14—Global Chemicals Governance and the Hazardous Waste Regime

Question 1

Why are chemicals a global issue?

Answer 1

Due to:
1. Trade of:
- Chemical substances
- Products containing chemicals
2. Long-range transboundary (air) pollution
3. Persistence and bioaccumulation
- Chemicals substances were found in polar bears’ bodies
- Tunas accumulate lots of mercury
4. Chemicals are hazardous:
- Seveso (regulation)
- Bhopal, India. A US company causing enormous damages
5. Lack of data about some chemicals
6. Lack of risks assessment (see asbestos)
7. Reactionary regulatory frameworks for existing chemicals
8. Slow reform process

Question 2

What are the treaties composing the chemical regime?

Answer 2

There is no overarching framework convention but:

• 1989 Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal
• 1998 Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade
• 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPS)
• 2013 Minamata Convention on Mercury

Question 3

What are the main characteristics of the 1998 Rotterdam Convention?

Answer 3

It introduced:
1. Prior Informed Consent
- Applicable to commercial chemicals listed in the annex
2. Procedure for adding chemicals
3. Notification to the secretariat of bans & restrictions

Question 4

What are the main characteristics of the 2001 Stockholm Convention?

Answer 4

Applicable to chemicals in the annex
Procedure for adding chemicals

Question 5

What are the main characteristics of the 2013 Minamata Convention

Answer 5

It only applies to mercury
- Covers range from coal-fired power plants to artisanal gold mining

Question 6

What are other relevant initiatives?

Answer 6

• OECD activities
• Globally Harmonized Systems (GHS)
• 2006 EU Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH)
• 2006 Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM)

Question 7

Tell me about the 2006 EU REACH regulation

Answer 7

Pioneering
- Internal processes reach beyond EU borders:
- REACH data can be used by non-EU authorities
- REACH as a model

The process:
- If you want to sell a chemical in the EU you have to register it and have it evaluated, i.e. pieces of evidence on the chemicals must be available and provided to complete the process
- Chemicals are approved only for a certain amount of time
- If safer alternatives are available, you are not allowed to sell that chemical

Question 8

(Reflection):
How would you describe the role and influence of the EU in international chemicals governance?

Question 9

What are the Global chemical governance challenges?

Answer 9

• Ratification (US)
• Data collection and monitoring
• Risk assessment
• Minimisation of substance and waste generation
• Fragmentation

Question 10

(Reflection):
Do you think global chemical governance is effective?

Question 11

What are the problems related to hazardous waste?

Answer 11

1. Human health
   
   • Dumping hazardous taste infringes human rights:
     
     • Adequate health & life
     • Adequate food and nutrition
     • A safe and healthy environment
     • Enjoy a safe, clean & healthy sustainable environment
       (Human Rights Council 2012)
     • North-South dimension
2. Environment
3. Recyclable valuable components wasted
4. Shipping abroad is cheaper than recycling at home (in the EU)

Question 12

Tell me about the 1989 Basel Convention

Answer 12

Signed in 1989, entered into force in 1992, introduced:

• Minimisation quantity & hazardousness
• Export allowed: capacity for sound management + reuse and recycling
• Prior Informed Consent (PIC)
• Duty to ensure environmentally sound management rests on exporting country
• BCRCs & BCRCCs
  
  • Capacity building
  • Awareness raising
  • Technology transfer
    Outcome:
    
    1. Public and Private Governance incentivised by the convention
  • Technical government expert groups developed (non-binding) guidelines on specific waste streams for public and private actors
    
    2. Basel Action Network
  • Standard (e-Stewards)
  • Advocacy
    
    3. The initiative by companies to solve the E-waste problem (StEP)

Question 13

What are the issues of the 1989 Basel Convention?

Answer 13

• 1999 Basel Protocol on Liability & Compensation not ratified yet
• Ship dismantling is not efficiently regulated by the Basel Convention
  
  • 70% of global ship dismantling happens in Bangladesh
  • 2009 Hong Kong International Convention for the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships

The Basel Ban:
A 1994 amendment to the convention which banned hazardous wastes export from OECD countries, the EU and Liechtenstein to the rest of the world
- Only ratified in 2019

Question 14

What are other relevant regional, national and subnational initiatives

Answer 14

1. The 1991 Bamako Convention on the Ban of Import to Africa and the Control of Transboundary Movement and management of Hazardous Waste within Africa
2. The 1995 Waigani Convention concluded by the Pacific Islands Forum
3. The EU transposed Basel Ban (1998) & ship recycling rules (2013)
4. 2002 Restriction of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical & Electronic Equipment (RoHS) Directive
   
   • Incentivised a race to the top in the global supply chains
   • Incentivised other substance restriction regulations:
     
     • California reference to the EU RoHS
     • Chinese substance restriction law

Question 15

Is the global hazardous waste regime effective?

Answer 15

• No diminution of trade
• Accidents related to dumping still happen
• Illegal activities
• Poorly founded Regional Centers for Training and Technology Transfer
• No Sanctions for non-compliance
• Not necessarily a North-South issue anymore

Question 16

(Reflection):
Is a complete ban on trade in hazardous waste a good solution?

Question 17

What could countries do to manage hazardous waste more effectively?

Answer 17

Improve:
- guidelines on waste management and minimise the hazardous chemicals-related risks
- waste management techniques
- International shipping of hazardous chemicals monitoring and environmentally sound disposal
- the connection among global, national, regional and local efforts to build management capacities
- Many developing countries have difficulties ensuring the safe handling and disposal of hazardous waste in front of both legal and illegal trade

Basel & Rotterdam Convention regional centres:
- could improve multi-level governance through information generation and sharing, human training and public education, technology transfer and the building of domestic management capabilities for emission prevention and remediation of contaminated sites
- implement more ambitious monitoring mechanisms
- expand education about environmental and human health hazards among local populations exposed to chemicals risks and provide better training for handlers and users of hazardous chemicals (environmental justice and human security links)

Governments should support “green chemistry”

Question 18

What are the flaws of the actual chemicals approach

Answer 18

Only focuses on the management of known hazardous substances rather than effectively finding ways to reduce demand

• Typical regulatory frameworks assume that a substance is safe until proven dangerous:
  
  • The burden of proof is on regulators rather than on producers
  • Regulators have often been unable to ban a substance due to the lack of public data
  • No incentives for phasing out the use of hazardous substances and focusing on waste minimisation
• The introduction of market-based incentives and different kinds of supporting governments’ regulations making firms responsible for their own product disposal (e.g. Mobile Phone Partnership Initiatives) could play a significant role in stimulating more effective waste management and minimisation effort

Question 19

How did the EU approach the hazardous waste and e-waste problems?

Answer 19

EU treaties have been implementing the precautionary principle since the 1990s

• The REACH, adopted in 2007, puts the burden on producers and sellers to prove that there is no cause for concern. It also provides guidelines for substituting hazardous substances with less harmful or non-chemical alternatives
  
  • The implementation produced much risk assessment data (published online)
  • Countries replaced CMR chemicals with safer alternatives
• EU adopted similar provisions for electronic devices and e-waste:
  
  • limiting hazardous electronic components (RoHS)
  • management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)
  • electronic consumers are also required to return discarded electronic goods to the producers, responsible for establishing management systems for the safe recycling, reprocessing and disposal of the goods
• Policy diffusion:
  
  • China, Japan, South Corea and some US states (including California) are adopting similar policies and regulations
  • Firms that make their products EU complying, advocate for similar regulations in other regions (race to the top)
  • Advocacy organisations draw inspiration from EU measures

💡 Applying the precautionary principle result in fewer costs to clean contaminated areas

Question 20

What are other relevant regional and non-statal initiatives in relation to hazardous waste management?

Answer 20

1. The Member States of the African Union (AU, previously Organisation of African Unity) signed in 1991 the Bamako Convention on the Ban of the Import to Africa and the Control of Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within Africa, which entered into force in 1998.
   
   1. A complete ban on all hazardous waste imports (also covers radioactive waste)
   2. Aims at reducing the transboundary movements of hazardous waste among African Unions countries
   3. Prohibits dumping in oceans and inland waters, as well as hazardous waste incineration
   4. Environmentally sound handling of hazardous waste
   5. As of 2021, the convention has 29 parties
2. In 1995 the Pacific Island Forum adopted the Convention to Ban the Importation into Forum Island Countries of Hazardous and Radioactive Wastes and to Control the Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within the South Pacific Region (Waigani Convention):
   
   1. entered into force in 2001
   2. bans the import of hazardous and radioactive waste to Pacific Island countries
   3. As of 2021, 12 parties ratified the convention
3. 2006 EU regulation No. 1013/2006 on Shipment of Waste:
   
   1. prohibits waste and hazardous waste export to all non-OECD countries
4. In 2013, the EU unilaterally adopted rules on ship recycling:
   
   1. according to international law, they only apply to vessels sailing under the EU flag

Question 20

What are the problems with hazardous waste?

Answer 20

It is economically convenient for high-income countries to ship hazardous waste to low-income countries, due to low disposal costs
- Low-income countries tend to have laxer environmental policies albeit limited capacity to process hazardous waste

The informal sector:
- In countries such as China and Ghana, unprotected workers in unregistered businesses, i.e. the informal sector, extract valuable metals from the e-waste using primitive methods such as open-air incineration and acid baths, which emit dioxins, furans and other pollutants that are harmful to human health and the environment.

Relevant findings:
The Basel Convention’s Secretariat concluded that 86 per cent of hazardous waste trade occurs between countries that are a member of the European Union, the OECD and Liechtenstein. Only 5 per cent of hazardous waste trade occurs between those countries and the other Parties to the Convention
- Yet, the actual amounts of hazardous waste trade are difficult to determine since illegal trade is significant

💡 According to the EU IMPEL reports, more than 50% of the shipments that were checked at ports did not comply with EU and Basel Convention regulations
- Misdeclaration of products as reuse or recycling material although they actually are waste is a frequent illegal activity