United States Solid Waste and
Environmental Protection Emergency Response EPA530-F-94-011
Agency (5305) March 1994
Office of Solid Waste
SEPA Environmental
Fact Sheet
Principles for Basel Convention Aim
To Prevent Pollution, Reduce Risk,
And Promote Recycling
As part of U. S. efforts to address global issues on exporting and
importing hazardous waste, the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) is asking Congress to ban the export of nearly all such wastes
beyond North American borders. Along with key departments of the
Administration, the Agency has issued recommendations for
implementing the "Basel Convention." By emphasizing the principles
of waste minimization, the Administration's standards aim to make
the U.S. even more self-sufficient in the management and disposal
of its wastes.
Background
The Basel Convention is the first major international agreement on
exports and imports of hazardous wastes, municipal wastes, and
municipal incinerator ash (known as covered wastes). The
Convention's goals are to reduce the generation and the transboundary
movements of covered wastes, and to establish environmentally sound
management techniques for any transboundary movements that may
occur.
The Basel Convention becomes effective in a country (known in the
Convention as party) when it is ratified by the country. Currently, over
60 countries are parties to the Convention, including all of the U.S.'
major trading partners (a list of participating countries is attached).
Before the U.S. can ratify the Convention and become a party,
Congressional committees must agree on legislation that gives EPA
additional authority to implement the Convention's terms; Congress
must pass the legislation; and the President must sign it. The
Administration, particularly EPA, aims to work closely with Congress to
obtain legislation that controls the shipment of U.S. hazardous wastes
to other countries.
Action
The Administration transmitted to key Congressional committees,
its principles for implementing the Basel Convention on the Control of
Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal.
With exceptions in very limited circumstances, the Agency proposes to
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ban the export of covered wastes outside of North America. A five-year
grace period will be provided to members of the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that receive waste for
recycling. Major Administration principles for Basel legislation include:
• A ban on exports of hazardous waste, municipal waste, and
municipal incinerator ash beyond North America, with
exceptions in very limited circumstances.
• A ban on exports of covered wastes to any country prohibiting
their importation.
• A ban on imports and exports of covered wastes to facilities
where the U.S. government has reason to believe they will not be
managed in an environmentally sound manner.
• Strong enforcement authorities that allow:
— the return of any covered waste to the U.S., which might have
been illegally exported or mismanaged;
— the prosecution of those who may have violated U.S. waste
export/import law; and
— the recovery of any costs associated with these enforcement
actions.
In addition, the legislative principles aim to foster appropriate
recycling of low hazard materials that trade like commodities, and are
needed as raw materials. Many U.S. recycling programs depend on
export markets to provide capacity for materials such as scrap paper,
glas~. textiles, and scrap metals. Transboundary movements of these
materials are not limited under this proposal.
Existing International Agreements
The U.S. has two bilateral agreements for transboundary
movements of hazardous wastes: one with Mexico and one with
Canada, which are both parties to the Basel Convention. Because of
the U.S. knowledge of their programs and due to their proximity, the
U.S. recognizes that exports to Canada for treatment, disposal, and
recycling, and exports to Mexico for recycling, are environmentally
sound.
In addition, the U.S. also has a multilateral agreement with OECD
members on movements for recycling within the OECD. The
Administration's principles summarized above would allow for
continued trade of covered wastes under the Canadian and Mexican
agreements. Trade of covered wastes could continue under ~e OECD
agreement for five years after legislation is passed.
Conclusion
These principles represent another step toward stronger U.S.
management of its hazardous and solid wastes. They assure that U.S.
environmental problems will not be transferred to other countries by
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providing EPA with the future authority to halt the export of U.S. toxic
waste to developing countries. In 1992, 5,500 tons of such waste was
exported from the United States to 29 developing nations.
For More Information
For additional information or to order a copy of the Federal Register
notice, contact the RCRA Hotline, Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
EST. The national, toll-free number is (800) 424-9346; TOD (800) 553-
7672 (hearing impaired): in Washington, D.C., the number is (703) 920-
9810, TDD (703) 486-3323.
Copies of documents relevant to this action may be obtained by writing:
RCRA Information Center (RIC), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Office of Solid Waste (OS-305), 401 M Street SW, Washington, D.C. 20460.
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Parties to the Basel Convention
As Of 2/22/94
Antigua & Barbuda
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Brazil
Canada
Chile
China
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Egypt
El Salvador
Ecuador
Estonia
European Union
Finland
France
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Iran
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Jordan
Kuwait:
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Maldives
Mauritius
Mexico
Monaco
Netherlands
Nigeria
Norway
Panama
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Suadi Arabia
Senegal
Seychelles
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Tanzania
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
Uruguay
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