The Basel Convention is a treaty designed to promote environmentally sound management of hazardous waste while controlling and ultimately reducing the transboundary movement of hazardous waste for disposal to countries with less stringent regulations or enforcement. The convention requires countries to engage in more responsible management of hazardous waste, with a preference toward preventing pollution and minimizing the amount of waste produced. It promotes the domestic management of waste, rather than its disposal in other nations. In addition to protecting ecosystems from hazardous materials, the convention has a potential positive effect on Earth's climate: If less waste is produced and fewer raw materials and less energy are consumed, fewer greenhouse gases (GHGs) will be emitted into the atmosphere.

In the early and mid-1980's, the environmentally irresponsible management of hazardous waste drew international attention and outrage. Throughout the 1980's, industrialized nations began strengthening domestic hazardous-waste laws and regulations to foster more responsible hazardous-waste management to protect public health and the environment. An important component of this phase was the incorporation of the concept of waste minimization into the waste-management hierarchy. Waste minimization, the reduction in the quantity or toxicity of the hazardous waste generated, is the most desirable option under the waste-management hierarchy; it is followed by recycling, then treatment, and finally, the least preferable, responsible disposal. This model sought to eliminate or reduce significantly the disposal of untreated hazardous waste. However, the cost to treat and manage hazardous waste increased, resulting in escalated irresponsible dumping of untreated hazardous waste in less developed countries.

In response to this situation, the international community under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme drafted the Basel Convention in 1987. The convention was opened for signature in 1989 and went into force in 1992. It stipulates that if waste from one country is to be managed in another country, its transportation and management are to be conducted under conditions that do not endanger human health or the environment. The convention also prohibits the irresponsible disposal of hazardous waste in less developed countries. By 2008, 170 parties had ratified the convention. However, not all the major industrial countries are parties. For example, the United States became a signatory to the convention in 1990 but has never ratified it. The two other nonparty signatories to the convention are Afghanistan and Haiti.

Although the Basel Convention generally prohibits the shipment of hazardous waste between parties and nonparties, Article 11 of the convention allows the transboundary shipment of hazardous waste from parties to nonparties, provided such shipments are subject to separate agreements that are no less stringent that the requirements of the convention. For example, the United States, a nonparty country, has bilateral agreements for hazardous waste management with Mexico and Canada, both party countries. In addition, the United States has a multilateral agreement addressing transboundary shipments of hazardous waste with the thirty member-countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The Basel Convention controls the transboundary movements of hazardous and other wastes (those wastes listed in Annex I of the convention) under a "prior informed consent" procedure. Any shipment made without prior consent is deemed illegal. Under Article 11, shipments to and from nonparties are illegal unless there is a special agreement in place that does not undermine the Basel Convention.

For shipments between party countries, the Basel Convention requires the state of export to notify the state of intended disposal, as well as any states through which the shipment is intended to pass (transit states). This notification must contain detailed information describing the proposed shipment of hazardous waste. The shipment may commence only upon receipt of the written consent of the state of import, upon confirmation of the existence of a contract with a disposer specifying that the hazardous waste will be managed in an environmentally sound manner, and upon confirmation that the states of transit have consented to allow the waste to move across their territories. If the shipment is authorized, it must be accompanied at all times by a movement document that provides detailed information about the shipment and that must be signed by each person who takes charge of the waste. Finally, the disposer must confirm receipt of the waste and completion of disposal in accordance with the original notification documents.

The Basel Convention also requires parties to ensure that hazardous waste is managed and disposed of in an environmentally sound manner. In accordance with the convention, environmentally sound procedures include minimization of quantities moved across borders, treatment and disposal of wastes as close as possible to their place of generation, and prevention and minimization of waste generation in the first place. In addition, parties to the convention are expected to adopt controls applicable to the movement and manipulation of hazardous waste from its generation through its storage, transport, treatment, reuse, recycling, recovery, and final disposal.

In 1995, an amendment to the convention was offered as Decision III/1, known as the Basel Ban. If ratified, the ban would prohibit all hazardous waste exports from the most industrialized countries of the OECD and the European Union to all non-OECD and non-European Union member countries. However, the Basel Ban amendment has not yet entered into force, as only about one-half the number of required countries has ratified it.

One of the underlying goals of the Basel Convention is to recast waste as a resource, rather than as an undesirable residue. This recasting promotes the reuse and reclamation of valuable and finite resources, a principle of sustainable development. When waste is reduced, reused, or recycled, there is less demand for virgin, raw materials in the manufacturing and processing stages. This significantly reduces energy consumption throughout the life cycle. As a result of less waste and energy being consumed, the emission of GHGs is correspondingly reduced. However, some criticism remains that without ratification of the Basel Ban, the "effluent of the affluent" will continue, countering principles of sustainability. By forcing all countries to better manage their waste rather than allowing for controlled exports, the Basel Ban likely would generate a greater focus on waste minimization, resulting in further reductions in GHG emissions.

Bibliography:

1)         Clapp, Jennifer. Toxic Exports: The Transfer of Hazardous Wastes from Rich to Poor Countries. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2001.

2)         Lipman, Zada. "A Dirty Dilemma." Harvard International Review 23, no. 4 (Winter, 2002): 67-72.

3)         "The New Frontier." Environmental Policy and Law 37, no. 1 (2007): 22-24.

4)         United Nations Environment Programme. The Basel Convention: A Global Solution for Controlling Hazardous Wastes. New York: Author, 1997.

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