FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 5, 2019
Today, the Ban Amendment to the Basel Convention, a global prohibition on dumping hazardous waste, enters into force almost 25 years after its adoption and officially becomes international law. The Ban Amendment prohibits the world’s wealthiest countries (OECD, EU member states, Liechtenstein) from exporting hazardous waste to non-OECD countries and forces them to internalize the costs of their own pollution. The ban addresses the challenges faced by developing countries in controlling the flood of hazardous waste imports, which strain their infrastructure and harm the environment and local communities.
Giulia Carlini, Staff Attorney in CIEL’s Environmental Health program, issued the following statement:
“The successful entry into force of the Ban Amendment signals a major win for communities around the world that are being inundated with unwanted hazardous waste. For years, wealthy countries have been dumping everything from toxic chemicals to electronic waste on communities, leaving them exposed to harmful substances, without the necessary infrastructure to deal with the problem. By formally banning developed countries from dumping their hazardous waste, the Basel Ban Amendment is a major turning point for saving lives and protecting water and other natural resources. The Ban Amendment will also drive developing countries to adopt upstream solutions to prevent waste generation in the first place.”