BAN Statement at the Global E-Waste Forum
Nairobi, 1 December 2006 –
The Basel Action Network wishes to take this opportunity to make a statement and express its expectations regarding the Basel Convention's collective response to the global e-Waste crisis. If we are to begin to solve this problem we must be sure we do not get diverted in trying to mop up the problem downstream without tackling the crisis at its source.
The current e-Waste crisis can best be tackled by recognizing the two primary reasons for the current mess we are in.
First, is the fact that IT equipment is hazardous and we must not accept this as a fact of life. Industry experts in fact tell us that IT equipment can be made toxic free by the year 2015 as it is no longer a problem of technology but a question of will and consumer demand. Thus we must set a policy date for elimination of all toxic inputs and thereby ensure that end-of-life equipment will never again be considered a hazardous waste.
Second, is the problem of the traffic of electronic waste moving from rich to poorer countries which BAN has documented around the world, much of it illegal. These exports not only victimize and exploit the poor, but also guarantee that we will not achieve green design by creating disincentives for upstream responsibility. BAN asserts that even if developing countries had environmentally sound management technology, they should not be asked to take a disproportionate burden of the world's e-waste mountains simply because they are relatively poor.
We are finding that there are two primary categories of this illegal traffic moving from North to South and West to East. The first category comes from those Basel Parties that are not diligently enforcing the Convention (this is especially true due to the lack of guidance (legal and practical) for authorities on distinguishing between exports of wastes and of non wastes).
The second category is coming in massive volumes from one large non-Party that not only is the country that produces the most waste in the world, but which at the same time refuses to control its e-Waste exports even to countries that have banned the imports Sadly, the United States continues to allow the export and free trade of massive quantities of e-Waste to China for example even while knowing very well that China has banned its importation. In our experience more than half of the global e-waste traffic is coming from my country -- the United States.
The e-Waste horror show of non-environmentally sound recycling and disposal that we have documented in China, India, and most recently in Africa actually exist not primarily because technology is not possible in those places, but because when e-waste is subject to free trade not prohibited by the Basel Convention, a comparative advantage can be gained by doing things the cheap and dirty way. If it is halted in one part of the world it will simply reappear elsewhere.
In this regard it is imperative that the Basel Export Ban Amendment first proposed by the G77 and China and which has already been implemented by the European Union, enters into global force at the earliest date. We believe that the Parties must resolve the Article 17 ambiguity question in favor of immediate entry into force now that we have 63 ratifications. This Ban is a vital necessity not only to halt the horrors of situations like the Probo Koala dumping in Cote d'Ivoire but also the slow-motion Probo Koala's happening every day in ports throughout the developing world, with the arrival of tonnes and tonnes of toxic e-Waste.
My colleagues, the true solutions are always found upstream. And our declaration this week must address the upstream issues first. The first Basel Convention responsibility is to close-off the cheap and dirty dumping opportunities by enforcing transboundary movement rules and obligations for e-waste. At the same time we must promote drivers for waste minimization and for Green, toxic-free design.
It must be remembered that the Basel Convention calls for minimizing the generation and the transboundary movement of hazardous waste including hazardous e-waste. The Basel Convention calls for national self-sufficiency in hazardous waste management to be achieved first by the developed countries.
The Basel Convention is NOT about setting up regional waste trade agreements so that rich developed countries can export their post-consumer waste mountains rather than eliminate them at source through green design, extended producer responsibility and national recycling programs. This is hardly an innovative solution but a return to global dumping done this time with a false green glossing provided by the misleading use of the terms "re-use" and "recycling".
As an organization that has brought this issue to the fore globally and onto the agenda of this Convention it is our strong belief that our declaration coming out of this Convention this week must prioritize addressing the dual upstream goals of ending economically driven exports from rich developed countries to developing countries, and at the same time promote drivers for ensuring that our near-term future is one in which all IT equipment is non-hazardous, is designed for longevity, and is also designed for the safest and most efficient re-use and recycling.
Thank you.
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