space Basel Action News, Vol 1, #1

Monaco categorically said that it is not interested in accepting hazardous waste from its OECD neighbors, and has no desire to export to non-OECD countries, nor serve as a transit country to developing countries. This European country's size and economic base show proof of sincerity on its proposal.

On the other hand, Israel and Slovenia were also equally clear in saying that their proposal to join Annex VII is based on intent to import hazardous wastes from OECD countries. They claim that they have very high levels of technical capacity to process hazardous wastes safely. The question of technical capacity of a potential hazardous waste importer however, is not the primary reason why the Basel Ban was adopted. Even if Israel and Slovenia had the best facilities in the world, that would still not justify OECD countries ignoring their Basel obligations to take all practicable steps to eliminate the generation (waste prevention principle) and the transboundary movement (self-sufficiency principle) of hazardous wastes.

If we do scrutinize the levels of technical capacity of Slovenia and Israel vis-a-vis their being defined as OECD for purposes of the Basel Ban, we will face a frightening preview of what an expanded Annex VII might mean for the environment and human health of the population of a typical Annex VII non-OECD country.

Slovenia has already been the subject of a significant scandal regarding the import of lead-acid battery waste in 1994. That operation was extremely polluting, causing the Swiss government to take extraordinary enforcement action to ensure that no more Swiss car batteries were exported legally or illegally to Slovenia. Currently, Slovenian NGOs are protesting vehemently that the Slovenian public never asked to be the recipient of hazardous wastes and have been taken completely by surprise by the Slovenian government's request to the Basel Secretariat early this month. Slovenian environmental organizations have repeatedly said that Slovenia cannot handle even its own domestically produced hazardous wastes.

Of even greater significance is the news revealed in the press yesterday that Slovenia was supported and urged to propose inclusion to Annex VII by OECD countries Hungary, Austria and Germany. The prospect of being included in the waste management strategy of a country like Germany is particularly alarming given the high costs of disposal in that country and the huge incentive for export that has always entailed with respect to eastern European countries.

Israel, was also recently shown to have one of the worst records of hazardous waste management in the world. It is one of the few remaining countries involved in the globally condemned practice of dumping industrial wastes into the Mediterranean Sea, and has been unable to come close to preventing the vast stockpile of hazardous wastes accumulated in past years from leaking from their barrels and entering the environment. Neither does it have the capacity to even begin to manage its annual output of an estimated 40,000 tonnes of hazardous wastes per year.

A recent article in the Danish newspaper Politiken reported that environmental policy in Israel with respect to hazardous waste has been virtually at a standstill for the last ten years. It was only last year that Israel began to require that companies notify the government about hazardous waste production. Meanwhile, 60,000 tonnes of the hazardous waste has been accumulated in one particularly horrific site where thousands of barrels of unknown waste composition are already leaking into the soil. Reports state that much of the toxic waste does not find its way to storage sites at all but ends up being dumped at sea or into neighboring countries and territories.

The facts about the two countries approaching the Basel Parties for exemption from the ban should leave all of the Basel Parties with serious misgivings about opening Annex VII. The economically motivated toxic waste trade will inevitably equate to the externalization of costs that are necessary to avoid hazardous waste generation and risk. The Basel Parties must simply keep their commitment to the Basel Ban and thereby uphold the prime objectives of the Convention -- Minimizing the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes and their generation.