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Bamako Convention Against Illegal of Hazardous Wastes |
About the convention:The Bamako Convention is a treaty of African nations prohibiting the import into Africa of any hazardous waste. The convention came into force in 1998. The convention is a response to Article 11 of the Basel convention which encourages parties to enter into bilateral, multilateral and regional agreements on Hazardous Waste to help achieve the objectives of the convention. The impetus for the Bamako convention arose also from the failure of the Basel Convention to prohibit trade of hazardous waste to less developed countries and the realization that many developed nations were exporting toxic wastes to Africa.
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Basel ConventionHomepage: www.basel.int/default.aspx |
About the convention: The full name of the convention is Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal. Its full text is at https://www.basel.int/Portals/4/Basel%20Convention/docs/text/BaselConventionText-e.pdf. At https://www.basel.int/Implementation/Ewaste/Overview/tabid/4063/Default.aspx, the e-waste perspective is outlined. “Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is defined under the Basel Convention as electrical or electronic equipment that is waste, including all components, sub-assemblies and consumables that are part of the equipment at the time the equipment becomes waste. E-waste can be categorized as hazardous or non-hazardous waste under the Basel Convention. When in e-waste there is presence of toxic materials such as mercury, lead or brominated flame retardants e-waste is classified as hazardous waste according to the Basel Convention. E-waste may also contain precious metals such as gold, copper and nickel and rare materials of strategic value such as indium and palladium. These precious and heavy metals could be recovered, recycled and used as valuable source of secondary raw materials.”
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Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)Headquarter: Washington DC, USA |
About the organization: The mission of EPA is to protect the human health and the environment within the United States of America. In doing so, the organization has developed a very informative homepage that all parts of society can access and obtain accurate information sufficient to effectively participate in managing human health and environmental risks. EPA works very seriously on e-waste, and on its homepage there are almost 130000 contributions related to e-waste handling.
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The Global E-waste Statistics Partnership (GESP)Headquarter: Collaboration between the three founding organizations |
About the organization: The following paragraphs were selected from the GESP homepage. “Building on the partnership on Measuring ICT for development, in 2017, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), United Nations University – Sustainable Cycles (UNU-SCYCLE) and the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), joined forces to create the Global E-waste Statistics Partnership as a way of addressing the challenges associated with managing e-waste. Since January 2022, Sustainable Cycles (SCYCLE) become a Programme under the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). Today, the GESP is now a Partnership managed by the ITU and UNITAR-SCYCLE.
The objectives of the Partnership are to monitor developments of e-waste over time, and to help countries to produce e-waste statistics. The initiative will inform policymakers, industries, academia, media, and the general public by enhancing the understanding and interpretation of global e-waste data and its relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The goals of the GESP are to: 1) Collect and improve worldwide e-waste statistics; 2) Enhance the understanding and interpretation of global e-waste data; 3) Improve the quality of e-waste statistics by guiding countries and building national capacity through e-waste statistics trainings; 4) Raise awareness and communicates the data to the general public and relevant stakeholders.”
The GESP homepage contains a rich library of searchable publications related to a number of topics including e-waste.
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International Solid Waste Association (ISWA)Headquarter: Rotterdam, The Netherlands |
About the organization: ISWA is an independent and non-governmental association and its mission is “the promotion and development of sustainable waste management worldwide”. On this basis “ISWA’s vision is an Earth where no waste exists. Waste should be reused and reduced to a minimum, then collected, recycled and treated properly. Residual matter should be disposed of in a safely engineered way, ensuring a clean and healthy environment. All people on earth should have the right to enjoy an environment with clean air, water, seas and soils. To be able to achieve this, we need to work together.” To achieve this goal, ISWA addresses waste management through nine working groups covering all relevant aspects of sustainable waste management including e-waste, and by publications of the journal Waste Management & Research (https://journals.sagepub.com/home/wmr), the newsmagazine Waste Management World (https://waste-management-world.com/), and a variety of policy and key issue papers. In addition, the homepage contains many links to valuable documents and events related to e-waste. With respect to e-waste, the institute is a partner in the production of a series of documents presented at https://ewastemonitor.info, one of which is the annual Global E-waste Monitor. ISWA also organize the ISWA World Congress, which is an annual event that dates back to 1972.
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Japan Society of Material Cycles and Waste Management (JSMCWM)Headquarter: Tokyo, Japan |
About the organization: JSMCWM was originally established as The Japan Society of Waste Management in March 1990. This society has pursued various research activities around proper management of waste and promotion of recycling to respond to the demands of the time in anticipation of resource circulation. These activities have resulted in expansion of the legal system regarding waste management so that construction of sound material-cycle society has become major challenge for Japan and subject for JSMCWM.
The main mission of the Society is to contribute to better solutions to solid waste management by providing its members opportunities for exchanging findings, experience, and expertise. JSMCWM has currently over 4000 members, is internationally open, and extends invitation to experts world-wide to join the Society. E-waste is addressed as a solid waste-management issue, where home appliances, computers, mobile phones and similar items are dealt with.
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Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM)Headquarter: Geneva, Switzerland |
About the organization: SAICM was adopted by the First International Conference on Chemicals Management in Dubai in 2006 and is a policy framework to promote chemical safety in all segments of society around the world. The background for the formation of the organization is clear from its homepage. “The consumption of chemicals by all industries and modern society’s reliance on chemicals for virtually all manufacturing processes make chemicals production one of the major and most globalized sectors of the world economy. Acknowledgement of the essential economic role of chemicals and their contribution to improved living standards needs to be balanced with recognition of potential costs. These include the chemical industry’s heavy use of water and energy and the potential adverse impacts of chemicals on the environment and human health. The diversity and potential severity of such impacts makes sound chemicals management a key cross-cutting issue for sustainable development.”
SAICM was developed by a multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral Preparatory Committee and supports the achievement of the 2020 goal agreed at the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development. SAICM’s overall objective is the achievement of the sound management of chemicals throughout their life cycle so that by the year 2020, chemicals are produced and used in ways that minimize significant adverse impacts on the environment and human health.
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UN Environmental Management Group (UN EMG)Homepage: unemg.org |
About the organization: UN EMG is a system-wide coordination body on environment and human settlements. It was established in 2001 and consists of 51 specialized agencies, programmes, and organs of the United Nations including the secretariats of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements. The EMG identifies issues on the international environmental agenda that warrant cooperation and finds ways of engaging its collective capacity in coherent management responses to those issues. It works through technical meetings, issue management groups, and task forces, and representatives of intergovernmental bodies, civil society and international non-governmental organizations can be invited to contribute. Under close consideration is e-waste, which is one of the fastest growing waste streams in developed as well as developing countries. (https://unemg.org/our-work/emerging-issues/innter-agency-issue-management-group-on-tackling-e-waste). The decreasing lifespan of products such as computers and mobile phones has reduced significantly in developed countries, subsequently increasing the amount of e-waste generated per year. This has a major impact on developing countries because much of this hazardous material is exported from developed to developing countries.
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United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)Headquarter: Nairobi, Kenya |
About the organization: Since its inception in 1972, UNEP has been the global authority that sets the environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the UN system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. UNEP’s mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. UNEP works on delivering transformational change for people and nature by drilling down on the root causes of the three planetary crises of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste including e-waste.
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United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)Headquarter: Geneva, Switzerland |
About the organization: UNITAR is a UN organization, founded in 1963. Its mission is to “develop the individual, institutional and organizational capacities of countries and other United Nations stakeholders through high-quality learning solutions and related knowledge products and services to enhance decision making and to support country-level action for overcoming global challenges.” In doing so, UNITAR pays particular attention to issues related to climate change, chemical management, waste management, and circular economy. With respect to e-waste, the institute is a partner in the production of a series of documents presented at https://ewastemonitor.info, one of which is the annual Global E-waste Monitor. The homepage contains many links to valuable documents regarding pollution due to all sorts of chemical waste as well as themes related to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
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Waigani ConventionHomepage: www.sprep.org/convention-secretariat/waigani-convention |
About the organization: The full name of the convention is The Convention to Ban the Importation into Forum Island Countries of Hazardous and Radioactive Wastes and to Control the Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within the South Pacific Region and entered into force in 2001. It is modeled on the Basel Convention and constitutes the regional implementation of the international hazardous waste control regime (Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions). There are, however, some differences between the two conventions: the Waigani Convention also covers radioactive wastes; and its territorial coverage includes each Party’s Exclusive Economic Zone (200 nautical miles). The Convention is also strongly related to the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and other matters (London Convention from 1972).The objective of the Convention is to reduce and eliminate transboundary movements of hazardous and radioactive waste, to minimize the production of hazardous and toxic wastes in the Pacific region and to ensure that disposal of wastes in the Convention area is completed in an environmentally sound manner.
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WEEE ForumHeadquarter: Brussels, Belgium |
About the organization: The forum was established in 2002. From its homepage, the following information has been extracted. The WEEE Forum is the world’s largest multi-national centre of competence as regards operational know-how concerning the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (or ‘WEEE’, for short). It is an international association representing forty-six producer responsibility organisations across the globe. Together with our members, we are at the forefront of turning the extended producer responsibility principle into an effective electronic waste management policy approach through our combined knowledge of the technical, business, and operational aspects of collection, logistics, de-pollution, processing, preparing for reuse and reporting of e-waste. Our mission is to be the world’s foremost e-waste competence centre excelling in the implementation of the circularity principle. The WEEE Forum has designed and developed a number of platforms and software tools, allowing the producer responsibility organisations to benchmark their operations and have access to key data and intelligence.