Basel Convention Research Articles

Trading Plastic Waste in a Global Economy: Soundly Regulated by the Basel Convention?

Abstract This article investigates the implications of the Basel Convention’s amendments on plastics as part of the transition to a more sustainable global plastics economy where plastic wastes are seen as a valuable resource. Key categories of plastics continue to be excluded from the Convention, provided they are destined for recycling in an ‘environmentally sound manner’ (so-called ESM recycling). The exact interpretation of ESM recycling is worthy of attention as the way in which the term is applied reveals much about the kind of plastics economy that the Convention supports, which, as shown here, continues to risk mismanagement of plastic waste abroad. This article finds that, absent sound regulation, there is a need to reimagine the role of the country of export and strengthen its responsibilities to ensure the sound management of plastic wastes abroad.

Achieving Ambitious Positions in Multilateral Chemicals Negotiations: How does the European Union influence the Negotiation Outcomes?

This paper explains the influence of the European Union (EU) in multilateral chemicals negotiations. Focusing on the Basel Convention, this paper studies two issues negotiated at the Conference of the Parties 2019. Comparing a success and a failure case for the EU, it provides explanations for the EU’s high influence in the negotiations on the management of plastic waste and its low influence in the negotiations on low Persistent Organic Pollutant content values. Using process-tracing, the paper maps the EU’s diplomatic activities from the EU’s initial position to the outcome of the negotiations. Two separate causal mechanisms outline the differences between the success and the failure of the EU. Data is collected through interviews, observations and official documents. The paper shows the crucial role of the EU’s diplomatic activities in multilateral negotiations. The EU can be influential, if it strongly engages in all negotiation forums, is able to adapt its position during the course of negotiations and can propose a compromise acceptable to all parties. It is however uninfluential, if it downscales its diplomatic activities and refuses to compromise.

Australia’s legislative response to the Basel Convention and the 2019 amendment to the convention

The Basel Convention is an international treaty which regulates the transboundary movement of hazardous waste across boarders, which impacts nations waste exportation and importation policies This paper discusses Australia’s implementation of the Basel Convention for the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal. By analysing legislation, academia and media pertaining to the topic this Article explores the history the Basel Convention for the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, particularly emphasising the drafting process and the purpose of the legislation. Subsequently investigating Australia’s legislative implementation of its obligations. Ultimately this paper investigates Australia’s practices, with a particular emphasis placed on waste around Waste to Energy processes, against these obligations and the extent that Australia is upholding their obligations. This is done by exploring international trends away from plastic waste exportation the 2019 amendments of the Basel Convention. The article finds language used in the treaty impacts the ability to determine breaches of the treaty, however, notes various legislation that reinforce Australia’s commitment to the treaty. This is done without ruling out possible misconduct in the past.

Re-interpreting the Environmentally Sound Management under Basel Convention

One of the fundamental principles of Basel Convention is the environmentally sound management (ESM), serving as a ‘meta-rule’, which establish the context within which bargaining under the Basel Convention takes place to develop more specific norms, such as rules regarding PIC, partnerships or management and technical guidelines of specific waste streams, regarding the management and transboundary movement of hazardous wastes. Yet, Basel Convention defines the crucial notion of ESM only in general terms, and has been subject to widely different interpretations and extensively criticized. Employing teleological approach which relies on the purpose of the Convention, this study argues that Basel Convention intended to establish a global convention with three principal aims: 1) minimization of hazardous wastes; 2) environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes; and 3) minimizing the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes. The central element of these aims was to limit such movements, as opposed to current practices of establishing ESM as the “least standard” for which transboundary movement of hazardous wastes would be allowed. Reinterpretation of ESM is also needed in light of the recent entry into force of Ban Amendment, which introduced ‘high risk’ as an element of consideration when addressing transboundary movements from developed countries to developing countries, which entails the applicability of precautionary principle in ESM interpretation.

Short- and medium-chain chlorinated paraffins in polyvinyl chloride consumer goods available in the Japanese market

Chlorinated paraffins (CPs), including short-chain CPs (SCCPs) and medium-chain CPs (MCCPs), are hazardous chemical additives widely applied as plasticizers and flame retardants in polymers, mainly in polyvinyl chloride (PVC). In 2017, SCCPs were listed under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). MCCPs were proposed for listing as POPs in 2021. SCCPs are also restricted under the Basel Convention, with two tentative low POP content (LPC) limits (100 and 10,000 mg kg−1) for SCCPs in waste. As a signatory Party of both conventions, Japan must ensure their implementation and manage SCCP wastes in environmentally sound ways. Therefore, we aimed to assess the occurrence of SCCPs and MCCPs in PVC consumer goods (n = 87) available in the Japanese market. CPs were detected in 48% of the samples. Regarding positive samples, children's products and toys (1.3–120,000 mg kg−1) were more impacted by SCCPs whereas electrical and electronic cables (1.2–59,000 mg kg−1) and house interior products (3.5–550 mg kg−1) were more impacted by MCCPs. Fourteen and four samples exceeded the LPC limit of 100 and 10,000 mg kg−1 for SCCPs, respectively. Most products were impacted by CP contents (<1 % w/w) considerably below those reported as intentional CP uses in PVC. However, 11 samples with total CP contents ranging from 1.3% to 15 % (w/w) might have been impacted by intentional CP use as secondary plasticizer in PVC. Most of the impacted consumer goods available in the Japanese market were manufactured overseas, highlighting that only restricting POPs nationally is not enough for thorough implementation of the Basel and Stockholm Conventions. Therefore, imported PVC consumer goods, PVC waste and PVC recycling streams need to be monitored as relevant potential sources of SCCPs worldwide, even where the national industry strictly follows the restriction of such chemicals.

The Impact of Basel Convention (II) Norms in Capital Adequacy of Jordanian Commercial Banks on the Financial Performance

This study aimed to identify the impact of the application of capital adequacy in commercial banks in accordance with the Basel Agreement (II) on the financial performance during the period (2009-2019), where the study population and its sample were from the financial statements of all Jordanian commercial banks during the period (2009-2019), and their number (13) Jordanian commercial banks, and to achieve the objectives of the study, the (EViews) program was used, where the study showed many results, including: There is a statistically significant effect at the significance level (α≤0.05) of the capital adequacy ratio according to the Basel Convention (II) on the financial performance. For commercial banks using Return on Assets (ROA) during the financial period (2009-2019), it also showed that there is a statistically significant effect at the significance level (α≤0.05) of the capital adequacy ratio according to the Basel Agreement (II) on the financial performance of commercial banks using Return on equity (ROE) during the fiscal period (2009-2019). The study delivered several recommendations, and the most important one is that the necessity for commercial banks to be interested in benefiting from Basel (II) standards in making financial decisions is related to banks' risk management policies.

Transboundary movement of waste review: From binary towards a contextual framing.

Multiple cases of toxic waste dumping from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries to non-OECD countries in the 1980s led to scholarly attention to transboundary waste movements. The Basel Convention was established to provide an international legal framework to tackle such problems in the early 1990s, focusing on hazardous waste. However, the transboundary movement of all waste, not just hazardous waste, remains a societal challenge globally, frequently surfacing as an ethical question on the one hand and a story of resource management/trade on the other. This phenomenon has been studied across disciplines resulting in diverse, scattered and often contested understandings. Despite previous and ongoing efforts, waste production, management and transboundary movements are increasing and are predicted to grow significantly with global social, environmental and economic implications. This literature review uses a research synthesis and problematisation approach to critically analyse the transboundary waste literature since 1985. The findings highlight research trends, the need for data reliability and policy coherence, and the sustainability implications of the phenomenon. One recurring theme in the literature is the reduction of the complex phenomenon involving multiple countries, policies, actors and waste streams into simple opposite narratives, which we called transboundary waste binaries. We have identified and then challenged assumptions behind transboundary waste binaries and discussed the implications of such assumptions on the broader discourse. We have concluded with future research recommendations to look past the transboundary waste binaries towards a nuanced and contextual understanding of transboundary waste flows.

Reshaping global policies for circular economy

Circular economy is recognized as a powerful integrative framework envisioned to solve societal problems linked to environmental pollution and resource depletion. Its adoption is rapidly reforming manufacturing, production, consumption, and recycling across various segments of the economy. However, circular economy may not always be effective or even desirable owing to the spatiotemporal dimensions of environmental risk of materials, and variability of global policies. Circular flows involving toxic materials may impose a high risk on the environment and public health such that overemphasis on anthropogenic circularity is not desirable. Moreover, waste flows at a global scale might result in an uneven distribution of risks and costs associated with a circular economy. Among other benefits, circular economy needs to generate environmental advantages, energy savings, and reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. Recent attempts to implement the carbon neutrality strategy globally will likely push the circular economy further into more economic sectors, but challenges remain in implementing and enforcing international policies across national boundaries. The United Nations Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste and their disposal is used here as an example to illustrate the challenges and to propose a way forward for anthropogenic circularity.

Legal Lamination to Transboundary Movement of Plastic Pollutants

The menace caused by plastic waste is one of the biggest challenges the world is facing today. It is established that plastic pollution and its accumulation in the world ocean is one of the greatest threats exacerbating all three planetary existential threats identified by the UN. The presence of plastic pollutants in the marine environment is due to its transboundary and cross-continental movement. Therefore, after five decades of the Stockholm conference, it seems necessary to explore how far the principles and objectives of the Stockholm Declaration can be utilized to accommodate the rising concerns and to address the existing environmental crises, including the plastic pollution. There is a need to develop a cooperative scheme that enables the international community of States to come together and find a solution using the expertise of the Basel Convention. Such an initiative –a sort of alliance of states, both members and non-member States to the Convention - could also pave the way for similar collaboration among States to tackle the issues associated with plastic and other forms of pollution.

Dwelling on a Wasteland: Externality, Environmental Injustice, and Materiality in Chen Qiufan’s Waste Tide

Contemporary Chinese science fiction writer Chen Qiufan begins his debut novel Waste Tide (Huangchao 荒潮, 2013; English translation, 2019) with an entry on the Basel Convention. Adopted in 1989 by the Conference of Plenipotentiaries, the Basel Convention aimed to respond to the public outcry following the discovery—in the 1970s and 1980s, in Africa, Eastern Europe, and other parts of the developing world—of deposits of toxic wastes imported from the industrialized world. In the spirit of what became known as the NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) syndrome, developed countries have been exporting toxic wastes to the rest of the world where regulatory mechanisms are either much less restrictive or entirely lacking. With the accelerating manufacture and consumption of digital technology all over the globe, electronic waste has become the fastest-growing trash stream, the worldwide accumulation of which has more than doubled over the past decade, with the annual total predicted to exceed 57 million tons in 2021 (Larmer). Prior to its waste import ban implemented in 2018, China had imported about 70 percent of the world’s e-waste (Larmer; Watson). It has been reported that China’s trash import ban has shifted part of the unfolding waste crisis to Southeast Asia (Parker; Hook and Reed).

Characterization of industrial hazardous waste generation in South Korea using input-output approach

The industrial hazardous waste (IHW) regulation has been highlighted by the Basel Convention, and the South Korean government has announced a plan for the great transition to resource circulation in 2020 to strengthen waste management. Accordingly, South Korea is faced with the challenge of efficiently managing IHW at the national level. For this, research to understand national IHW generation characteristics considering economic activities should be prioritized, but there have been few studies on this. As a first try, this paper aimed to compile the waste extended input-output table for IHW in South Korea for a systematic evaluation of waste generation from the supply and demand perspectives across all economic sectors. This study developed the waste extended input-output table using the 2018 monetary input-output table and industrial sectorial IHW generation. From a supply perspective, considering direct and indirect generation, ‘Electronic and electrical equipment’, ‘Chemical’, and ‘Basic metals’ industries were identified as the top three key sectors in direct IHW generation, with the contribution to more than half of the total amount. Meanwhile, from a demand perspective, considering domestic consumption, investment and exports, domestic consumption contributed more than 48% to the IHW generation. In comparison, net exports contributed about 15%, despite the total output from net exports being only about 6%, implying that scientific regulations and improvements in IHW management from the demand perspective are also required. The results provide insightful policy recommendations for establishing IHW management reflecting the characteristics of industrial waste generation in the national economic system.

Africa in the Eye of the Storm: Navigating Law and Structural Inequality in Global Environmental Relations

Environmental racism is a phenomenon defined by an unfair allocation of environmental risks. It is a systematic violation of the right to a safe and healthy environment. Environmental racism takes root in the colonial prioritization of race in the distribution of social and environmental benefits. The environment should not be treated like an infinite garbage can. The economic polarity of the world will always have some people on the receiving end of an ordeal. In contradistinction to the ideal, in Africa, environmental justice is a concept of privilege. The costs of industrialization such as environmental degradation and the generation of toxic waste have brought about imbalances in the environment. These imbalances have caused variant problems, both short term and long term This article discussed environmental racism and what it means for the realization of environmental justice. This article further compared the successes of the Bamako Convention to the Basel Convention in the light of the realities of the dumping of hazardous waste in Africa and the conduct of activities injurious to the environment. It further examined the activities of multinational companies in Africa and how weak regulatory environments aid the impunity of environmental pollution

Initial assessment of imports of chlorinated paraffins into Nigeria and the need of improvement of the Stockholm and Rotterdam Conventions

Short-chain and medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs/MCCPs) are of concern due to their persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity. SCCPs were listed in 2017 as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the Stockholm Convention and Rotterdam Convention for Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure. MCCPs are evaluated in the POPs Reviewing Committee for listing. Studies in Africa demonstrate high SCCP/MCCP levels in house dust and human milk. Therefore, this study undertook an initial assessment of the production and import situation in Nigeria. The Nigerian government has not assessed SCCPs yet and has no registered exemptions for SCCPs and therefore should not produce or use SCCPs. Also, Nigeria has not notified Rotterdam Convention of PIC procedure and, therefore, no SCCP should be imported into Nigeria. Since no local production of SCCPs/MCCPs was observed in Nigeria, this study therefore compiled data on importation of SCCPs/MCCPs and products which may likely contain these chemicals from the UN Comtrade Database for the period 1996 to 2018. Despite the listing of SCCPs in the Rotterdam Convention, there is still no specific Harmonized System (HS) codes for SCCPs/MCCPs. This study therefore used HS codes of product categories known to contain SCCPs/MCCPs. HS substance categories under which SCCP/MCCPs are usually imported include plasticisers and other product categories that amounted to 229,779 and 518,342 tonnes respectively but without specific information on the type of plasticiser. About 39% of PVC and rubber imports of 2,683,015 tonnes and 3,516,052 tonnes respectively contain plasticisers. Based on the SCCP and MCCP impact factors from literature for China, the highest amount of SCCP (33,712 tonnes) was imported in the different PVC products while rubber products accounted to 1386 tonnes and PUR foam to 2331 tonnes. The amount of imported MCCPs in PVC products (25,599 tonnes) and rubber products (32,317 tonnes) was in the same order of magnitude while MCCP imported in PUR foam was estimated to 2020 tonnes. At the end of life (EoL), these product categories most likely contain appreciable amount of SCCPs possibly above Basel Convention low POP limit. This will hamper recycling and circular economy for these waste categories and generate POPs stockpiles/wastes that are difficult to manage/destroy in Africa. Hence there is an urgent need for specific HS Codes for SCCPs and industrial POPs currently produced/used for better control. Presently, products containing SCCPs are not labelled and are imported in huge quantities into Nigeria, without monitoring. In its current form this rather conveys a pseudo-safety for industrial POPs that do not exist. The Rotterdam Convention needs to establish specific HS codes for POPs for an appropriate PIC procedure and effective control of industrial POPs still produced. Furthermore, products containing SCCPs (and other POPs) require labelling and should also be covered under the Rotterdam Convention. The study highlights that Nigeria should urgently update the NIP for chemicals listed from 2015 to 2019 with a detailed SCCP inventory and develop monitoring capacity for market surveys. The Rotterdam Convention does not function fully and need to significantly improve to assure PIC procedure.

Regulation of Waste Management and Elimination of Accumulated Damage in the Countries of the Eurasian Economic Union

The article has been devoted to the analysis of waste legislation and the elimination of accumulated damage, as well as the practice of applying such legislation in the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union. The article considers the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal of 1989, to which all the Eurasian Economic Union member states are currently parties. The question of the impact of the Basel Convention on their national legislation has been raised. The legislative gaps and shortcomings of the statutory regulation of waste management, as well as the elimination of accumulated damage in each of the Eurasian Economic Union countries, have been identified. The most successful legal novelties in this area of relations have been identified. Recommendations on their borrowing by other Eurasian Economic Union countries have been formulated. Significant problems have been identified in the relevant Russian legislation, as well as in the practice of its application. Proposals for their elimination have been formulated. Another identified problem, which is extremely relevant for the Eurasian Economic Union countries – is the definition of entities responsible for the elimination of accumulated damage on land plots, the ownership of which is not delimited. In such cases, it has been proposed to consider local self-government bodies responsible for the elimination of accumulated damage in such territories.&#x0D;

1. International Transfer of Restricted or Prohibited Substances

The number of parties to the Basel Convention has been gradually increasing over the years. This year, one new state—Tuvalu—joined the Basel Convention, bringing its number of parties to 188. The Amendments to Annexes II, VIII, and IX to the Basel Convention entered into force on 24 March. In the case of the Basel Protocol on Liability and Compensation for Damage Resulting from Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, its number of parties remains at twelve, which means that the protocol has not yet entered into force. Sierra Leone ratified the 1995 Amendment to the Basel Convention, bringing its number of parties to ninety-nine (see Status of Ratifications <http://www.basel.int/Countries/StatusofRatifications/tabid/1341/Default.aspx>). The twelfth meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG-12) was postponed and held according to two components, consisting of an online segment and a face-to-face segment, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The online segment was held on 1–3 September. Representatives of 120 countries took part in the virtual meeting of the OEWG-12. A total of more than six hundred people attended the meeting, including representatives of state parties and observers. Various technical, policy, and legal documents were briefly reviewed, including draft reports, guidelines, technical guidelines, and recommendations. Final versions of these documents will be considered at the face-to-face segment of the OEWG-12 in 2022 and at the fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-15) to the Basel Convention, scheduled to be held in July 2021.

E-Waste Reporting in Malaysia – A Preliminary Study

Globally, the awareness of environmental sustainability is gaining prominence, and one of the critical issues discussed in this area is waste management. With the advent of the digitalisation age, where information may be retrieved with a finger point, the use of electric and electronic appliances has been increasing exponentially. The appliances contain components that are usually filled with toxic materials and heavy metals such as mercury, lead and brominated flame retardants that are considered hazardous under the Basel Convention. When these appliances reach the end of their useful life, the toxic components that are not properly disposed of will eventually end up in landfills, thus endangering human health and the environment (www.doe.gov.my). Unproperly managed e-waste will result in soil, atmospheric and aquatic contamination (Alabi, Adeoluwa, Huo, Xu, &amp; Bakare, 2021). Furthermore, these contaminations posed a threat to human, animals and plants (Alabi et al., 2021). Within humans, exposure to e-waste will lead to health problems such as changes in thyroid function, respiratory problems, changes in temperament and behaviour, decreased lung function, DNA damage and cancer (Grant et al., 2013; Alabi et al., 2021). Keywords: E-waste, Reporting, Annual reports, Malaysia

NON-PERFORMING ASSETS OF BANKING SECTOR IN INDIA

Priority sector lending, non-priority sector lending, corporate debt restructuring and accumulation of non- performing assets have now become an interesting topic of discussion and debate. Evolution of priority sector credit since social control of banks back in 1967 has a chequered history till emergence of micro finance as a tool of poverty alleviation. Various committees formed by RBI and the Government of India have reviewed progress of priority sector lending and recommended measures for revamping the structural and operational measures related to social banking. On the other side, non-priority sector NPAs and corporate debt restructuring seems to be alarming nowadays. Till the year 2011 the situation was different, but after 2011 with the implication of BASEL II, banks are bound to show their stressed assets and restructuring measures are in full swing. In 2015 the corporate debt restructuring was highest in last 10 years. With the introduction of financial sector reforms and adoption of prudential accounting norms following BASEL convention, the banks have been passing through tremendous crisis with phenomenal growth of nonperforming assets. This paper analyses the growth of priority sector non-performing assets, non-priority sector non-performing assets and its contribution towards building up total non-performing assets and investigates the relationship of non-performing assets with some economic parameters. It also analyses the association of corporate debt restructuring with non-performing assets and tries to find out relationship of the above two. A strong correlation is found between corporate debt restructuring and NPAs. A negative association is found between NPAs and GDP growth.

Understanding Hazardous Waste Exports for Disposal in Europe: A Contribution to Sustainable Development

The concept of sustainable development was introduced in Europe by the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) and was extended to waste management in the Waste Framework Directive. In order to achieve sustainable development, hazardous waste (HW) must be managed safely and in accordance with regulations. This also applies to worldwide HW transport, especially when HW is shipped for disposal. The United Nations, through the Basel Convention, aims to prevent the export of HW from developed countries to developing countries for disposal. In Europe, HW shipments are regulated by Regulation (EC) No. 1013/2006 of the European Parliament and by the Council of 14 June 2006 on shipments of waste. Additionally, all HW shipments must be in accordance with two principles contained in the Waste Framework Directive: proximity and self-sufficiency. Using data from 2014 and network analysis methodology, this paper fills the gaps in the scientific literature by looking at how shipments of HW travel for disposal in Europe, how the regulations affect these shipments and how GDP per capita influences the shipment of waste. The results show that countries with a high GDP per capita play an important role in the network (having the highest in-degree) and that the absence of landfill taxes for HW does not influence HW shipments for disposal. Therefore, countries in the EU act in accordance with the proximity and self-sufficiency principles.

A Study on State Duties under UNGPs Ensuring Human Rights in the Ship-Recycling Industry

The adverse human rights impact in the South Asian ship-recycling yards is not uncommon for international shipping industry since beginning of 2000s. Even if preventive measures under the Basel Convention has been established to ensure human rights in these beaching yards, the deteriorated conditions over human rights have rarely experienced improvements for workers and residents. Thus, this paper slightly deviates from current international instruments regulating ship-recycling activities, and then focus on the state duties under IHRL to ensure human rights through UNGPs. Particularly, UNGPs, in order to ensure human rights under the current regime of IHRL including the UDHR and other legal instruments, provides principles which can be applied in relation to business activities of transnational corporate. In particular, as state duties, the UNGPs prescribes state duty to protect against human rights abuses caused by the business activities and to ensure access to effective remedy for the victims. While the UNGPs has not created new obligations of states since it is not an international legal instrument, these obligations should be looked upon derived from the existing international human rights law. Therefore, this paper will examines the state duties under the UNGPs focusing on how to ensure these duties in the ship-recycling industry of South Asia where especially human rights abuses have been severe. These includes development of a new treaty for implementation of the UNGPs for a long-term and domestic measures ensuring effective remedy to the victims for a short- to mid-term.

China's policy and finding ways to prevent collapse in WEEE processing in the context of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal

China's policy and finding ways to prevent collapse in WEEE processing in the context of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal