When a US container carrier leaves the port of Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu this month, it will mark the beginning of the end of a case that is a landmark in environmental activism and corporate responsibility. For, on board the ship will be 290 tonne of hazardous mercury waste. The waste originated at a thermometer factory in Kodaikanal which is owned by Hindustan Lever Limited, the Indian arm of the Anglo Dutch multinational, Unilever.