E-Waste Casts Shadow Over Basel Convention

The Basel Convention, a global treaty signed by 172 countries which regulates international movements of hazardous and toxic wastes, is marking its 20th anniversary on Tuesday.

"E-waste did not even exist as a waste stream in 1989 and now it's one of the largest and growing exponentially," Katharina Kummer Peiry, executive secretary of the international treaty, told journalists in Geneva.

"I'd say it's something in the region of six billion tons, it's a rough estimate."

The United Nations estimates that up to 50 million tons of electronic goods are discarded globally every year.

In Europe e-waste is increasing at three to five per cent a year – almost three times faster than the total waste stream. Developing countries are also expected to triple their e-waste production over the next five years.

The Basel Convention stressed that e-waste was a by-product of the business and consumer boom in electronic communications.

"Add an increasing demand for electronic gaming, higher definition televisions or smart cars, and the result is a catastrophic accumulation of e-waste, now and into the future," it added in a statement.

Most e-waste ends up in poor countries where people break up old mobile phones, computers and televisions to extract valuable metals for recycling, releasing harmful substances in the process.

Last year Greenpeace found high levels of lead, dioxins and phthalates, which can harm the body, in an area in Ghana where e-waste is stripped. Similar levels of contamination have been found at e-waste dumps in India and China.

Producer responsibility

Under the Basel Convention the export of hazardous waste from rich countries to poor ones is illegal in principle, unless the receiving government has given explicit prior consent.

According to a report by the Geneva-based Basel Convention Secretariat, 101 countries legally exported a total of 11.2 million tons of hazardous and other wastes to 51 states in 2006. This compares with 9.7 million tons in 2004.

Yet unknown additional quantities of hazardous waste continue to be sent abroad illegally.

"The common way exporters get round existing regulations is to re-label e-waste as second-hand goods for recycling," said Tom Dowdall, coordinator for greener electronics at Greenpeace International.

The environmental group has been pushing electronic firms to make safer products with reduced levels of toxic chemicals and to take responsibility for them through their lifecycle.

Despite the gloom, he said there had been a big improvement over the past four to five years.

"Companies like Sony and Phillips have come round to a new business model and a number of firms have formed a coalition in Europe to make sure producer responsibility is being promoted. There is still a long way to go, but progress is being made," he said.

Turning a blind eye

Jim Puckett, coordinator at the Seattle-based non-governmental organization Basel Action Network, said e-waste was one of the biggest waste streams of concern, alongside obsolete ships.

"The convention is applicable to these but certain countries are turning a blind eye to the ongoing externalisation of risk and harm these wastes imply. It's exploitation pure and simple," he said.

But Puckett's biggest concern is the "lack of political will" to ban the export of hazardous waste from rich to poorer countries. This so-called Basel Ban Amendment was agreed upon in 1994 but has not entered into force.

"The Basel Secretariat has failed to promote it," he lamented. "It has succumbed to pressure from countries as the US, Japan and Canada."

But Franz Perrez, head of global affairs at the Federal Environment Office, didn't feel the contentious amendment could be implemented in its current form.

"It has become a symbol for NGOs... but it's not sufficient as it only covers transport from OECD countries to non-OECD," he said.

Switzerland and Indonesia plan to examine the question as part of a treaty working group and will present solutions in 2011.

On its 20th anniversary, the Swiss environmental expert felt the Basel Convention should be viewed positively, however.

"It is a success story; this is too often forgotten," said Perrez. "So-called 'toxic colonialism' has become illegal and the trade in toxic waste from developed to developing countries has been reduced significantly."

But it focuses too much on hazardous wastes, and not enough on the bigger picture and on product lifecycle, he added.