Transcript e-waste under the Basel Convention

The Global Environment and Trade
E-Waste under the Basel Convention on the Control of
Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal
Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions
www.brsmeas.org
World Trade Organization
CTE Meeting, 15 November 2016
@brsmeas
Global Waste Movements
The global waste sector valued at at least
USD 410 billion a year, takes several forms:
 Firstly a legal industry sustaining business and
environmental protection,
 Secondly an unregulated sometimes even informal
business, that is important for recycling and job
creation as well, but with health risks and challenges of
monitoring the safety and sound management;
 Thirdly, trafficking in hazardous waste and chemicals by
organized crime.
The Rise of Environmental Crime, UNEP-INTERPOL (2016)
www.brsmeas.org
@brsmeas
“Waste” – Legal or Illegal?
• “Waste” itself is not illegal
• It is actual “transboundary movements of
waste in violation of applicable rules of law”
that is illegal
www.brsmeas.org
@brsmeas
Illegal Traffic
(Basel Convention,
Article 9.1)
No
Notification
Resulting in
Deliberate
Disposal in
Contravention
No Consent
Illegal
Traffic
Nonconform
MaterialDocument
www.brsmeas.org
Consent
through fraud
@brsmeas
www.brsmeas.org
@brsmeas
Consumed electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) will generate:
40-50 million tonnes
of e-waste globally
each year
www.brsmeas.org
@brsmeas
E-Waste Definition
What is e-waste?
…or Waste Electrical and Electronic
Equipment (WEEE)?
Generic term to describe old,
end-of-life or discarded appliances
using electricity which have been
disposed of by their original users.
A rapidly growing problem:
The volume of obsolete PCs
generated in developing regions
will exceed that of developed regions
by 2016-2018.
By 2030, the obsolete PCs from developing regions will
reach 400-700 million units, far more than from developed
regions at 200-300 million units.
Yu et al. (2010)
www.brsmeas.org
@brsmeas
Export of E-waste
Lewis (2011)
www.brsmeas.org
@brsmeas
www.brsmeas.org
@brsmeas
www.brsmeas.org
@brsmeas
Socio-economic impacts:
Daily income of:
Collectors on dump sites
Door-to-door collectors
Refurbishing workshop employee
Refurbishing workshop owner
(US$)
0.2 – 0.5
1.7 – 3.3
2.2 – 3.4
67.2 – 222
UNEP SBC (2011)
www.brsmeas.org
@brsmeas
Thank you!
www.brsmeas.org
@brsmeas