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The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was adopted on 22 March 1989 by the Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Basel, Switzerland, in response to a public outcry following the discovery, in the 1980s, in Africa and other parts of the developing world of deposits of toxic wastes imported from abroad.
Objective
To protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects of hazardous wastes. Its scope of application covers a wide range of wastes defined as “hazardous wastes” based on their origin and/or composition and their characteristics, as well as two types of wastes defined as “other wastes” - household waste and incinerator ash.
Principal aims:
♤ The reduction of hazardous waste generation and the promotion of environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes, wherever the place of disposal;
♤ the restriction of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes except where it is perceived to be in accordance with the principles of environmentally sound management; and
♤ a regulatory system applying to cases where transboundary movements are permissible.
Waste under the Basel Convention
Wastes are substances or objects which are disposed of or are intended to be disposed of or are required to be disposed of by the provisions of national law.
Annex
Annex I of the Convention, as further clarified in Annexes VIII and IX, lists those wastes that are classified as hazardous and subject to the control procedures under the Convention.
Annex II of the Convention identifies those wastes that require special consideration (known as “other wastes”, and which primarily refer to household wastes).
Examples of wastes regulated by the Basel Convention
♤ Biomedical and healthcare wastes
♤ Used oils
♤ Used lead acid batteries
♤ Persistant Organic Pollutant wastes (POPs wastes),
♤ Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs),
♤ Thousands of chemical wastes generated by industries and other consumers