In the context of the investigation of the Environmental Conflict Episodes, this project focuses on the environmental conflict caused by the change of strategy by the XIII Constitutional Government chaired by António Guterres in the management of hazardous industrial waste. In the orientation of the government there was a deliberate intention to carry out a set of curative measures to address the serious problem of environmental liabilities and the possible risks to public health caused by the anarchic waste disposal, an aspect that has characterized the industrial landscape of our country in recent decades. In the same vein, no preventive measures were put forward, in order to prevent the situation of environmental degradation from having to be considered later.
The policy initiative of the XIII Government on hazardous industrial waste has proved unprecedented given the determination and commitment to point to a co-incineration strategy as the effective policy for the integrated possible burns. This initiative was intended to replace the previous strategy based on the construction of a root incinerator and the construction of two landfills. Instead, the new proposal was based on a set of policy measures for the management of such waste, where the option was to use the cement plants to burn, by energy disposal / recovery of hazardous industrial waste in their cement kilns, as a referential form of treatment. It is a choice that has proven to gain a broad consensus on the current technological development and policy options in other countries, enabling it to present itself with greater technical, economic and environmental advantages than dedicated incineration.
However, that recital did not prevent that process from being extremely controversial in environmental terms. In particular, because of the shortcomings detected in the Environmental Impact Study, drawn up by the proposer in the light of what is determined by the law in this matter and the consultation of the public, has shown little clarity given the various disabilities, such as the type of technical speeches used public hearings. Added to this is the absence of a Strategic Management Plan for all wastes and their sectoral plans; as well as the lack of presentation of other technological alternatives within the framework of a policy based on the so-called 3 R’s, ie the implementation of a strategic waste management policy based mainly on the reduction of its production, followed by reuse and recycling, as forms of waste treatment. At these three times, there are usually others who want to reduce the hazardousness of the waste or, as an “end of line” measure, they intend to eliminate (with or without recovery) the waste. They include: incineration, physical-chemical treatment, controlled landfill and export.
This strategy has revealed periods of great public conflict, in itself promoting the emergence of a set of questions, to which some doubts have been added, especially with regard to the role of the State as a promoter of policies, since, in practice, placed in the hands of private enterprise, on an exclusive basis, the whole process of management of industrial waste produced in the country. As a counterpart to itself, the State has a single function in the whole process, to ensure compliance with the applicable waste legislation, without having in any concrete way intended to monitor the actions of the selected company. This complicity between the two main actors has contributed to the establishment of the doubt about the transparency of the business with the cement companies and it was unclear what would be the role of the State in a model of waste management previously proposed by the project’s proponent .
These conditions were favorable to the mobilization of several sectors of Portuguese society and to the introduction of a line of open conflict between them and the State, the latter represented in the figure of the Ministry of the Environment. The collision of the positions defended by each of them resulted in massive protest actions against the initiative, with the support of several local, regional and national groups and entities. The struggle generated around the locations, where different logics are highlighted in the defense of the environment, sometimes distant from the conceptions that view nature as a common heritage of humanity that must be preserved collectively – since it could be the defense of the local heritage – much was due to the fact that some sites were “sacrificed” over many years.
The set of issues presented became the focus of the discussion and led to the emergence at each stage of the conflict of new players theoretically committed to making their contribution towards clarifying the possible risks of the process, in order to leave the populations of the chosen locations less apprehensive. In addition to the emphasis necessarily given to the role of local and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the analysis of the contribution of the local authorities involved, there is no doubt among some of the actors called upon to intervene, of the scientific community in the main stages of the process. She herself, hitherto unaccustomed to being called to publicly address the role of science in Portuguese society and its unquestionable certainties, much less accustomed to be called as a regulator of conflicts between Portuguese society and the State, the same that guarantees you financing. The same framework served to express the need for the scientific community itself to have to discuss internally all the aspects involved in solving the problem of waste in Portugal, not only those directly related to the choice of a certain technological option to solve the problem, but also to the issues the social realities of the affected localities and the ethical and aesthetic aspects that emerge from the belief in a better future, to which the conditions that allow answers to the concerns manifested in the objective exercise of “citizenship” are linked.
In all these moments, the media’s attention to the issue does not appear to us. Its insistence has allowed us not only to prolong the procedure until Parliament’s final decision to suspend it, but also to inform the Portuguese company about the risks involved in the use of such a technological device in the disposal of hazardous industrial waste . To this last aspect, the interaction with certain members of the scientific community interested in discussing not only the benefits that would come from eliminating this environmental scourge caused by accumulating hazardous waste from industry, but also, concerned about the adverse local and national effects that such an option might entail. This interaction has also made it possible to combine, at local and regional level, efforts to
mobilized the populations in defense of their local autonomy and identity, as points of support for a local quality of life desirable for present and future generations.
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