This article is about the rise and fall of ocean incineration, a method for the disposal of hazardous chemical waste that was initiated in the late 1960s, developed, tested, and perfected... Show moreThis article is about the rise and fall of ocean incineration, a method for the disposal of hazardous chemical waste that was initiated in the late 1960s, developed, tested, and perfected throughout the 1970s, commercialized in the 1980s, and eventually phased out from the 1990s onwards. Ocean incineration consisted in the offshore destruction of toxic liquid substances in specially designed ships outfitted with high-temperature combustion chambers and high stacks. When this technology broke through, it seemed like a panacea. It heralded the safe disposal of noxious compounds such as organochlorines and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which were ubiquitous by-products of petrochemical industrial processes. It promised to minimize private companies’ externalities and ease environmental concerns. But it ultimately failed to provide an alternative to safely disposing of toxic waste. What does explain such a decline? This article answers this question by arguing that the demise of ocean incineration was due to the combination of locally oriented and transnationally driven protests, which emerged across the (North) Atlantic and exposed the dangerous and highly exploitative nature of such a practice. Show less
Ocean incineration, i.e., the thermal destruction of toxic substances in ships outfitted with high-temperature combustion chambers, promised to solve the age-old problem of hazardous waste disposal... Show moreOcean incineration, i.e., the thermal destruction of toxic substances in ships outfitted with high-temperature combustion chambers, promised to solve the age-old problem of hazardous waste disposal. This method was perfected throughout the 1970s and commercialized in the early 1980s, only to be abandoned by the end of that decade. My paper charts the rise and fall of ocean incineration and explains its decline. I argue that local and transnational protests formed the main constraint on ocean incineration. My research, combining social and environmental history, shows how a trans-local coalition challenged uneven socio-ecological developments through a successful “Ban the Burn” campaign. Show less
