A Convention That Is Perpetually Reborn

• Author: Rolph Payet
• Position: Executive Secretary Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions
• Pages: 29-29

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021 | 29

Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, September/October 2021.

Copyright © 2021, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.

Sidebar

SI DE BAR

A Convention That Is Perpetually Reborn

Multilateral environmental

agreements have a tre-

mendous capacity to adapt

to new challenges. We have seen

it with the Montreal ozone proto-

col, now tackling one of the most

threatening greenhouse gasses. And

I have witnessed it since I joined

the secretariat of the Basel Con-

vention in 2014. Why is that?

For one, we are facing an issue

that is here to stay. Wastes are inevi-

table byproducts of our unsustain-

able production and consumption

patterns. Although waste manage-

ment is increasingly on people’s

minds, hazardous waste has only

increased over time. But the good

news is that the Basel Convention

has a lot to offer to protect human

health and the environment from

the negative impacts of hazardous

waste. These impacts result from

biomedical and healthcare wastes

and other wastes that the interna-

tional community has unanimously

agreed require special consideration.

Plastic wastes that cannot be easily

recycled are a recent example.

At the heart of the convention is

a strict control — not a ban — of

transboundary movements of haz-

ardous wastes and other wastes. In a

nutshell, only parties with the capac-

ity and willingness to manage such

wastes in an environmentally sound

manner should receive such wastes,

and it is up to each party to take its

own informed decision as to wheth-

er to accept or not the wastes, and

under what conditions.

If I take as an example the Plastic

Waste Amendments adopted in

2019, all plastic waste and mixtures

of plastic waste generated by par-

ties, with a few exceptions, are now

subject to the prior informed con-

sent procedure, unless they are des-

tined for recycling in an environmen-

tally sound manner and are almost

free from contamination and other

types of wastes. The procedure en-

sures that each destination country

for potential exports of plastic waste

is alerted to such shipments and can

accept (with or without conditions)

or refuse them.

By promoting responsibility and

traceability, this creates the neces-

sary conditions for the global trade

in plastics waste to become more

transparent and better regulated. It

also provides a powerful incentive

for the private sector, governments,

and other stakeholders to strength-

en capacities for recycling and where

possible reuse, therefore contribut-

ing to a circular economy. Moreover,

it will help create jobs and economic

opportunities, not least by incen-

tivizing innovation, such as in the

design of alternatives to plastics and

the phaseout of toxic additives.

Another key to the success of the

Basel Convention is the longstand-

ing practice of parties who engage

at the global level with a broad

range of stakeholders to address the

minimization, trade control, and en-

vironmentally sound management of

critical waste streams. Begun in 2002

with the Mobile Phone Partnership

Initiative, multistakeholder platforms

have since been established to tackle

computing equipment, household

waste, and plastic waste. These part-

nerships allow participation on equal

footing by civil society, industry,

academia, non-party states such as

the United States, and other entities

whose voices will shape and whose

actions will drive required changes.

On the heels of the Plastic

Waste Amendments, three new

amendment proposals will be con-

sidered by the Conference of the

Parties in 2 022. The proposal by the

Russian Federation is to set a 30-

day period for the state of import

to review and reply to a proposed

transboundary movement.

The two other amendment pro-



with the objective of contribut-

ing to a circular economy, among

other objectives. The proposal by

the European Union focuses on the

waste versus non-waste issue and

thus aims to revamp Annex IV. The

proposal by Ghana and Switzerland

aims at ensuring that all e-waste

moved across borders, be it char-

acterized as hazardous or not, will

be subject to the prior informed

consent procedure and directed to

environmentally sound management

with state-of-the-art technology.

With new challenges come new

opportunities. The Basel Conven-

tion continues to stand the test of

time and to reinvent itself as the

only global legally binding frame-

work shaping the future of waste

management.

“With new challenges come

new opportunities. e Basel

Convention continues to stand the

test of time and to reinvent itself

as the only global legally binding

framework shaping the future of

waste management”

Rolph Payet

Executive Secretary

Basel, Rotterdam, and

Stockholm Conventions