International treaties affecting
Waste Management
Basel Convention
Kyoto Protocol (Clean
development mechanism)
Elisangela Heiderscheidt
Water Resources and Environmental Engineering
Laboratory
University of Oulu
[email protected]
Basel Convention
The Basel convention is an international agreement
that aims to protect human health and the
environment against the adverse effects resulting from
the
generation,
management,
trans-boundary
movement and disposal of hazardous and other
wastes (household and incinerator ash). [3]
The agreement was adopted on 22 March 1989 by the
Conference of Plenipotentiaries (Diplomats) in Basel,
Switzerland, in response to a public outcry following
the discovery, in the 1980s, in Africa and other parts
of the developing world of deposits of toxic wastes
imported from abroad. The Convention entered into
force in 1992. [1]
Basel Convention
After the Basel treaty came into force NGO’s argued
for a complete ban of shipment of hazardous waste
to less developed countries.
1995 the Basel Ban Amendment was added to the
treaty. Prohibiting the export of hazardous waste
from developed OECD (signatories of the
Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development convention) to non-OECD countries
for any reasons including for recycling.
The treaty does not, however, address the movement
of radioactive waste.
Objectives of Basel convention
Basel Convention is an international treaty that
was designed to [2]:
 Reduce the movements of hazardous waste
between nations, and specifically to prevent
transfer of hazardous waste from developed to
less developed countries (LDCs).
 Minimize the amount and toxicity of wastes
generated, to ensure their environmentally sound
management as closely as possible to the source
of generation;
 Assist LDCs in environmentally sound
management of the hazardous and other wastes
they generate.
How the Basel convention works?
First, the Basel Convention regulates the transboundary movements of hazardous and other
wastes applying the “Prior Informed
Consent” procedure (shipments made without
consent are illegal). Shipments to and from nonParties are illegal unless there is a special
agreement. Each Party is required to introduce
appropriate national or domestic legislation to
prevent and punish illegal traffic of hazardous and
other wastes.
Illegal movement or traffic is a crime.

How the Basel convention works?

Second, the Convention obliges its Parties or members to ensure
that hazardous and other wastes are managed and disposed of in an
environmentally sound manner. To fulfil these requirements,
members are expected to minimize the quantities that are moved
across borders, to treat and dispose of wastes as close as possible
to their place of generation and to prevent or minimize the
generation of wastes at source.
Strong controls are also required to be applied from the
moment of he generation of a hazardous waste to its storage,
transport, treatment, reuse, recycling, recovery and final
disposal. [3]

EU member states have individually sign the treaty and the EU as an
entity has also ratified the Basel Convention. The regulatory frame
work of the convention is implemented by the EU via the Waste
Shipment Regulation. This legislation not only implements the required
regulations by Basel convention but imposes stricter and more detailed
control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European
Community. [10]
How the Basel convention works
The Conference of the Parties (known as the COP), of
which all the states that are part to the Convention are
members, is the primary organ of the Convention. The
COP develops the policies that guide the implementation
of the Convention, and it can adopt amendments to the
Convention, as well as new instruments, such as Protocols,
if it considers that these would assist in the achievement
of the goals of the Convention. The COP meets at least
once every two years, and seeks to reach its decisions by
consensus. [3]
Around178 countries have ratified the treaty. USA HAS
NOT!
How the Basel convention works?
Prior inform consent procedure
EU waste shipment regulation
Although the export ban amendment to the Basel Convention has not
been enforced globally, in the EU, the export of hazardous waste to
non-OECD countries is prohibited.
 Export of non-hazardous waste to non-OECD countries, for example
paper waste, has to be notified to the authorities in advance according
to what each of the non-OECD countries has arranged with the EU.
 For shipments for disposal within the EU, the Member States can
implement a general or specific ban on import and export of waste.
 For shipments of hazardous and problematic waste for recovery within
the EU, the Member States have more limited possibilities for
objection.
 All wastes for disposal, and hazardous and problematic waste for
recovery, have to be notified before the shipment. The notification
requires very detailed information on the waste shipment.
(Source EEA [10])

Why is the Basel convention important?
Why is our awareness important?
GreenPeace – Where does e-waste end
up?
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/ca
mpaigns/toxics/electronics/the-e-wasteproblem/where-does-e-waste-end-up/
Finland Permits Illegal Export of
Hazardous Waste
http://www.shipbreakingplatform.org/finlandpermits-illegal-export-of-hazardous-waste/
KYOTO PROTOCOL
The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the
UNFCCC - United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (1992). The major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets
binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European
community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These
amount to an average of five per cent against 1990 levels over the fiveyear period 2008-2012. Emission reduction period was extended in
Doha last December until 2020.
In total 175 countries ratified the treaty. [7]
The Kyoto Protocol (KP) and its related agreements is one of the
major agreements made on global scale. With a few exceptions (such
as USA, Iran, North Korea and some Arab states) nearly the entire
world community is participating to the KP. [7]
The major distinction between the Protocol and the Convention is
that while the Convention encouraged industrialised countries to
stabilize GHG emissions, the Protocol commits them to do so. [6]
KYOTO PROTOCOL
The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and
entered into force on 16 February 2005. The detailed rules for the
implementation of the Protocol were adopted at COP 7 in Marrakesh in 2001,
and are called the “Marrakesh Accords.”
Governments are separated into two general categories: developed countries,
referred to as Annex I countries (who have accepted greenhouse gas emission
reduction obligations and must submit an annual greenhouse gas inventory); and
developing countries, referred to as Non-Annex I countries (who have no
greenhouse gas emission reduction obligations but may participate in the Clean
Development Mechanism);
Kyoto is underwritten by governments and is governed by global legislation
enacted under the UN. The mechanisms created to facilitate the implementation
of the protocol is supervised and administered by different organs inside the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The Kyoto mechanisms
Under the Treaty, countries must meet their targets primarily through national
measures. However, the Kyoto Protocol offers them an additional means of
meeting their targets by way of three market-based mechanisms.
The Kyoto mechanisms are:
Emissions trading – known as “the carbon market"
Clean development mechanism (CDM)
Joint implementation (JI).
Emission trading:
Parties with commitments under the Kyoto Protocol have accepted targets for
limiting or reducing emissions. These targets are expressed as levels of allowed
emissions, or “assigned amounts,” over the 2008-2012 commitment period.
The allowed emissions are divided into “assigned amount units” (AAUs).
Emissions trading, allows countries that have emission units to spare emissions permitted them but not "used" - to sell this excess capacity to
countries that are over their targets. [7]
Clean Development Mechanism
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), allows a country with an
emission-reduction target or emission-limitation commitment under the
Kyoto Protocol to implement an emission-reduction project in
developing countries. as an alternative to more expensive emission
reductions in their own countries. Such projects can earn saleable certified
emission reduction (CER) credits, each equivalent to one tonne of CO2, which
can be counted towards meeting Kyoto targets. [7]
A crucial feature of an approved CDM carbon project is that it has established
that the planned reductions would not occur without the additional incentive
provided by emission reductions credits, a concept known as "additionality".
A CDM project activity might involve, for example, a rural electrification
project using solar panels or the implementation of waste management
activities such as landfills. [6]
The mechanism stimulates sustainable development and emission reductions,
while giving industrialized countries some flexibility in how they meet their
emission reduction or limitation targets.
Joint implementation
The mechanism known as “joint implementation”, allows a (developed)
country with an emission reduction target or limitation commitment under
the Kyoto Protocol to earn emission reduction units (ERUs) from an
emission-reduction or emission removal project in another developed
country, each equivalent to one tonne of CO2, which can be counted
towards meeting its Kyoto target. [7]
Joint implementation offers Parties a flexible and cost-efficient means of
fulfilling a part of their Kyoto commitments, while the host Party benefits
from foreign investment and technology transfer.
CDM projects in the waste sector
Example of projects in the waste sector

Waste incinerators

Capture of methane from landfills, production of electricity

Recovery of methane from sludge digesters, production of electricity

Waste water treatment (as alternative to direct discharge)

Sludge digestion (with recovery of methane)

Recovery of waste wood or other organic wastes (paper waste, waste
gases etc.)

Abatement of leakage from pipelines;

Agricultural enterprise
How to implement CDM project
UNFCCC created procedures and guide lines etc.
The Designated National
Authority (DNA) of a Party
involved in a proposed CDM
project activity shall submit a
letter indicating the following:
- That the country has ratified
the Kyoto Protocol.
- That participation is voluntary.
- And, from host parties, a
statement that the proposed
CDM project activity contributes
to sustainable development
Verification is the independent
review . Designated operational
entity verifies that emission
reductions took place, in the
amount claimed, according to
approved monitoring plan.
CER (certified emission reduction) Certification is the written assurance by
the designated operational entity that, during the specified period, the
project activity achieved the emission reductions as verified.
References: [6], [7] and [8].
Project participant prepares
project design document,
making use of approved
emissions baseline and
monitoring methodology
Project design document is
validated by accredited
designated operational
entity, private third-party
certifier. Decision made by
CDM executive board
Registration is the formal
acceptance by the Executive
Board of a validated project
as a CDM project activity.
Registration is the
prerequisite for the
verification, certification and
issuance of CERs related to
that project activity.
Example of methodologies applicable to Municipal
solid waste sector [7]

AM0025 Avoided emissions from organic waste through
alternative waste treatment processes

AM0039 Methane emissions reduction from organic
waste water and bioorganic solid waste using co-composting

AM0053 Biogenic methane injection to a natural gas
distribution grid

ACM0001 Consolidated baseline and monitoring
methodology for landfill gas project activities

ACM0002 Consolidated methodology for grid-connected
electricity generation from renewable sources

ACM0003 Emission reduction through partial substitution
of fossil fuels with alternative fuels or less carbon intensive fuels in cement
manufacture”
Does CMD projects lead to sustainability?
Are CDM projects the pathway to emission reductions?
Benefits of CDM projects [9]
The clean development mechanism was designed to meet a dual objective:
1) to help developed countries fulfil their commitments to reduce
emissions, and 2) to assist developing countries in achieving sustainable
development
UNFCCC - CDM projects benefits
http://cdm.unfccc.int/about/dev_ben/index.html
Recent study shows that most CDM projects claim several sustainable
development benefits such as employment creation, the reduction of
noise and pollution, and the protection of the natural resources. The type
of benefit claimed has not changed significantly over time, but the mix of
benefits claimed is somewhat different by host country and project type.
There is also evidence to suggest that CDM projects are indeed making a
contribution to sustainable development over and above the mitigation of
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the host country. [9]
Example of CDM project waste sector
Example of CDM project waste sector
Does CMD projects lead to sustainability?
Are CDM projects the pathway to emission reductions?
Negative points of CDM projects
Dirty Trade - The Clean Development Mechanism
(Kevin Smith) video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xG8Hpnagg0
Discussion
- Form groups with 3 participants
- Discuss the statements presented bellow and write short sentences
describing your group point of view in each topic (Do you agree or not
and why)
- Return your group discussion statements in a page containing the
group members name
1- CDM projects promote SUSTAINABLE waste management
solutions
2- CDM projects lead to overall GHGs emissions reductions
3- CDM helps the industrialized countries to export advanced
environmental technologies
References
[1] UNEP – Basel convention: Overview. http://www.basel.int/TheConvention/Overview/tabid/1271/Default.aspx.
[2] Basel convention. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basel_Convention
[3] UNEP – Basel convention at a glance. http://archive.basel.int/convention/bc_glance.pdf
[4] GreenPeace. Where does the e-waste ends up.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/toxics/electronics/the-e-waste-problem/where-does-e-waste-end-up/
[5] Rotter, V. S., 2011. The international dimension of SWM: Clean development mechanism. Solid waste management ,
UNESCO-IHE.
[6] Rotter, V. S. Dewi, o. c. Maaskant, W.. Maarten, A. S., 2009. Reducing GHG emissions in the waste sector – CDM or
recycling? Twelfth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium. Sardinia, Italy.
[7] United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: CDM. http://cdm.unfccc.int/
[8] Maarten, A. S Rotter, V. S. Nabende, A. Gupta, J., 2009. Clean Development Mechanism: A Way to Sustainable Waste
Management in Developing Countries? http://www.iswa.org/uploads/tx_iswaknowledgebase/Siebel.pdf
[9] United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: BENEFITS OF THE CLEAN DEVELOPMENT MECHANISM
2011. http://cdm.unfccc.int/about/dev_ben/pg1.pdf
[10] European Environmental Agency (EEA), 2009. Trans-boundary movement of waste. EEA Report No 1/2009