I took these images in 2005 while doing the research for a documentary on the demolition of an old cokes factory in Seabruges. Although heavily polluted, the site was very beautiful. It seemed as if the rigid industrial installations finally had admitted that nature, after all, has got the last word. Seeing the wheat and sea-gulls overtaking the site with the old buildings silently giving in to it, ‘Carcoke Zeebrugge’ turned into a darling grandpa with darkbrown teeth and polluted lungs. Heavily polluted lungs, that is. This is also the reason why the whole site had to be demolished urgently (the heavy metals and petrochemicals were contaminating the surrounding water aquifers), and cautiously (in order not to release even more soot and asbestos into the surrounding atmosphere). A great documentary topic..
I also visited Sidmar, a working cokes factory in the industrial zone of Ghent, Belgium. Pretty impressive. And don’t start phoning the greenies now, the heavy clouds are just water vapour. Also, soot filters (on some installations) are compulsory nowadays. We needed a couple of decades to become aware of that, but hey.
More images here.
About the documentary..
During the first half of the 20th century, Carcoke Zeebrugge used to be the nerve centre of the Belgian steel industry. Tons of coal were imported to produce cokes, the ideal fuel for the production of steel. At that time, nobody worried. Business went fine, workers got good wages, neighbours didn’t complain.
But in the eighties, environmentalists raised the alarm. Sootfilters didn’t work properly anymore, neighbours had to stay in because of the black smoke and the factory site’s soil got heavily polluted. The cokes glory faded. Carcoke Zeebrugge closed its fences in 1996.
In 2005, the factory still exists. Looking peaceful and idyllic, with flowers and sea gulls taking over the site. But the buildings, machines and soil are dangerous sources of toxic chemicals like cyanide, benzene and asbestos. The pollution seeps through the soil and threatens water supplies of neighbouring villages. The factory urgently needs to be killed.
Gently though. Brutely using powerful cranes and angry caterpillars isn’t really the way to demolish a chemical factory. Every single component needs to be isolated with care to avoid extra pollution of surrounding air, soil and water. And a lot can go wrong, like the demolition of the Brussels Marly factory showed in 2003. The heavily polluted towers caught fire and burnt for days, polluting the air hundreds of kilometers away. So a lot of engineering skills and a big plan (A and B) are needed to kill a factory gently, and with success.
This documentary shows the story of the demolition of Carcoke Zeebrugge, from the start till the very end.
(‘Giftige sloop’ OverLeven CANVAS – 2005) (40min.)
More documentaries here.
Between 2002 and 2007, I made 15 scientific documentaries for Canvas, the second chain of the Belgian national television. The main goal of the documentaries was not to serve viewers with all kinds of petty scientific facts. Rather, we tried to ‘translate’ what goes on in scientists’ brains and to tell the story behind scientific discoveries.
The programme was called ‘overleven’, and doesn’t exist anymore. Here you find some colourful intriguing scientific stories broadcast on Canvas in that period. I remember I loved reading New Scientist during that period. So if you’re after scientific articles which are well written and inspiring, give it a try, for the sake of science!
Julia B.
We are Gini Rose, Julia and Suzy. We draw, take pictures, film, and write (in English or Dutch) about everything we are intrigued by. We are never bored. Our hobby is to search for that kind of reality which may be elusive until the right kind of imagination falls upon it. We like to go outside. We also like to party. Want to know more? About is your button. Or click here to read our mighty mission statement. This page is our magazine, or a cabinet of views, viewpoints and new work. Here you'll find the RSS feed to stay updated. For an overview of our portfolio, take a dive into the deepsea..
