Waste discharge from the Alumina factory, France

Problems

• Gardanne's factory (Bouches du Rhône) produces alumina, a material used to make electronic components, ceramics, and refractory material. This activity emits toxic waste full of heavy metals and heightened radioactivity, the famous “red mud”.
  
  Since 1967, the factory has discharged those red muds with state authorization at the heart of the Calanques National Park.  Through a more than 55km long pipe, they are spread at a depth of 320 meters in the Cassidaigne canyon, an oceanic trench that used to be home to an extraordinary biodiversity. 
  
  In total, 32 million tons (kg) of mud have been discharged. Nature’s destruction is so severe, that it seems scientifically impossible to restore the ecosystems. It is a violation of the ocean’s rights and a significant ecocide case. 
  
  Wastes now cover up the bed of Cassidaigne Canyon, preventing all forms of life, and destroying the habitat of settled species such as oysters, mussels, sea urchins, etc. Researchers and fishermen also observed an undeniable impact on the presence of fish in the area. 
  
  Red mud particles, full of toxic heavy metals and containing a naturally heightened radioactivity are discharged into the sea, thereby contaminating the whole ecosystem. The scientific knowledge is still too weak to establish the impacts on marine habitats clearly. 
  
  Even now, fine particles composing the mud are easily re-suspended and spread according to the ocean currents. The effect on nature in the short and long term remains a “threatening unknown” for the scientific community.