ASSIGNMENT 8:

REGIME ON HAZARDOUS
WASTE MATERIAL

Daniel Correa
12/9/16
POLS-3313: The International Order
Professor: Dr. Tina Zappile

[Email address]
 Modern day society has become very materialistic and has become dependent on mass
production. Everyday millions of products and chemicals are created in factories and households,
businesses and factories create millions of tons of garbage and waste every day. Hazardous waste
is an issue that has been growing at the local, state and at the international level. This issue is not
only an environmental issue, but also a social/humanitarian issue, an economic issue and a
political issue. It should be recognized that the international community and local governments
have enacted laws to protect people from hazardous waste, however this issue is not about laws,
regulation or conventions, this issue is about the quantity of waste that we as a society produce.
It is because of this reason that I think that the current regime in hazardous waste is only slowing
down the impact on the population, but they do not slow down the amount of waste human
beings are producing, these two areas dont seem to cant catch up with each other and therefore
the regime is not as effective.
The problem of hazardous waste has been a rising issue since the 1940s. This is a
combination of different events through history such as the development of new synthetic and
inorganic chemicals, mass production, a rising global population, a lack of regulations and laws
and the globalization. As for the magnitude and dimensions of the amount of waste that is
produce every year by every country, the figures tend to vary and are skewed. There is not a
definitive number that could represent how much waste is produce, but according to The World
Counts humans create 400 million of tons of hazardous waste each year. It is also important to
understand this issue at all levels of society because hazardous waste material affects every
person in the world, the environment, states and businesses and knowing how each one is
affected is important not only on how to remediate this issue but also how to further prevent this
from happening in the future.
The first step to knowing how this has become a pressing issue is by first defining it and
examine it. First and foremost, The U.N Statistics declares hazardous waste as waste that owing
to its toxic, infectious, radioactive or flammable properties poses an actual or potential hazard to
the health of humans, other living organisms, or the environment (UNStats). It should also be
recognized that the base for all of this products is oil or oil-related and that everything that has
been produce by humans at this point is consider hazardous waste. Every phone, plastic bottle,
computer, liquid cleaner, ships and light bulbs are considering waste hazardous material. These
items are classifying as waste once its usage cycle is over and it has found a place in the garbage,
landfill or in nature. It is then that item them will began to break down by rain, snow, wind. these
processes will weather down the waste and will spread their toxic chemicals around, where they
will find a home polluting the soil, the air and the water. Eventually reaching and affecting the
bodies of people and but also influencing the laws that govern each country.
Lets take a moment and imagine this issue as a leveled pyramid. Each level is designated
by importance and by size of the people who are affected and deal with hazardous waste. On the
first level we find the base of the pyramid, this is represented by the worlds population.
Everybody in the planet is affected by hazardous waste at some degree. People in developed
countries and countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) are not constantly expose to hazardous waste on the daily basis and this group is also
seen as the producers of waste; since much of the waste comes from these nations. When you
move to the least developed countries then the issue intensifies. Once we get to countries located
in Africa, Asia and South America, we see an increase in people being affected by hazardous
waste. Combined, there are millions of people who are affected and are trapped by hazardous
waste. In Africa there is a lack of regulation and enforcement, therefore a lot of electronic waste
or E-waste is dumped into these countries. For example, in Agbogbloshie, Ghana, there a toxic
area is where broken electronics are taken apart and are burned. The people who work are young
men in their teens and their twenties who scavenge for precious parts; such as copper wires,
screens and circuit boards; which they can sell for money to local businesses(Smithsonian.com).
In Asia the problem is also persistent, as hazardous waste affects thousands of communities, an
example of this would Bangladesh, this nation is the top Ship Recycler in the world, with a
deadweight tonnage of 84.8 million of metric tons. The people who work on these ships come
from poor communities that are trying to earn a wager. However, this job carries a heavy price,
as the work environment is toxic and dangerous. There are no safety regulations and the
exposure to chemicals is extensive, these people risk being burned, falling off and harming
themselves and exposing their bodies to dangerous chemicals like lead and gasoline (National
Geographic). Lastly. South America has its own problem with hazardous waste, one such
example is Rio De Janeiro huge landfill issue, their landfill is expanding and is now threatening
to fall into the bay and leaking more contaminants into the water, not only that but people have
been inhaling the dangerous fumes that come from this landfill (The Rio Times).
 The second level is composed of corporations and private businesses that take advantage
of other nations laws and promote illegal dumping. With the expansion of corporations and
globalization making access to other countries easier, we see a rise of corporation using other
countries for their own benefit. Corporation ranging from electronic developers, to oil companies
and chemical factories and medical companies have all taken part in transnational dumping and
illegal acts against the environment. The main reason driving these actors to illegally dump is for
the simple reason that is cheaper to just throw all that waste somewhere else than deal with the
local regulations and prices at home. A study from 1980 revealed that the disposal cost in Africa
ranged between $2.50-50 while the cost was between $100 $2,000 in industrial
countries(nacla). It is clear that everybody that is involved in the private sector knows of this act
and knows how to go around the regulations that are in place. There are also close-door deals
between developed countries and least developed countries to pollute, the only winners are the
people making the deals, while the rest of the population would suffer. A lot of these companies
defend their practice by claiming they are being environmentally conscious, are helping people
in poor countries and that are just participating in global trade. Lastly, recycling has been a major
topic to corporations and companies, as these would seem like a logical way to keep hazardous
waste to a minimum and also be more self-sufficient, but corporations have downplayed this idea
and have opted to minimize cost and not recycle. This is why recycling is at a low worldwide
and the efforts to transition to recycling have failed for the most part.
The third level involves local governments and agencies. Every country has their own
laws and regulations when it comes to hazardous waste management and transportation. In the
United States the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A) is the body that governs regulation
when it comes to hazardous waste management. The E.P.A is an important agency that has
developed a range of tools to make sure that hazardous waste is controlled and managed. One
tool that they have is called the Hazardous Waste Manifest System, which is design to track the
waste from production to the final dumping site. An important law that was passed through
congress was the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976(RCRA), this law is used as a
framework for rules and regulation when it comes to hazardous waste(epa.com). The other
important law that was passed concerning waste management was The Hazardous and Solid
Waste Amendments of 1984 (HSWA)(epa.com), this law in particular dealt with landfill
regulations and landfill locations. Moving to another part of the world, in Asia the nation of
Japan is one of the most interesting countries because it has enacted various strict laws on
hazardous waste and no-hazardous waste management. Japans environmental body is called
Ministry of the Environment. Japan has been passing waste management laws since the early
20th century starting with The Waste Cleaning Act 1900. With mass industrial waste becoming a
bigger problem by the 1990s, Japan passed a few important laws such as The Waste
Management Act, Effective Resource Utilization Promotion Act and most importantly The Basic
Environment Act, which became the base for a lot of the Japanese programs, guidelines and
policies on how to manage waste. (Japans Ministry of the Environment). These two countries
demonstrate what a country can do to take charge of its waste and shows the progress that
governments have taken in order to reduce it. However, these two examples are also developed
countries, so it should be noted that least developed countries wont have consistent and strict
laws when it comes to hazardous waste pollution, due to resources and their own government
interests. There are also a lot of corruption between least developed countries governments and
corporations from O.E.C.D countries, which facilitates the transportation and release of
hazardous waste in least develop countries. Even though least developed countries might have
regulations, their officials will most likely turn away from them and continue to pollute in the
land that their people live in.
For the fourth level we have international bodies that create and promote international
laws and treaties. Such bodies include The United Nations; more specifically the United Nations
Environmental Programme (UNEP); World Trade Organization, European Union and the World
Health Organization. With the rise and threat of hazardous waste in less develop countries and
the amount that is created, these organizations have been able to construct laws that have been
targeted the problem in various areas of society and the private sector. The most recognized and
admired law that has been passed has been The Convention on the Control of Transboundary
Movement of Hazardous Waste and Their Disposal, also known as The Basel Convention. This
law was passed in 1992 and the premise of this law is to not stop the movement of hazardous
waste through boarders, but it does pose limitation as to how it is done and puts restrictions on it.
Nations from Africa and Central America to developed countries in Europe have welcome this
new law and some have even improved this convention, while other countries have implemented
their own laws to enhance specific parts of it. This convention has been one of the many
successes when it comes to the environmental regime and has been one of the most influential
conventions in history. While The Basil Convention is a strong law, a more modern strategy has
been formulated to incorporate this convention and further act on this issue. The Sustainable
Development Goals Agenda of 2030 is a new framework that will tackle various environmental
and social issues, within it there is a section that will be tackling the problem of hazardous waste.
In this agenda Goal 12: Ensure Sustainable Consumption and Production Pattern and targets
12.4 to 12.6 seek to diminish the impact of hazardous waste on people and to make sure that
companies and countries take more responsible with their own hazardous waste (Sustainable
Development Knowledge Platform). The last way that countries have allowed for the easement of
hazardous waste transport is by multilateral treaties, such example has been the North Atlantic
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This treaty is supposed to allow free commerce and promote
economic growth for Canada, Mexico, and the United States. However, there seemed to have
been a loophole in the agreement, where companies and the government abuse it and used it to
transport hazardous waste material from the United States into Mexico. A study found that US-
to-Mexico waste flow increased from 143,800 tonnes in 1995 to 230,865 tonnes in 1999. Which
coincides with the N.A.F.T.A agreement. (iatp.org)
There is one more area that has to be mentioned and that is the actual environment, this
includes all the different areas of land, sea and air that are affected by the act of polluting and the
exposure to hazardous waste. In this case, the environment is not a level, but it is the encasing of
the pyramid, the environment is the outer layer of all of this levels because every action
combined is going to affect the environment and the environment is going to affect the people in
some way. When companies, businesses and countries expose the environment to hazardous
waste, they are adding dangerous chemicals and pollutants that will last for thousands of year,
will be transported and will impact the natural world of that area. Most of the hazardous waste
comes from households, businesses, factories, warehouse and medical facilities. A lot of the
products that are discarded contain a range of chemicals such as mercury, lead, arsenic,
cadmium, formaldehydes, acids and inorganic compounds that are derived from oil. The danger
comes when all of this materials and began to accumulate and react with each other. Once these
various substances accumulate they will begin to get absorbed in the soil, contaminating the area
and the environment all around. If there is a water source such as a river or aquifer underneath it
then it runs the risk of being contaminated as well, which then can affect the people who rely on
said water source. Then there is the issue of air pollution, people who have to live next to these
areas tend to burn the waste without a second though. When these hazardous materials are burn,
they release toxic fumes into the air where humans, animals and plant breath in and cause major
harm to them. Other effects of contaminates sites are the killing of native species of animals and
plants, messing up the reproductive cycle of animals and dead areas where nothing can grow. It
should be noted that cleaning a contaminates site is very expensive and requires years or
remediation to bring that specific area close to normal.
In summary I have looked at the issue of hazardous waste management from every angle;
from the people on the ground who are impacted, to the global organizations that create the
frameworks that deal with this issue. I have looked at the whole regime of hazardous waste that
governs this issue and I found a lot of information about how countries and the international
community have tackle this rising problem. From creating state regulations such as the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) in the United States to The Basel Convention. It is clear
that people at every level want to slowdown the trade of waste, they want to protect the
environment, and try to reduce the amount of waste that society produces. However, reading
through all this data, reading up on each law and reading through all the stories that have
published. I can conclude that the problem of hazardous waste is going to persist for the next 25-
40 years. In every piece of information that I have read, the same alarming comment shows up
and that is that waste has been growing exponentially, with industries producing more and the
consumer buying more, while land space is being reduce and the state of the environment is
worsening. Another important aspect that is to be consider is the worlds population. The worlds
population is projected to further grow in the future; from the current 7.1 Billion to 9.6 Billion by
the year 2050. This is important because that increase in population will create more demand for
products, while at the same time producing more waste which will affect more people in less
developed countries. This is issue is not so much about laws and regulation, but this is more
about consumers and our desire for commodities and expensive gadgets.
I would recommend for a global recycling policy. In first world countries, where most of
the waste comes from, they would have to increase their recycling capabilities and hold their
industries responsible for recycling the materials they produce. However, countries like China,
The United States and other massive wasteful countries would have to have to build more
recycling facilities and create tougher recycling laws that target private businesses, medical
facilities and create a recycling program for individuals to follow. Landfills and other waste
areas would also be updated and would be regulated more heavily to prevent the leeching of
pollutants into the environment. As for less developing countries I would suggest that there
should recycling projects, where developed nations fund and built recycling facilities so people
can work in these areas with the latest safety regulation and a better environment.
My second policy recommendation would be to look into more biodegradable options.
This means looking into biodegradable plastics, eco-friendly chemicals and to produce less
product that are oil base. Make products that will degrade quickly once its life cycle ends, but
also at the same time to not pollute or emit any harmful chemicals into the environment.
Industries should invest in more sustainable technology that create eco-friendly products. Give
the consumer a variety of range with products and be able to move away from oil base products.
 Work Cited

1. http://www.iatp.org/news/despite-naftas-green-promises-hazardous-waste-problems-are-
deepening-in-mexico

2. http://www.unep.org/chemicalsandwaste/Mainstreaming/VisionRationaleandPurposeforMainst
reaming/tabid/1060034/Default.asp

3. http://archive.ban.org/library/lipman.html

4. https://www.epa.gov/hwgenerators/international-agreements-transboundary-shipments-
hazardous-waste

5. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/environment/hazardous.htm

6. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/burning-truth-behind-e-waste-dump-africa-
180957597/

7. http://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/rio-politics/garbage-outgrowing-rio%E2%80%99s-
landfill/

8. https://www.env.go.jp/en/recycle/smcs/attach/hcswm.pdf

9. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg12