International Conventions

Various agreements in the form of conventions have evolved for solving the problems related to the hazardous waste. These have been accepted by many countries and are being implemented worldwide.

1. Basel Convention : In the late 1980, a tightening of the environmental regulations in industrialized countries led to a dramatic rise in the cost of hazardous waste disposal. The ‘Traders’ of toxic waste searched the cheaper ways of getting rid of hazardous waste by shipping it to developing countries and Eastern Europe.

In 1982, UNEP decided to deal with the growing problem of transboundary transportation and disposal of toxic wastes after an ad-hoc - working group of environment experts met in Paraguay. UNEP issued Cairo Guidelines and Principles for the Environmentally Sound Management (ESM) of Hazardous Waste. A Draft Convention was established in June, 1987. The convention was adapted in 1989 at a conference held in Basel, Switzerland and was ratified by 135 members countries and the European Union (as on April 2000). The convention came into force in 1992. It covers toxic, poisonous, explosive, corrosive, flammable, ecotoxic and infectious wastes. The main objectives of the convention are as follows:

• Minimization of the generation of hazardous waste in terms of quantity and hazardousness.

• Disposal of the waste as close to the source of generation as possible.

∙ Reduction in the movement of hazardous waste.

Under this convention, the transboundary movement Ofhazardous or other wastes can take place only upon prior written notification of the State of export to the competent authorities of the States of import and transit (if appropriate). Each shipment of the hazardous or other waste must be accompanied by a movement document from the point at which a transboundary movement begins to the point of disposal. The shipments made without such documents are illegal.

Each member country which is a Party to the Convention, is required to report information on the generation and movement of hazardous waste. The information is compiled by the Secretariat and presented in the Annual Report.

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Regarding the training and capacity building, the Convention has established Regional Centres for Training and Technology Transfer in many countries including India. These centres help these countries in the implementation of the Convention. They also encourage the introduction of cleaner production technologies and the use of environmentally sound waste management practices.

The 1995 Ban Amendment calls for prohibiting exports Ofhazardous wastes from countries listed in a proposed new annex to the Convention (Annex VIΠ Parties that are members of the EU, OECD, Liechtenstein) to all other Parties to the Convention.

In 1998, the Technical Working Group of the Convention agreed on the lists of specific wastes characterized as hazardous or non - hazardous. These lists were later adopted by Parties to the Convention.

The Protocol on Hability and compensation was adopted in December, 1999. It established rules on liability and compensation for damages caused by spills of hazardous waste during export, import or disposal. Besides Basel Convention, two more international conventions are there which are as follows:

2. Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade.

3. Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

India signed this Convention in May 2002. It seeks to eliminate production, use, import and export of 12 POPs wherever techno - economically feasible and in the interim period restrict the production and use of these chemicals.

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