((C) Foreign Policy) by Brendan Corr

((C) Edward Burntynsky) 

Chittatongm Bangladesh is a dry dock ship breaking yard. It is not alone in the world and the sad fact is that locals end up manually breaking apart the ships with unprotected exposure to toxic lead paint and other hazzardous materials. This is on top of any environmental calamities.

A lot of ships end on the once pristine beaches of India, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan and Turkey. Workers there scrap the ships without any protection. Toxic waste is released into the environment. The only ones who profit are the ship owners. They extract an average US$ 1.9 million profit per End of Life Vessel.

((C) Edward Burntynsky)

Greenpeace has an active campaign on this issue.  See a full slate of pictures by Edward Burntynsky and Brendan Corr (in Foreign Affairs) on shipbreaking.

via ArkBlog