an aluminium drinks can than it does to make a new one and that maybe you could Freecycle your old telly instead of taking it to the tip. Small actions like this start to become significant when we think back to those Hungarian villagers wading through caustic red sludge.