Opposition to Basel Ban on Toxic Waste Exports Collapses

26 October 2011

An amendment to the Basel Convention banning the export of hazardous wastes, including electronics and old obsolete ships from developed to developing countries is to be brought into law within two to three years 178 countries.

The Basel Ban Amendment was originally adopted in 1995 as a proposed amendment to the Basel Convention but has recently been stalled due to uncertainty as to how to interpret the Convention.

According to the Basel Action Network (BAN), in a major breakthrough at the 10th Conference of the Parties of the Basel Convention, the 178 parties agreed to allow an early entry into force of law of the Basel Ban Amendment which prohibits all exports of such waste.

The deal was brokered by Indonesia and Switzerland and was strongly promoted by the developing countries, China, the European Union and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) including Greenpeace, the Center for International Environmental Law, the NGO Platform on Shipbreaking and the Basel Action Network.

Now following a diplomatic working group known as the Country Led Initiative, it has been decided that the Ban Amendment will go into force when 68 of the 90 countries that were Parties to the Convention in 1995, ratify the agreement.

According to BAN, 51 of these have so far ratified the amendment, leaving just 17 more needed. It is expected that this can be achieved in two to three years. Currently there are 178 Parties to the Convention.

BAN says that support for the measure has been very strong from a vast majority of countries including China, the European Union, and developing countries.

Meanwhile countries that opposed the Basel Ban in the past, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and India, decided to cease their opposition to allowing its entry into force at the earliest possible date.

The United States has also opposed that ban, but is not a party of the Convention.

"Finally, the blockade has been lifted and the Basel Ban that has been held hostage now for many years is liberated," comments Jim Puckett, executive director of the Basel Action Network.

"The Ban Amendment ensures that developing countries are not convenient dumping grounds for toxic factory waste, obsolete ships containing asbestos, or old computers coming from affluent countries. It enforces the Basel Convention obligation that all countries manage their own hazardous waste," he adds.

Already 33 of the 41 developed countries to which the export ban applies have implemented it nationally

However, BAN claims that this latest development will mean that more countries will feel diplomatic pressure to ratify, and countries such as the U.S., which have never ratified the convention will have to accept the ban as an integral part of the Convention once it enters force.

Shipping

In another important and related development, Basel Parties also disagreed that the International Maritime Organisation's Hong Kong Convention on ship recycling, provided an equivalent level of control to that of the Basel Convention.

Legal experts and developing countries in attendance voiced the concern that because the Hong Kong Convention has no intention of minimising the movement of toxic ships to developing countries, it was not sufficient, not legally equivalent, and therefore the Basel Convention must continue to be active to prevent the dumping of old toxic ships on the beaches of developing countries.


Read More

BAN on e-Waste Exports and Prison Labour
BAN has called for all consumers, both large and small to use only e-Stewards qualified recyclers that will not export hazardous wastes to developing countries, and will not utilise prison labour for managing it.

Showing the Red Light to Waste Trafficking
Jeff Cooper looks at the reasons behind this activity and proposals to improve the regulatory system, including details of an ISWA policy paper recently presented in Brussels.

Illegal WEEE Exports from Europe Spark Debate
The problem of illegal e-waste exports to the developing world is a growing concern to the European Union, and there is much debate as to how to tackle it.