The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, usually known simply as the Basel Convention, is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries (LDCs). It does not, however, address the movement of radioactive waste. The Convention is also intended to minimize the amount and toxicity of wastes generated, to ensure their environmentally sound management as closely as possible to the source of generation, and to assist LDCs in environmentally sound management of the hazardous and other wastes they generate.
The Convention was opened for signature on 22 March 1989, and entered into force on 5 May 1992. 172 parties to the Convention, Afghanistan, Haiti, and the United States have signed the Convention but have not yet ratified it.
History
With the tightening of environmental laws in developed nations in the 1970s, disposal costs for hazardous waste rose dramatically. At the same time, globalization of shipping made transboundary movement of waste more accessible, and many LDCs were desperate for foreign currency. Consequently, the trade in hazardous waste, particularly to LDCs, grew rapidly.
One of the incidents which led to the creation of the Basel Convention was the Khian Sea waste disposal incident, in which a ship carrying incinerator ash from the city of Philadelphia in the United States after having dumped half of its load on a beach in Haiti, was forced away where it sailed for
many months, changing its name several times. Unable to unload the cargo in any port, the crew was believed to have dumped much of it at sea.
Another is the 1988 Koko case in which 5 ships transported 8,000 barrels of hazardous waste from Italy to the small town of Koko in Nigeria in
9.2.6 - THE BAMAKO CONVENTION
The Bamako Convention (in full: Bamako Convention on the ban on the Import into Africa and the Control of Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within Africa) is a treaty of African nations prohibiting the import of any hazardous (including radioactive) waste. The Convention was negotiated by twelve nations of the Organization of African Unity at Bamako, Mali in January, 1991, and came into force in 1998.
Impetus for the Bamako Convention arose from the failure of the Basel Convention to prohibit trade of hazardous waste to less developed countries (LDCs), and from the realization that many developed nations were exporting toxic wastes to Africa. This impression was strengthened by several prominent cases. One important case, which occurred in 1987, concerned the importation into Nigeria of 18,000 barrels of hazardous waste from the Italian companies Ecomar and Jelly Wax, which had agreed to pay local farmer Sunday Nana $100 per month for storage. The barrels, found in storage in the port of Lagos, contained toxic waste including polychlorinated biphenyls, and their eventual shipment back to Italy led to protests closing three Italian ports.
The Bamako Convention uses a format and language similar to that of the Basel Convention, but is much stronger in prohibiting all imports of hazardous waste. Additionally, it does not make exceptions on certain hazardous wastes (like those for radioactive materials) made by the Basel Convention.
The Bamako Convention similarly obligates its members to implement the precautionary approach “without waiting for scientific proof” of the harms in question.
It is the Bamako Convention, however, which most clearly lays out the prevention principle and its implications for industry, saying: “Each party shall...ensure that the generation of hazardous wastes within the area under its jurisdiction is reduced to a minimum taking into account social, technological and economic aspects.” It then goes on to specifically require the implementation of clean production: “Each Party shall strive to adopt and implement the preventive, precautionary approach to pollution problems...through the application of clean production methods, rather than the pursuit of a permissible emissions approach based on assimilative capacity assumptions.”
It then goes on to define clean production methods as applicable to the entire life cycle of the product, including: “raw material selection, extraction and processing; product conceptualization, design, manufacture and assemblage; materials transport during all phases; industrial and household usage; reintroduction of the product into industrial systems or nature when it no longer serves a useful function. Clean production shall not include ‘end-of-pipe’ pollution controls such as filters and scrubbers, or chemical, physical or biological treatment. Measures which reduce the volume of waste by incineration or concentration, mask the hazard by dilution, or transfer pollutants from one environmental medium to another, are also excluded.”
The Bamako Convention’s detailed wording clearly indicates the contradiction between prevention and incineration. On the one hand, incineration, as a waste treatment technology, is an indication of a failure to implement clean production and waste minimization. On the other hand, as a technology that produces hazardous byproducts, incineration itself runs counter to the prevention principle.
9.2.7 - THE ROTTERDAM CONVENTION
The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, more commonly known simply as the Rotterdam Convention, is a multilateral treaty to promote shared responsibilities in relation to importation of hazardous chemicals. The convention promotes open exchange of information and calls on exporters of hazardous chemicals to use proper labeling, include directions on safe handling, and inform purchasers of any known restrictions or bans. Parties can decide whether to allow or ban the importation of chemicals listed in the treaty, and exporting countries are obliged make sure that producers within their jurisdiction comply.
Substances covered under the Convention are :- • 2,4,5-T and its salts and esters
• Aldrin
• Asbestos - Actinolite, Anthophyllite, Amosite, Crocidolite, and Tremolite
only
• Benomyl (certain formulations) • Binapacryl
• Captafol
• Carbofuran (certain formulations) • Chlordane
• Chlordimeform • Chlorobenzilate
• DDT
• Dieldrin
• Dinitro-ortho-cresol (DNOC) and its salts • Dinoseb and its salts and esters
• Ethylene oxide • Fluoroacetamide
• Hexachlorocyclohexane (mixed isomers) • Heptachlor
• Hexachlorobenzene • Lindane
• Mercury compounds including inorganic and organometallic mercury
compounds
• Methamidophos (certain formulations) • Methyl parathion (certain formulations) • Monocrotophos
• Parathion
• Pentachlorophenol and its salts and esters • Phosphamidon (certain formulations) • Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) • Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) • Polychlorinated terphenyls (PCT) • Tetraethyl lead
• Tetramethyl lead
• Thiram (certain formulations) • Toxaphene
• Tris (2,3-dibromopropyl) phosphate (TRIS)
Substances proposed for addition to the Convention • Alachlor
• Aldicarb
• Chrysotile Asbestos • Endosulfan