Basel Ban: Final Round to Put an End to Global Waste Dumping

["greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>]

BASEL BAN: FINAL ROUND TO PUT AN END TO GLOBAL WASTE DUMPING 

Kuching, Malaysia, 22 February 1998 --- Over 100 countries have
gathered today in Kuching at the 4th Conference of Parties (COP
4) to the Basel Convention (1) to fully implement the Basel Ban,
an international agreement which prohibits the export of all
hazardous waste from rich to poor countries by 1998 (2).

Of the million of tons of hazardous waste produced each year, a
vast majority comes from the rich OECD countries, often only to
be "dumped" onto poor countries in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe
and Latin America. The Basel Ban will ensure that global markets
for OECD toxic waste bound for recycling and final disposal in
developing nations will be cut off. 

While the members of the European Union, Norway and Uruguay
ratified the Basel Ban amendment in 1997 and transposed it into
national legislation, a few OECD governments continued to work
actively to undermine this historic waste trade ban. In their
desperate attempts, these countries resort to Waste Trade
Organization (WTO) free-trade rules, while conveniently
forgetting that hazardous waste is to be eliminated rather than
traded freely.

"While there is tremendous support for the Basel Ban throughout
the international community, there are still a few waste-trade
zealots, such as the US (3), Australia, New Zealand, the
Netherlands and Canada, who seek to weaken the decision so it
becomes merely a paper tiger", said Kevin Stairs of Greenpeace.
"These enemies of the Ban continue to look for new angles to
attack and undermine this landmark international decision for
environmental justice".

Over the last ten years, Greenpeace has documented hundreds of
cases involving millions of tons of hazardous waste on offer to
all regions of the planet. Recently, the environmental
organization denounced schemes involving exports from US,
Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and Germany to India, Brazil,
Bangladesh, the Philippines and China. 

The few countries opposing the Ban have been fighting to allow
hazardous waste exports to any country which declares itself 
"capable of managing hazardous waste in an environmentally sound
manner."

The Basel Ban is designed to stop the transfer of pollution -
associated with hazardous waste management - from OECD to non-
OECD countries. It is also designed to close the export loophole
and thereby provide an incentive for the industry to adopt clean
production alternatives, in an attempt to reduce the ever-
growing generation of hazardous waste. Following this rationale,
the Basel Ban was adopted as a no-exceptions Ban, due to the
strong resolve of the G-77, China and the European Union among
others. 

"It would be a disaster if the international community allowed
these few Ban opponents to prevail. We need to conclude the
process we started years ago to ban waste trade and move into a
new era of clean production", added Stairs. 

---  end --- 
Greenpeace on the Internet at http://www.greenpeace.org

NOTES
(1) The main issues under discussion at the COP 4 meeting are: 
  a) Israel and Monaco application to continue to receive
hazardous    waste from OECD countries as exceptions to the Ban
b) Adoption of    the list of hazardous waste subject to the Ban
c) Preventing the    use of bilateral agreements to circumvent
the Ban

(2) In 1995, the Basel Ban was adopted by consensus by all 83
parties. Although 17 countries have already ratified the Ban,
ratification from 3/4 of the parties is necessary to formally
give the Ban international law status. Many countries that are
in full support of the Ban have not ratified it yet, due to lack
of information, legislative delays and complex national
administrative procedures.

(3) The US, the world largest waste trade generator, is the only
OECD country that has failed to become a party to the Basel
Convention.