Nearly two decades after more than 500 tons of toxic waste from the Probo Koala were dumped at 18 locations across Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, the effects of the disaster still burden victims and have intensified fears over what campaigners call “waste colonialism.”
The dumping in 2006 killed 17 people and caused poisoning symptoms among tens of thousands more. Trafigura agreed the following year to provide €152 million for cleanup and compensation, but victims’ groups said the settlement barred them from taking further legal action against the company in Ivorian courts.
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An African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights order to create a compensation fund, issued in 2023, has not yet been implemented. Environmental organizations say the wider pattern persists as electronic waste, textiles and plastics continue to be exported to African countries. Meanwhile, stricter European Union rules governing plastic-waste exports are scheduled to take effect in November 2026.
