The 1995 Basel Ban Amendment, a global waste dumping prohibition, has become an international law after Croatia ratified it on September 6. Croatia became the 97th country to ratify the ban, which was adopted by the parties to the Basel Convention in 1995, to protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects of hazardous waste, according to the Basel Action Network.

Background

* Basel Action Network is a US-based charity organisation and is one among the organisations and countries that created the Basel Ban Amendment - hailed as a landmark agreement for global environmental justice.

* The Basel Ban Amendment prohibits all export of hazardous waste, including electronic waste and obsolete ships, from 29 wealthiest countries of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to non-OECD countries.

* The Basel Ban Amendment had been stalled for all these years due to uncertainty over how to interpret the convention.

Basel Convention

* The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, usually known as the Basel Convention, is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movement of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent the transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries (LDCs). However, it does not address the movement of radioactive waste.

* The convention is also intended to minimise the amount and toxicity of waste generated, to ensure their environmentally sound management as closely as possible to the source of generation, and to assist LDCs in environmentally sound management of hazardous and other waste they generate.

* The convention was opened for signature on March 22, 1989, and entered into force on May 5, 1992. As of October 2018, 186 states and the European Union are parties to the convention. Haiti and the US have signed the convention but not ratified it.

Definition of hazardous waste

* A waste falls under the scope of the convention if it is within the category of waste listed in Annex I of the convention and it exhibits one of the hazardous characteristics contained in Annex III.

* In other words, it must both be listed and possess a characteristic such as being explosive, flammable, toxic or corrosive. The other way that a waste may fall under the scope of the convention is if it is defined as or considered to be a hazardous waste under the laws of either the exporting country, the importing country, or any of the countries of transit.

* The definition of the term disposal is made in Article 2 and just refers to Annex IV, which gives a list of operations that are understood as disposal or recovery. Examples of disposal are broad, including recovery and recycling.

* Alternatively, to fall under the scope of the convention, it is sufficient for waste to be included in Annex II, which lists other waste, such as household waste and residue that comes from incinerating household waste.

* Radioactive waste that is covered under other international control systems and waste from the normal operation of ships are not covered.

* Annex IX attempts to define “commodities” which are not considered waste and which would be excluded.

Plastic pollution

* Plastic is a huge environmental and health issue. Plastic pollution has lately become a major environmental problem of global concern.

* Plastic makes up 10 per cent of all the waste generated in the world.

* Every year, 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide.

* More than 100 million tonnes of plastic is now found in the oceans, of which 80-90 per cent comes from land-based sources.

* At least 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans every minute.

* 50 per cent of plastic used by humans is single-use or disposable plastic.

* More than 1 million plastic bottles are bought every minute.

* The Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the North Pacific Ocean alone accounts for 79,000 tonnes of plastic marine debris in the form of 1.8 trillion pieces. This plastic litter is troubling marine life.