On the banned wagon

IN A recent positive step, the EuropeanUnion (EU) passed a regulation banningthe export of hazardous wastes todeveloping countries for recovery purposes, to be effective from the beginning of next year. This regulation isdesigned to align EU legislation withDecision II /12 that was adopted as anamendment to the Basel Convention onTransboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal inSeptember 1995. The conventionimposes an immediate prohibition onthe export of hazardous wastes that areintended for disposal to non-OECD(Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development) countries,and a ban, as of January 1, 1998, on theexport of hazardous wastes intended forrecovery, recycling and reclamationtowards non-OECD countries.

At a more international level, however, for the amendment to the Basel Convention to come into force, three-fourths of the parties (approximately 65 states) who have adopted it, mustratify it. Today, a year and a half later,Finland is the sole country to have doneso. "We thought it was important thatwe had our legislation in place for it tobe fully effective, since on our own, with15 states, we cannot make the amendment enter into force anyway, saysYvon Slingenberg, of the WasteManagement Policy Division of theEuropean Commission.

But what exactly is covered underthe term 'hazardous waste'? The EU'Slegislation applies to its own definitionof hazardous waste that classifies it intothree tiers - the green, the amber andthe red. As Slingenberg points out, "Thenotion of hazardous waste according tothis legislation has been translated asbeing the amber and red lists. We arewell aware that there may be an overlapbetween our green list and the BaselConvention's definition of hazardouswaste but we need to have a final decision about that before we can make thenecessary adaptations."

Currently, the most widelyused form of waste disposal inthe EU is incineration and wherethe member states still have thespace, it is landfills. Metals andheavy metals are recycled to alarger extent and there is also agrowing emphasis on recovery,normally limited to non-hazardous waste. As far as incineration is concerned the standards are high and regulated in keeping with an EU directive on theincineration of hazardous waste.As for landfills, there is no community legislation at present.

What does this regulationbode for the developing worldlike India, where the recyclingindustry constitutes a large andlucrative sector? There is stillone loophole that can be exploited - Article 11 of theBasel Convention which allows"Parties to enter into bilateral,multilateral or regional agreements orarrangements regarding transboundarymovement of hazardous wastes or otherwastes with other Parties or non-Partiesprovided that such agreements orarrangements do not derogate from theenvironmentally sound management ofhazardous wastes and other wastes."Is the possibility of having bilateral agreements with the EU as an exception to the export ban, a viable one in the face of thislegislation? "In community legislation,we do not foresee this possibility at all,"states Slingenberg. "How other Partiesinterpret this is up to them, but this is ourinterpretation," she concludes.