Economic and Social Council

 Distr. GENERAL
21 April 1994
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH

COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Second session
16-27 May 1994
Item 6 (b) of the provisional agenda*


               REVIEW OF SECTORAL CLUSTERS, FIRST PHASE:  TOXIC
                        CHEMICALS AND HAZARDOUS WASTES

                               Hazardous wastes

                        Report of the Secretary-General

______________________

    *    E/CN.17/1994/1.

                                   CONTENTS

                                                     Paragraphs

INTRODUCTION ...............................................1 - 2

I.  GENERAL OVERVIEW .....................................3 - 16

II.  REVIEW OF THE PROGRESS ACHIEVED IN PROGRAMME AREAS OF
    CHAPTER 20 OF AGENDA 21 ..............................17 - 79

    A.  International cooperation ........................17 - 50

       1.  Programme area A:  promoting the prevention

           and minimization of hazardous waste ..........20 - 33

       2.  Programme area B:  promoting and strengthening
           institutional capacities in hazardous waste
           management ...................................34 - 41

       3.  Programme area C:  promoting and strengthening
           international cooperation in the management of
           transboundary movements of hazardous wastes ..42 - 47

       4.  Programme area D:  preventing illegal
           international traffic in hazardous wastes ....48 - 50

    B.  Some country experiences .........................51 - 62

    C.  Technology and finance ...........................63 - 79

       1.  Technology ...................................63 - 69

       2.  Finance ......................................70 - 79

III. CONCLUSIONS AND PROPOSALS FOR ACTION .................80 -
93

    A.  Conclusions ......................................80 - 89

    B.  Proposals for action .............................90 - 93

                                   BOXES

1.  United Nations publications relevant to hazardous wastes

2.  Main meetings or workshops held by United Nations
organizations since the United Nations Conference on Environment
and Development

3.  Three examples of economic benefits from cleaner production

4.  One new way to clean up hazardous wastes

5.  A successful partnership

6.  Funding through and of the secretariat of the Basel
Convention (SBC)

                                 INTRODUCTION

1.  In its decision 1993/314 of 29 July 1993, the Economic and
Social Council approved the provisional agenda for the second
session of the Commission on Sustainable Development which in its
item 6 provided for a review of sectoral clusters, first phase,
including toxic chemicals and hazardous wastes (item 6 (b)).

2.  The Secretary-General was requested, by the Commission at its
first session, to prepare thematic reports, such as the present
one, corresponding to the sectoral clusters of Agenda 21 1/ to be
included on the agendas of forthcoming sessions of the
Commission.  The Commission requested that the Secretary-General
include in such thematic reports information, inter alia, on the
main activities that countries were undertaking or planning. 2/ 
In order to give the United Nations Secretariat sufficient time
for the analysis of information received, the Commission
encouraged Governments to submit their information not less than
six months prior to the Commission's sessions. 3/  Unfortunately
the Secretariat had received only a few national reports at the
time of the preparation of this report.  The report was therefore
based mostly on available information within the United Nations
system.

                             I.  GENERAL OVERVIEW

3.  Economic growth is accompanied by the production of wastes
which are often hazardous to health and the environment. 
Generation of wastes occurs at all stages of production,
transportation, transformation, distribution and consumption of
goods and services.  Responsibility for their disposal is often
unclear.  Their direct and indirect costs are not reflected in
competitive prices set by free markets.  Such costs are often
borne by society in general at the local, national and
international levels unless legislation based on the "polluter
pays" principle provides otherwise.

4.  Widespread attention to the problem of wastes has increased
considerably in the developed countries at first especially with
regard to industrial wastes.  More recently concerns have also
focused on hazardous wastes from agriculture, households and
hospitals and a variety of service industries.

5.  The adverse health and environmental impacts of hazardous
wastes have led to a variety of conflicts between wastes
generators and local communities. Such conflicts have extended to
distant communities when the transport and disposal of hazardous
wastes have involved dumping sites far away from their source. 
Similarly, transboundary movements have given rise to
international conflicts.

6.  Because of disparities in power structures within and among
nation States, there is an inherent tendency to transfer the
burden of hazardous wastes disposal from the rich to the poor
either legally through agreements and payments of fees or
illegally.  That tendency is further strengthened by the
magnitude of the costs of the treatment and/or disposal of
hazardous wastes at their source and by the absence and/or
prohibition of any disposal sites.

7.  Many dump sites of hazardous wastes in the developed
countries have been identified.  They are now also being
increasingly identified in developing countries and countries in
transition.  Their adverse impacts on health and the environment,
involving soil and water contamination, have been established. 
Despite considerable technological progress of clean-up
technologies, overall costs are invariably described as enormous.

8.  The above pertains to the civilian sectors of national
economies.  In recent years political developments associated
with the end of the cold war and widespread openness have
revealed massive problems with military establishments both in
the developed countries, and in those of Central and Eastern
Europe, as well as in the successor States of the former Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics, especially with regard to
biochemical, radioactive and hazardous wastes.

9.  Despite the magnitude of the problem of hazardous wastes,
only a limited number of countries have adopted appropriate
legislation and regulations. Where such measures have been
adopted, their effective implementation has not been altogether
satisfactory.  Less than half of the member countries of the
United Nations have ratified the Basel Convention on the Control
of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their
Disposal.  Related protocols such as the protocol on liability
and compensation are at the formulation stage.  Similarly, only
five countries have ratified the Bamako Convention on the Ban on
the Import into Africa and the Control of Transboundary Movement
of Hazardous Wastes within Africa.

10. Even though an increasing number of countries are
establishing hazardous wastes treatment facilities, capacities in
place in many countries are not sufficient to respond to current
needs.  Off-site recycling is widely used for waste minimization.

11. Ill-defined and ill-specified export of wastes apparently
destined for recovery open the door to illegal traffic.  Various
reports emphasize the magnitude and seriousness of this problem. 
According to a recent report, the newly porous borders of the
former Eastern bloc and developing countries have helped spur an
often ugly world trading market in environmental waste.
Economists, traders and multinational corporations see waste as
an emerging global resource because it has value and can often be
traded like a commodity.  Indeed, businesses involved with the
most fungible wastes such as paper, plastics and glass are
already planning for formal commodity futures exchanges, similar
to those that exist for oil, metals and agricultural products. 
The sums involved are enormous.  The global waste management
market in 1991 was worth more than $90 billion, about half of the
value of world trade in metals and ores.  Some forecasts estimate
that waste management including hazardous wastes as a global
business will be worth $500 billion or more by the year 2000.

12. Waste dumping cases in the newly opened countries of Eastern
Europe and the former Soviet Union have run into the thousands
over the last two years alone.  Toxic chemicals and chemical
wastes from Germany have turned up in Romania and Ukraine. 
Hazardous wastes have been found dumped in Albania, the Russian
Federation, the Baltic republics, the Czech Republic, Hungary and
Bulgaria.

13. The motive for such dumping stems from the rising cost of
proper wastes disposal.  Under American and European
environmental laws, the cost of disposing of hazardous industrial
and mining waste can reach as high as several thousand dollars
per ton.  Shipping such material abroad is often much cheaper. 
Furthermore, because of regulatory and political objections as
well as public opinion in the developed countries, even waste
incinerators and landfills boasting state-of-the-art technologies
that reduce pollution to minuscule amounts compared with years
past none the less take decades to build.

14. In the meantime, waste traders, seeing large-scale
opportunities, propose to construct huge incinerators in poorer
countries to which the traders would then ship large amounts of
industrial wastes from the developed countries for burning. 
Traders promise to finance construction entirely with their own
money and sometimes to provide cheap electricity generated from
the waste fires as a bonus. 4/  These circumstances have already
led to the adoption of a decision, at the recent second meeting
of the Conference of Parties to the Basel Convention, to ban the
transboundary movement of hazardous wastes completely (see para.
43).

15.  Despite an increase in awareness of the need to adopt a
preventive approach through cleaner production in order to
achieve waste minimization, and more broadly, pollution
prevention, efficient widespread use of cleaner technologies is
inhibited by many factors, including inadequate government
policies, limited capital for major investments and insufficient
dissemination of information on commercially available forms of
those technologies.

16. Similarly, very few countries have developed appropriate
economic instruments and institutional arrangements for the
implementation of hazardous wastes policies that could provide
the necessary incentives to industry and consumers for a
significant shift to cleaner processes and products.

      II.   REVIEW OF THE PROGRESS ACHIEVED IN PROGRAMME AREAS OF
            CHAPTER 20 OF AGENDA 21

                         A.  International cooperation

17. In chapter 20 of Agenda 21, entitled "Promoting the
prevention and minimization of hazardous wastes", the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development specified the
following overall targets:

   (a) Preventing or minimizing the generation of hazardous
wastes as part of an overall integrated cleaner production
approach; eliminating or reducing to a minimum transboundary
movements of hazardous wastes, consistent with the
environmentally sound and efficient management of those wastes;
and ensuring that environmentally sound hazardous waste
management options were pursued to the maximum extent possible
within the country of origin (the self-sufficiency principle). 
The transboundary movements that took place should be on
environmental and economic grounds and based upon agreements
between the States concerned;

   (b) Ratification of the Basel Convention on the Control of
Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal
and the expeditious elaboration of related protocols, such as the
protocol on liability and compensation, mechanisms and guidelines
to facilitate the implementation of the Basel Convention;

   (c) Ratification and full implementation by the countries
concerned of the Bamako Convention on the Ban on the Import into
Africa and the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous
Wastes within Africa and the expeditious elaboration of a
protocol on liability and compensation;

   (d) Elimination of the export of hazardous wastes to countries
that, individually or through international agreements,
prohibited the import of such wastes, such as the contracting
parties to the Bamako Convention, the fourth Lome Convention or
other relevant conventions, where such prohibition was provided
for.

18. In this context, the United Nations Conference on Environment
and Development identified four programme areas for action at the
national and international levels, namely, (a) promoting the
prevention and minimization of hazardous wastes, (b) promoting
and strengthening institutional capacities in hazardous waste
management, (c) promoting and strengthening international
cooperation in the management of transboundary movements of
hazardous wastes, and (d) preventing illegal international
traffic in hazardous wastes.

19. Unfortunately only a small number of reports have been
submitted by Governments on progress made in the implementation
of the programmes in chapter 20 of Agenda 21.  However, the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), as task manager,
submitted a comprehensive report on the activities of the United
Nations system.  Consequently, the main part of this section
concentrates on United Nations activities in each programme area
followed by a description of a few country experiences based on
information available to the United Nations Secretariat at the
time of the preparation of this report. A considered assessment
of progress made can be attempted only as and when much more
information is submitted on country experiences.

      1.    Programme area A:  promoting the prevention and
            minimization of hazardous waste

20. The objectives of this programme area are to reduce the
generation of hazardous wastes as part of an integrated cleaner
production approach, to optimize the use of materials by
recycling and to enhance knowledge and information on the
economics of prevention and management of hazardous wastes.

21. The full implementation of this programme area lies primarily
with industry and other hazardous waste generators, while
Governments provide an enabling environment through their
regulations and incentives for the prevention and minimization of
hazardous wastes.

22. An increasing number of industries have started to implement
cleaner production or pollution prevention and recycling
programmes, through better management practices, changes in the
raw materials used and improved production processes.   An
increasing number of industry associations have adopted codes of
conduct or of practice, such as the International Chamber of
Commerce (ICC) Business Charter for Sustainable Development and
the chemical industry's "responsible care", which includes
specific references to pollution prevention and waste
minimization.

23. Governments, mainly in developed countries, are beginning to
adopt regulatory approaches promoting cleaner production and
recycling, for example, through the establishment of clean
environmental performance targets with flexibility regarding the
means to meet those targets, and of reporting requirements for
pollution and waste emissions.

24. However, many obstacles remain with respect to reaching the
objectives of this programme.  Countries undergoing rapid
industrialization lack the regulatory framework and the
subsequent enforcement systems that would compel industry to use
cleaner production.  Most developing countries lack capital for
major cleaner production investments, even though they would have
a good return on those investments.  Industry in many countries,
in particular small- and medium-sized enterprises, lacks the
awareness, access to information, and expertise to implement
cleaner production.

25. The United Nations system has oriented its activities towards
promoting cleaner production and waste minimization as an
effective way to solve hazardous waste problems.

26. UNEP has developed a comprehensive cleaner production
programme in close cooperation with, in particular, the United
Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the
International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Organisation
for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).  In order to
promote environmental management systems in industry, UNEP and
UNIDO jointly published waste and emission auditing procedures in
1992, which are used in their training activities.  Documents,
presentations at international seminars and videos are just a few
of the instruments used by the United Nations system to increase
awareness on cleaner production and corresponding management
tools, reporting and life-cycle analysis (see boxes 1 and 2).
UNEP and ICC have set up an international advisory panel of top
industry managers and government officials and non-governmental
organizations to review progress in the implementation of the
Business Charter for Sustainable Development.

27.  UNEP and UNIDO have organized a number of training
activities to support countries in building technical
capabilities in cleaner production methods. UNEP and UNIDO  are
also  working jointly on an initiative to establish a number of
national cleaner production centres (NCPC) in developing
countries. Those centres would play a coordinating and catalytic
role in initiating cleaner production by giving technical
information and advice, demonstrations of cleaner production
techniques and technologies, and training of industry and
government professionals in industrial environmental management. 
If funding becomes available, the first phase of this initiative
will involve the establishment of seven centres during the period
1994-1996.

Box 1.  United Nations publications relevant to hazardous wastes

Reports

      Audit and reduction manual for industrial emissions and
      wastes (English,

      French, Chinese, Spanish), 1993, United Nations Environment  
          Programme/United Nations Industrial Development
      Organization (UNEP/UNIDO)

      Training manual on policies and strategies for hazardous
      waste (English,

      French, Spanish), 1993, UNEP with the Economic Commission
      for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)

      Training manual on landfill of hazardous industrial wastes
      1993, UNEP

      Cleaner production worldwide, 1993, UNEP

      Assessment of sources of air, water and land pollution, two
      volumes, 1993, the World Health Organization (WHO)

      Managing medical waste in developing countries, 1994, WHO

      Framework on the preparation of technical guidelines for the
      environmentally sound management of wastes subject to the
      Basel Convention; technical guidelines on hazardous waste
      from the production and use of organic solvents (Y6);
      technical guidelines on hazardous waste:  waste oils from
      petroleum origins and sources (Y8); technical guidelines on
      wastes comprising or containing polychlorinated biphenyls
      (PCBs), polychlorinated terphenyls (PCTs) and polybrominated
      biphenyls (PBBs) (Y10); technical guidelines on wastes
      collected from households (Y46) (English, French, Spanish)
      adopted provisionally by the first meeting of the Conference
      of the Parties to the Basel Convention.

Periodicals

      Cleaner Production Newsletter, UNEP, biannual

      EnTA Environmental Technology Assessment, newsletter, UNEP,
      biannual

      Managing Hazardous Wastes, newsletter (2 issues in 1992, 1
      issue in 1993)

      Box 2.      Main meetings or workshops held by United Nations
                  organizations since the United Nations Conference
                  on Environment and Development

International

    First meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel
    Convention, Uruguay, 1992

    UNEP ministerial meeting and senior-level seminar on cleaner
    production, France, 1992

    Various meetings in the framework of the Basel Convention

Regional

    UNEP workshop on landfill of hazardous waste, Jordan, 1992

    International Labour Organization (ILO)/UNEP/WHO "train the
    trainer" workshop on environmental management in industry,
    Mauritius, 1993

    Secretariat of the Basel Convention (SBC)/ECLAC workshop on
    hazardous waste management, Santiago, Chile, 1993

    UN/Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) workshop on low and
    non-waste technologies, Warsaw, Poland, 1993

    UNEP/WHO regional workshop on medical waste management,
    Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 1994

    WHO/UNDP workshop on safe management of hazardous waste,
    Quezon City, Philippines, 1993

National

    Various workshops involving UNEP, UNIDO, ILO, on cleaner
    production, including waste minimization, held in India
    (chemical industry, textile, tanneries), Thailand (textile,
    metal finishing), China (various industry sectors), United

28. Site-specific demonstration activities to assess benefits and
difficulties in implementing cleaner production have also been
carried out, for example, in China jointly by UNEP and the World
Bank; in Egypt, Senegal, and Zimbabwe by UNEP with the support of
ICC and the Netherlands; and in Egypt and India by UNIDO (see box
3).  UNEP together with the United Nations, the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and other
international and national organizations have launched the
Environmental Technology Assessment (EnTA) activity as a tool to
support the development and application of environmentally sound
technology.

      Box 3.      Three examples of economic benefits from cleaner
                  production

     During the first phase of the UNEP/World Bank project, 67
low- and no-cost options implemented in seven plants for US$
16,500 saved US$ 350,000 and reduced pollution load by more than
50 per cent.

     As reported in Cleaner Production Worldwide, published by
UNEP and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland:

     (a)  An investment of US$ 180,000 in a metal-processing
factory in Singapore brought a yearly saving of US$ 87,000, while
reducing air emissions, and cyanide wastes, and improving the
working environment;

     (b)  A textile plant in India stopped using highly polluting
sodium sulphide in the dyeing process and substituted hydrol,
which was a waste stream from the maize starch industry.  This
change required no capital expenditure, but brought an annual
saving of US$ 3,000.  The maize starch industry also benefited
from this arrangement.

29. UNEP's report entitled "From regulation to industrial
compliance" and associated training material and activities
promote the integration of cleaner production approaches into the
developing enforcement systems. Similarly, the secretariat of the
Basel Convention (SBC) has disseminated draft model legislation
on hazardous wastes which include elements of waste prevention
and minimization.

30. Cost-benefit aspects of cleaner production are dealt with in
the UNEP/UNIDO Waste Audit and Reduction Manual and in UNEP's
International Cleaner Production Information Clearinghouse
(ICPIC).  ICPIC is expanding to include a database that features
cleaner production case-studies (including costs-benefit
elements), abstracts of cleaner production publications,
information on events related to cleaner production and a message
centre. The information is collected by international industry
sector working groups on leather, textiles, metal finishing,
mining, pulp and paper, cleaner products and biotechnologies, and
by the countries themselves.  A diskette version will soon be
available to facilitate access to that information. This database
is available for use by other United Nations organizations.  It
also supplements other organizations' databases, such as UNIDO's
Industrial and Technological Information Bank (INTIB) and more
specifically its Energy and Environment Information Systems
(EEIS), aimed at providing information on environment issues to
developing countries.

31. The monitoring of the hazardous waste situation, including
waste minimization initiatives, is currently being carried out
through the inter-agency Global Waste Survey and database
coordinated by IMO in collaboration with UNEP, SBC, the World
Health Organization (WHO), UNIDO, UNDP, the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Bank, the
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
and the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE).  Over 100 countries
participated in this survey.  The results of phase one of the
survey are available from IMO.  It gives an overview of the
hazardous waste management situation in countries, but does not
in fact contain detailed data or statistics on waste generation. 
The survey will be completed in late 1994 by which time the
feasibility phase of the database will be transferred to UNEP
(probably SBC) for updating, maintenance and wider inter-agency
usage.

32. Reporting obligations for Parties under the Basel Convention
include information on the development of technologies for the
reduction of hazardous wastes.  To date over 30 countries have
prepared such reports.  Strategy guidelines prepared by SBC in
1993 under the Basel Convention coordinate national activities. 
Coordination and monitoring of cleaner production activities are
executed through biannual high-level meetings of government
representatives, industry, and industrial organizations, who
review the progress of the cleaner production programme.  In this
connection, in 1992 a ministerial and senior-level meeting was
held and another one is planned for 1994.  OECD and SBC have a
memorandum of understanding confirming cooperation in data and
information exchange relating to the implementation of the Basel
Convention.

33. Results of research and development in cleaner production
technologies are disseminated by the United Nations system during
regular, ongoing meetings with Governments and industry.  UNEP's
technical guides and the World Bank/UNIDO/ UNEP industry
guidelines are used by United Nations system project managers. 
UNEP also promotes the development and use of environmental
technology assessments and more research and development on
life-cycle assessment.  An international expert seminar on
life-cycle assessment was held in the Netherlands and the results
have been widely disseminated.

      2.    Programme area B:  promoting and strengthening
            institutional capacities in hazardous waste management

34. The objectives of this programme area are to adopt
appropriate coordinating, legislative and regulatory measures at
the national level for the environmentally sound management of
hazardous wastes, including the implementation of international
and regional conventions; establish public awareness and
information programmes on hazardous waste issues and to ensure
that basic education and training programmes are provided for
industry and government workers in all countries; establish
comprehensive research programmes on hazardous wastes in
countries; strengthen service industries to enable them to handle
hazardous wastes, and to build up international networking;
develop endogenous capacities in all developing countries to
educate and train staff at all levels in environmentally sound
hazardous waste handling and monitoring and in environmentally
sound management; promote human exposure assessment with respect
to hazardous waste sites and identify the remedial measures
required; facilitate the assessment of impacts and risks of
hazardous wastes on human health and the environment by
establishing appropriate procedures, methodologies, criteria
and/or effluent-related guidelines and standards; improve
knowledge regarding the effects of hazardous wastes on human
health and the environment; and make information available to
Governments and to the general public on the effects of hazardous
wastes, including infectious wastes, on human health and the
environment.

35. There is world-wide awareness, catalysed by UNEP and SBC in
cooperation with agencies, on hazardous waste issues and policies
to address them. Regulations, mainly in developed countries, have
been adopted to secure adequate treatment of hazardous waste. 
Treatment facilities, either on site or collective, are starting
in developing countries.

36. However the situation is far from satisfactory.  There is a
lack of health surveys and epidemiological studies of the health
impacts of hazardous waste mismanagement, as well as a lack of
health impact assessments of existing hazardous waste treatment
or disposal facilities.  Enforcement of regulations, when they
exist, is often insufficient.  There is a lack of institutional
capabilities in government to address this issue.  Small- and
medium-sized enterprises do not have the awareness or the
possibility to develop their own treatment facilities.  The
capacity of adequate treatment facilities is insufficient to
respond to current needs.  As a result, uncontrolled disposal of
wastes on land increasingly leads to soil contamination, which
threatens surface and underground waters.

37. Examples of United Nations assistance to Governments that
allow them to measure the extent of national hazardous waste
problems include the Global Waste Survey, coordinated by IMO with
the cooperation of SBC and UNEP, which will  produce national
waste inventories and inventories of disposal facilities.  This
Survey has provided national Governments with waste data-
collection questionnaire forms to assist national investigations.

38. Training activities cover an array of aspects of waste
management and involve several United Nations entities.  Between
1987 and 1993, regional workshops on hazardous waste management
policies treatment, disposal and minimization, organized by UNEP,
were attended by 280 nationals from 85 countries.  During 1993,
several workshops were held by UNEP and SBC in the Latin American
and Caribbean region, and the Asia and Pacific region on the
implementation of the Basel Convention, and further work will be
done with financial assistance from the European Union (EU). 
International training courses have also been held at national
centres in Germany, Sweden and Thailand.  WHO's Global
Environmental Technology Network (GETNET) has training activities
focused on occupational health assessments and control
procedures.  GETNET is also used as the infrastructure for an
inter-agency collaboration between UNEP, WHO and ILO on
"train-the-trainers" capacity- building with a focus on Africa.

39.  Other aspects of this programme involve the establishment of
regulatory frameworks and the dissemination of technical
guidelines, exemplified by several International Labour
Organization (ILO) conventions and its Recommendation concerning
Safety in the Use of Chemicals at Work, as well as the
dissemination of technical guidelines on the handling of specific
waste types and wastes destined for recovery operations, the
handling of hospital waste especially in developing countries,
and the identification and remediation of contaminated sites. 
Within the United Nations system much of this work is produced by
SBC, UNEP and WHO.

40. United Nations activities in the dissemination of health
information, establishment of national health databases, and
information on disposal operators include collection and
dissemination, by UNEP as well as WHO and ILO together through
the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), of
information on health aspects of chemicals and wastes as well as
UNEP's technical publication on hazard identification in a local
community, also applicable to waste disposal facilities.  SBC
also collects information, provided by Parties to the Basel
Convention, on human health effects and disposal operations in
addition to a current list of national authorities and focal
points designated by Governments.  UNEP publishes a directory of
information sources on hazardous wastes, listing relevant
national institutions nominated by national focal points,
including a bibliography of important references.

41. With regard to hazardous waste treatment technologies, the
United Nations system publishes information such as the World
Bank/UNEP/WHO manual and the technical guidelines on waste
treatment and disposal techniques (published by UNEP and SBC). 
The International Register of Potentially Toxic Chemicals (IRPTC)
database also includes disposal methods for waste chemicals.  The
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) has a programme on marine monitoring of chemical
parameters commonly found in some industrial wastes, and sponsors
symposia and training as well as on geochemical aspects of waste
disposal and groundwater protection.

      3.    Programme area C:  promoting and strengthening
            international cooperation in the management of
            transboundary movements of hazardous wastes

42. The objectives of this programme area are to:  facilitate and
strengthen international cooperation in the environmentally sound
management of hazardous wastes, including control and monitoring
of transboundary movements of such wastes, including wastes for
recovery, by using internationally adopted criteria to identify
and classify hazardous wastes and to harmonize relevant
international legal instruments; adopt a ban on or prohibit, as
appropriate, the export of hazardous wastes to countries that do
not have the capacity to deal with those wastes in an
environmentally sound way or that have banned the import of such
wastes; and promote the development of control procedures for the
transboundary movement of hazardous wastes destined for recovery
operations under the Basel Convention that encourage
environmentally and economically sound recycling options.

43. Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, a number of steps have been taken by the
international community towards implementing the objectives of
this programme area.  Notable achievements were the adoption, in
1992, of the waste nomenclature of the Basel Convention, and the
adoption in 1992 by OECD countries of a decision concerning the
control of transfrontier movements of wastes destined for
recovery operations (including to non-OECD countries), which
should shortly be effectively implemented by the European Union. 
At its second meeting, held from 21 to 25 March 1994, the
Conference of Parties to the Basel Convention on the Control of
Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal
adopted the following decision:

   (a) To prohibit immediately all transboundary movements of
hazardous wastes that were destined for final disposal from OECD
to non-OECD States;

   (b) To phase out by 31 December 1997, and prohibit as of that
date, all transboundary movements of hazardous wastes that were
destined for recycling or recovery operations from OECD to
non-OECD States.

44. Activities by the international community in the area of
strengthening and harmonizing criteria and regulations on waste
and the implementing of existing agreements have included as
regards the Basel Convention the production of manuals to
facilitate its implementation.  Cooperation between OECD, the
European Commission (EC) and the Basel Convention secretariat has
established  notification and movement forms to satisfy
simultaneously several international agreements on movement
control, namely EC Regulation 259/93, OECD Council Decision
C(92)39/FINAL and the Final Act (21 March 1989) of the Basel
Convention.  SBC and OECD are also cooperating closely on
harmonizing aspects of the criteria for the definition of
hazardous characteristics, inclusion of a number of wastes
subject to the Basel Convention in the Harmonized System of the
Customs Cooperation Council, and the formats of the notification
and movement documents of the Basel Convention with that of the
draft notification and tracking forms used and prepared by OECD.

45. Other OECD activities include review of testing procedures to
characterize wastes, collection of data on transfrontier movement
of hazardous waste, and the development of control systems for
such movements when destined for recovery operations.

46. SBC assists developing countries in the implementation of the
Convention through technical and legal advice, often through the
provision of model legislation and training, and also through
assistance in the prevention and management of hazardous wastes
in the case of illegal traffic.

47. Model national legislation including an institutional
framework has been prepared by SBC and provided to countries in
order for them to deal adequately with transfrontier movement of
waste.  Training activities undertaken by UNEP and SBC contain an
element dealing with transfrontier movement of wastes.

      4.    Programme area D:  preventing illegal international
            traffic in hazardous wastes

48. The objectives of this programme area are to:  reinforce
national capacities to detect and halt any illegal attempt to
introduce hazardous wastes into the territory of any State in
contravention of national legislation and relevant international
legal instruments; assist all countries, particularly developing
countries, in obtaining all appropriate information concerning
illegal traffic in hazardous wastes; and cooperate, within the
framework of the Basel Convention, in assisting countries that
suffer the consequences of illegal traffic.

49. Despite Conventions, recommendations and agreements in this
area there is increasing evidence that ill-defined and/or
ill-specified import and export of hazardous wastes destined for
recovery can open the door to the illegal traffic of such wastes
as indicated in section I of this report.  The recent decision of
the Conference of Parties to the Basel Convention is an important
step towards closing this door (see para. 43).

50. The United Nations system has concentrated its efforts in
this programme area on training, information, and monitoring.  
Guidance documents on hazardous waste legislation and enforcement
are published by UNEP and SBC, backed up by country-specific
assistance in some cases.  Joint programmes between UNEP and
ESCAP have been set up as regards monitoring and reporting on
illegal traffic in hazardous wastes in the Asia and Pacific
region, but funding is sought for similar programmes in other
regions.  SBC is establishing a reporting system on illegal
traffic as required by the Convention, while OECD has one already
on legal traffic.

                         B.  Some country experiences

51. In developing countries there is often a lack of institutions
and infrastructures for dealing with hazardous wastes. 
Industries often go uncontrolled as to their toxic releases or
waste disposal and there is little capacity to reuse or recycle
wastes.  Personnel is often untrained at both the industry and
the government level for safe handling of wastes.

52. Legislation regarding waste management is gradually being
introduced or updated in some countries.  Screening of disposal,
utilization or processing of wastes of foreign origin has been
initiated in some cases.  Recently, a proposal for generating
electricity from polychlorinated biphenyl wastes from Japan was
turned down in Myanmar.  Capacity-building, training, regional
and international cooperation and information exchange along with
a strong coordinating body at the national level seem to have
been common primary requirements by developing countries.

53. In developing countries undergoing rapid industrialization ,
hazardous waste management is one of the most challenging
environmental concerns. Legislation as regards hazardous waste
seems to be in place, and in some cases implementation of the
Basel Convention and prior-informal-consent (PIC) is under way as
well.  In Malaysia, regulations dedicated to hazardous waste
control have been in force since 1989 based on the
cradle-to-grave concept. In the Republic of Korea, 38 per cent of
hazardous waste is treated by the generator of that waste, while
the rest is treated by private or public waste management
companies licensed by the Government.  In Tunisia, however,
hazardous waste in many cases is just stored untreated at the
site of generation or disposed of at municipal disposal sites. 
In other developing countries there is increasing concern as to
the management of non-industrial hazardous waste, especially
hospital waste.

54. In countries such as Myanmar, priority focus has been
initiated in its petroleum industry because of the need to
address the particular hazardous and toxic characteristics of the
necessary chemicals, catalysts and additives.  A similar strategy
is being followed in Sri Lanka where industries generating
particularly large quantities of hazardous wastes are being
monitored by the Central Environmental Authority as to their
compliance with domestic standards and plans are under way to
relocate some industries such as tanneries to a common site
having a central waste treatment plant. In Malaysia, working
groups have been formed to address the issue of the generating of
hazardous waste by particular industries such as petroleum,
asbestos, paints and electroplating.

55. Several developing countries emphasized a need for more
information on innovative recycling, incineration and treatment
technologies and methods because of the growing realization by
concerned authorities of the grave threat of hazardous wastes to
human health and the environment.

56. In general, newly industrialized developing countries have
started to take steps to establish appropriate legislation,
regulation and institutional structures in order to encourage
cleaner production technologies, especially for new investments. 
Yet even these countries report on the need for improved measures
for the transfer of appropriate technologies.  Other developing
countries emphasize the need for international assistance in all
aspects of hazardous wastes management, especially in training
and information exchange.

57. In the economies in transition management of hazardous wastes
seems to be particularly problematic.  In Hungary about 5 million
tons of hazardous wastes are generated per year, of which 60 per
cent is "red mud" from aluminium smelting.  Half of  the
aluminium smelting waste is stored untreated at disposal sites or
in transitional facilities.  Waste management programmes planned
during the mid-1980s for a network of regional hazardous waste
landfills and incinerators failed to be completed because of
financial constraints associated with the collapse of previous
political and economic regimes, and only half of the planned
installations are now in operation. Appropriate governmental
regulations seem to be in place as regards both handling and
import/export, and in some case these are harmonized with the
Basel Convention, PIC and EU.  However lack of resources hinders
implementation.  International and regional cooperation in this
area is of increasing importance.  Strategies for hazardous
wastes management have been developed, for example, by Poland and
Hungary Action on Reconstruction of Economies (PHARE).  In
Estonia, fairly recent legislation regulates waste management,
and it is, to the extent possible, in line with international
conventions and agreements.  Enforcement is constrained by lack
of specialized treatment facilities, lack of knowledge and
trained personnel and other fundamental problems related to land
and property reforms and the contamination of former military
sites.

58. In some Western European countries such as the Netherlands
and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,
there is active involvement in the formulation of EU policies and
directives as regards the management and prevention of hazardous
wastes.  More countries are also considering stricter regulations
in the export of wastes for recycling, where this is still
permitted by the Basel Convention.  Countries involved in the
North Sea Ministers' Conference are introducing limitations to
releases of hazardous substances into the North Sea.  In the
United Kingdom it has been estimated that some 100,000-200,000
hectares of land are contaminated by industrial processes, and
there is now a review of the liability, as well as the scientific
and technological issues, involved in land restoration.  The
Government of the United Kingdom is also involved in formulating
policies to reduce agricultural waste and the use of pesticides. 
In that country, major industrial processes are required by law
to employ the best practicable environmental option under
integrated pollution control.  The United Kingdom is of the same
opinion as many other industrial countries that cleaner
production methods are much more efficient as a pollution
prevention approach than end-of-pipe solutions, often resulting
in less waste as well.  The United Kingdom takes care of its own
wastes and is reducing imports from other developed countries. 
Waste destined for recovery, mostly among OECD countries, can be
a valuable alternative to the use of raw materials and the United
Kingdom would like to see such shipments continue provided that
the waste is handled responsibly and in an environmentally sound
manner.

59. In the United States of America, the principal federal laws
regulating hazardous wastes are the Resources Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as the
Superfund Act.  The former is a nationwide programme designed to
protect human health and the environment from the risks of
improper management of hazardous and solid wastes, providing a
cradle-to- grave system of regulations administered by state
governments with federal supervision.  The latter, which is not
delegated to state level, was designed to prompt clean-up of
sites and other areas where past disposal posed a threat to the
environment and human health.  The United States is currently
developing legislation necessary for the ratification of the
Basel Convention.  The United States has numerous programmes
addressing all aspects of hazardous waste management and
minimization.  Waste minimization's being of the highest priority
has led the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue
guidelines for waste reduction programmes requiring generators to
make their waste reduction programmes available to the public, to
develop strategies to strengthen technical control over
incinerators and increase public participation in the permitting
process, and to evaluate existing regulation with a view to
seeing its effect on recycling efforts.  Activities related to
innovative technology development are under the purview of
several federal agencies.  For example, EPA has the Technology
Innovation Office and the Superfund Innovative Technology
Evaluation Programme.

60. Twenty years of attempting to regulate hazardous wastes in
the United States has led to a realization of the critical
importance of preventing pollution rather than controlling the
impact of those wastes on the environment.  Wastes will always
have to be regulated but programmes reducing their creation at
the source have tended to be more effective both as regards the
environment and economics.  The United States has also found that
public participation in decision-making processes involving the
management of hazardous and solid wastes solves many of the
difficult issues that are involved.  The United States has had
widely reported difficulties with its Superfund.  The cost and
pace of clean-up activities have been larger and slower than
anticipated.  This programme has also resulted in very large so-
called transaction costs, basically involving legal fees.  The
Government has carried out an evaluation of the Superfund in
anticipation of its reauthorization in 1994, with the goals of
enhancing enforcement fairness, reducing transaction costs, and
enhancing clean-up effectiveness and consistency, public
involvement and the role of the States.

61. Canada has also embraced a similar policy direction to that
of the United States, namely one of prevention rather than cure
when it comes to hazardous wastes.  This has involved voluntary
programmes by industry, government legislation and economic
incentives.  The Hazardous Waste Minimization Committee,
established by industry, and involving Governments, environmental
groups and labour, is a part of this voluntary approach.  Canada
has set a target to reduce the amount of hazardous waste destined
for final disposal by 50 per cent of its 1990 level by the year
2000.

62. In 1993, the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment
(CCME) re-established the Hazardous Waste Task Force in order to
achieve uniform management of hazardous waste across Canada. 
Part of this effort is a comprehensive national inventory of
hazardous waste and a catalogue of waste facilities.  Canada has
North America's first fully integrated hazardous waste treatment
plant, namely the Alberta Special Waste Treatment System. This is
jointly owned by the Alberta Government and a private enterprise
and includes transfer stations, transportation systems and the
treatment plant. Otherwise there are active programmes involving
waste minimization, reuse and recycling in other provinces.  The
Governments of Canada and the United States have initiated
regional cooperation in order to better understand the
transboundary movement of hazardous waste between the western
parts of their countries.  Canada has fairly recently upgraded
legislation in order to ratify the Basel Convention on the
Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their
Disposal as well as OECD decisions on wastes for recovery.

                          C.  Technology and finance

                               1.  Technology 5/

63. Three different aspects of hazardous waste technologies
require consideration, namely treatment, clean-up technologies
for existing contaminated sites and cleaner production
technologies for hazardous wastes minimization and prevention in
new investments.  However, particular efforts to achieve new
solutions should be made in the last two fields.

64. As pointed in section I of this report there is already a
substantial waste management industry in the developed countries
which is expected to grow considerably in the medium-term future. 
The growth of this industry has been promoted by national
legislation requiring higher standards in treatment and disposal
as well as clean-up of hazardous wastes sites.  Financing for
these purposes has been provided by new instruments such as the
Superfund of the United States with contributions from both
government and the private sector as well as funding from state
and local authorities.  The development of cleaner production
technologies has been prompted by actual or feared liability in
the generation of hazardous wastes by existing technologies and
general technological advance.  All three technology aspects of
this industry are growing rapidly with consequences for
information exchange and transfer of technologies issues.

65. In general there has a been growing exchange of information
and experiences since the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development.  UNEP's International Cleaner
Production Information Clearinghouse has been developed and is
increasingly in demand.  However, the task of collecting,
assessing and disseminating this kind of information to users is
large and requires more funding.  The establishment of clearing-
houses that disseminate information is seldom carried out by the
private sector, even though private enterprises often contribute
by providing free information on cleaner production technologies
and management practices. Funding, therefore, must generally be
provided by the public sector.

66. There are some examples of incentives created to increase the
momentum of the introduction of new technologies in this area. 
The United States Environmental Protection Agency has put forward
a proposal replacing incineration as a Best Demonstrated
Available Technology (BDAT), with alternatives for many
land-banned wastes, such as recycling and waste-minimization
technologies.  The air pollution industry is consequently moving
away from end-of-pipe solutions to technologies preventing
pollution in industrial processes because of these other kinds of
incentives and regulations.

67. Given the numerous problems connected with the traditional
incineration of hazardous wastes, such as release of toxic
substances up the smokestack, new ways are being sought to handle
the clean-up of hazardous wastes.  Box 4 presents one example.

               Box 4.  One new way to clean up hazardous wastes

    An American company has developed a technology that has had
some very favourable responses, involving the immersion of wastes
and toxic chemicals in metal at 1,760 degrees Centigrade (3,200
degrees Fahrenheit) where they then break down into their
constituent elements because of the heat and catalytic effect of
the metal.  Hydrocarbons break down into hydrogen, which goes off
at the top, and carbon, which boils off as carbon dioxide if
oxygen is provided.  Valuable materials in the resulting metal
alloy can be recovered eventually.  The leftover slag, which
would include chlorine, could be made into abrasive or processed
further.  The company has recently announced an agreement with
another American company to build the first commercial plant
using this technology at the United States Department of Energy's
Oak Ridge facility.  The plant will be handling Department of
Energy waste-first hazardous wastes, but there are long-term
possibilities of the handling also of radioactive wastes.  The
plant will process 10,000 tons of waste per year (cost US$ 20-25
million); funding will be provided by the United States
Department of Energy, and it is expected that the plant will be
operational by late 1995.  Watery wastes are not suitable for
this technology because of the additional energy requirements of
heating up the water.  This technology would be attractive to
companies since with such technology on site they would be able
to classify their waste as process intermediates and thus evade
costly regulations and long-term liability.

    Sources:  John Holusha, "No-smoke ways to burn wastes", New
York Times, Wednesday, 16 June 1993; and "Waste management:  hot
solution", The Economist, 10 July 1993.

 68. The introduction of cleaner production technologies are more
difficult to assess.  In most countries there is, however, a
tendency for new investments in capital stock to be "cleaner"
than the older ones especially if there is a high cost attached
to handling any resulting toxic releases and wastes from a given
process.

69. A growing number of successful partnerships is being
developed at bilateral and multilateral levels involving
Governments and, increasingly, the private sector.  UNEP is
publishing jointly with the Prince of Wales Business Forum and
Tufts University a booklet on such successful partnerships
involving industry.  One example is presented in box 5.

                       Box 5.  A successful partnership

    For many years, all major electronic suppliers had been
chlorofluorocarbon-13 (CFC-13) as a cleaning solvent to remove
soldering residue from circuit boards in the cleaning process. 
In response to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete
the Ozone Layer, one of the world's largest telecommunications
companies decided to implement alternatives.  To extend its
elimination programme and share its success, this company formed
partnerships with other stake holders in further projects to
assist in ozone layer protection.  One such partnership was with
the Industry Cooperative for Ozone Layer Protection (ICOLP), a
Washington, D.C.-based association of 17 multinational
corporations, Governments and industry associations from the
United States, Sweden, the former Soviet Union, Mexico and Japan.

    Mexico was the first country to sign the Montreal Protocol. 
It was also the first developing country to commit to eliminating
CFC solvents 10 years earlier, then mandated for developing
countries by the Montreal Protocol.  Mexico continues to play a
leadership role through its partnership with this large company
of Canada and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the
United States in a project to eliminate ozone-depleting solvents
from Mexican industry.  Experts from ICOLP held workshops
throughout Mexico to introduce alternative technologies.  In
cooperation with the Mexican Environment Ministry (SEDUE), EPA
and the company created a project for technology cooperation: 
SEDUE provided intersectoral consultation and facilitated
investments in environmentally sound technologies; EPA provided
support in the development of environmental control procedures;
and the company shared its experience in implementing processes
and technologies, managed the series of workshops and coordinated
the input of experts from other companies.

                                2.  Finance 6/

Programme area A

70. Agenda 21 has estimated the total annual cost of implementing
the activities of this programme areas at US$ 750 million coming
from the international community on grants or concessional terms. 
This estimate was based on a target of establishing and operating
national training centres and projects in 60 developing
countries.

71. To date no centres have been established.  There has been
agreement to launch feasibility studies for the establishment of
one centre in Africa (possibly in Nigeria), one in Latin America
(possibly in Argentina or El Salvador) and one in China.  One
developed country has expressed interest in funding the
feasibility study for the centre in Latin America.  The Basel
Convention secretariat also undertook an exploratory mission to
China in 1993 to explore the possibility of a feasibility study
forums centre in China, provided funds are made available to SBC. 
In sum, there had been no actual funding allocated to the
establishment of centres by the time this report was being
written.

72. There is limited dispersed information on the financing of
and budgets on hazardous waste minimization by each United
Nations organization.  Available on United Nations system
expenditures includes the following:

   (a) The UNEP cleaner production programme budget amounted to
US$ 800,000 in 1993, mainly from the environmental fund.  In
addition, total contributions of US$ 430,000 were brought by
Denmark, the Netherlands, France, the European Union and the
United States.  In-kind support of US$ 250,000 was brought by the
United States (secondment of one senior-level staff and support
to the development of the database), the United Kingdom (funding
of a publication), Norway and the Netherlands (funding of
consultants), Denmark (secondment of one consultant), and
Australia (sponsoring of a working group and international
conferences).  This represents an increase from 1990, even if it
is still insufficient in view of the needs;

   (b) UNIDO's cleaner production activities amounted
approximately to more than US$ 2 million in 1993.  The
Netherlands is providing US$ 1.8 million and Denmark is expected
to provide the same amount in 1994;

   (c) The SBC total budget in 1993 was US$ 2,263,000, of which
US$ 1,474,650 were allocated to the Trust Fund for the
implementation of the Basel Convention and US$ 88,740 were
allocated to the Technical Cooperation Trust Fund to assist
developing country members in the implementation of the Basel
Convention.

Programme area B

73. At the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, it was estimated that the annual cost for this
programme area would be US$ 18.5 billion including US$3.5 billion
for developing countries, of which US$ 500 million would come
from the international community.

74. There is no comprehensive estimate of expenditures for this
purpose in either the developed or the developing countries. 
Some identifiable expenditures by the United Nations system in
this programme are as follows:

   (a) The SBC budget for 1993 was US$ 2,263,390, of which
$1,474,650 were allocated to the Trust Fund for the
implementation of the Basel Convention and $788,740 were
allocated to the Technical Cooperation Trust Fund to assist
developing country members in the implementation of the Basel
Convention;

   (b) During 1992/93, WHO spent around US$ 100,000 from its
regular budget and US$ 100,000 from extrabudgetary funds in
activities related to hazardous wastes, especially medical waste,
including interregional and regional meetings, documents
preparation and consultantships in members countries;

   (c) The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has funded three
projects dealing with treatment of ship wastes in China, the
Mediterranean and the Caribbean for a total of US$ 45 million.

Programme area C

75. It was felt at the United Nations Conference on Environment
and Development that this programme area covered a relatively new
field and no cost estimate was presented at that time.  The
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development,
however, requested SBC to present cost estimates at the second
meeting of the Parties to the Basel Convention to be held in
March 1994.  The Open-ended Ad Hoc Committee for the
Implementation of the Basel Convention did not endorse this
proposal.

76. Agenda 21 highlights capacity-building to deal with
transfrontier movement of wastes, and the United Nations system
and SBC have undertaken several activities.

77. Training activities undertaken by UNEP and SBC contain an
element dealing with transfrontier movement of wastes.  The
Parties to the Basel Convention requested SBC to organize
national and regional workshops and training programmes on the
implementation of the Convention and Agenda 21 chapter 20
objectives.  A trust fund for technical cooperation was set up to
assist developing country Parties in the implementation of the
Convention to which Parties were invited to contribute.  Of seven
planned workshops for 1993, at a total cost of US$ 275,000, only
one was held, in Santiago, Chile, because of a lack of financial
contributions.

78. This funding mechanism, namely, assessed contributions to the
core SBC trust fund and voluntary contributions to the technical
cooperation trust fund, is clearly inadequate.  It does not
provide the required stability for planning and implementing
activities on a continuous basis involving the largest possible
number of Contracting Parties.

Programme area D

79. No cost estimate was prepared at the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development for this programme
area.  All activities in this area were, or have been, undertaken
within existing resources available to SBC (see box 6).

      Box 6.      Funding through and of the secretariat of the
                  Basel Convention (SBC)

      In accordance with decision I/7 on Institutional and
Financial Arrangements, adopted by the Parties in December 1992,
two trust funds were established, namely, the Trust Fund for the
Basel Convention, with a budget for the implementation of the
Convention estimated at US$ 1.47 million in 1993; and the
Technical Cooperation Trust Fund to help countries in need of
assistance to implement the Convention, with a budget of
approximately US$ 790,000 for 1993.  Parties and non-parties were
requested to make their voluntary contributions to the Technical
Cooperation Trust Fund.

      The total budget estimated for 1993 to enable SBC to
undertake all activities envisaged by the Convention was the sum
of the amounts earmarked in the trust funds, namely, US$ 2.26
million.  Contributions by Parties being delayed, UNEP has been
obliged to provide SBC with reserve funds on a reimbursable
basis.  Not counting costs related to the approved staff table of
SBC, it has disbursed a total of only US$ 629,000 in 1993 in all
activities.  These activities cover only the current 62 parties
to the Convention and overlap only in part with activities
proposed in Agenda 21.  Neither SBC nor any of the other
international organizations mentioned above have at present
specific provisions in their budgets for the implementation of
Agenda 21 chapter 20 activities.

                  III.  CONCLUSIONS AND PROPOSALS FOR ACTION

                                A.  Conclusions

80. The rapid evolution in environmental thinking in recent times
has brought waste management and waste prevention closer
together.  Waste minimization through a cleaner production
approach, aimed at preventing emissions and waste waters and
efficient use of energy and other natural resources, is now
understood as being fundamental to comprehensive waste management
strategies. However, the translation of this public consensus
into viable investments will require a variety of measures that
will involve the accelerated application of available cleaner
technologies and the development of new techniques through a
strengthening of research and development programmes, especially
by the private sector.

81. At present, the development and use of cleaner technologies
is insufficient to meet the cleaner production challenge. 
Furthermore, the private sector is not closely associated with
the development and implementation of hazardous waste management
policies and small- and medium-sized enterprises do not have the
necessary environmental awareness or the expertise and financial
resources to deal with the hazardous waste issue.

82. Government legislation and regulations are required,
especially in developing countries and the economies in
transition.  The impact of such instruments, however, will remain
limited in the face of the absence or inadequacy of trained
personnel and institutional structures, as well as the political
will to enforce regulations.

83. Data and statistics on waste production, which are necessary
for waste management strategies and activities and for monitoring
achievements and overall management, are often fragmentary and
unreliable, especially in developing countries.

84. Ill-defined or ill-specified recycling activities often open
the door to illegal traffic in wastes, especially because of
powerful financial incentives provided by the high costs of
recycling in developed countries and corresponding opportunities
in developing countries where such activities often lead to
adverse health and environmental effects and little financial
benefit.

85. The clean-up task of existing hazardous waste sites in both
developed and developing countries as well as the economies in
transition remain a formidable challenge which will require
enormous financial resources, the more widespread application of
existing clean-up technologies and the development of new methods
and techniques.

86. In the United Nations system there has been a notable shift
from policy development to capacity-building, with greater
inter-agency cooperation.  In view of the strong priority given
to cleaner production and prevention approaches throughout Agenda
21, the United Nations system is increasingly emphasizing this
approach in agendas for meetings and training programmes.

87. In banning ocean dumping of hazardous waste, effective 1
January 1996, IMO and the Contracting Parties to the London
Convention of 1972 have also called for increased emphasis on
minimization and recycling of all waste. Both UNIDO and UNEP have
joined with the World Bank in order to incorporate cleaner
production concepts into the forthcoming industrial guideline
series which will cover over 80 industrial sectors.  Greater
efforts are being made to promote environmentally sound recycling
of hazardous waste.

88. UNEP and SBC have now begun to concentrate on providing
support to countries to implement policy and technical guidelines
for hazardous waste management.

89. There is also an apparent improvement in the partnership
among the various shareholders:  Governments, industry,
non-governmental organizations and international organizations. 
The various United Nations organizations, and particularly UNEP
and SBC, are providing a neutral forum to discuss solutions with
regard to handling the hazardous waste issue, as well as other
environmental management issues in industry, to improve
technology transfer and to periodically review progress as well
as problems yet to be solved. The UNEP/ICC high-level panel to
review progress in the implementation of the Business Charter for
Sustainable Development provides a good example of such a
partnership.

                           B.  Proposals for action

90. Even though some progress has been made, much remains to be
done in order to achieve Agenda 21 objectives.  The following
points highlight some of the main actions required to overcome
constraints and obstacles.

91. Institutional:

   (a) Enforcement capabilities of regulations, when they exist,
have to be strengthened;

   (b) The private sector has to be more closely associated with
the development and implementation of hazardous waste management
policies. Small- and medium-sized enterprises currently do not
have the necessary environmental awareness and the expertise and
financial resources to deal with the hazardous waste issue;

   (c) Ill-defined or ill-specified recycling activities open the
door to the illegal traffic of waste.  Loopholes in existing
conventions, agreements and recommendations have to be closed.  A
big step in that direction was the recent decision taken at the
second meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Basel
Convention (see para. 43);

   (d) Data and statistics on waste production, particularly in
developing countries will be vital for hazardous waste management
strategies and activities, and for monitoring achievements and
overall hazardous waste management.  The United Nations system
has started work in this area through the Global Waste Survey. 
It is already clear that waste generation surveys will always be
difficult and costly to conduct because of the complexity of
waste composition and testing procedures.  Harmonized
methodologies and nomenclature, in addition to cost reductions,
should be sought in this area. OECD's quality improvements in
their waste import/export data could serve as a good example.

92. Technical:

   (a) More attention has to be paid to the production of
hazardous wastes from sources other than industry, such as
agriculture, hospitals, and the domestic sector, and other
discarded products that contain hazardous substances;

   (b) More effort has to be directed towards the development and
demonstration of cleaner technologies in order to meet the
cleaner production challenge through their wide application in
all countries;

   (c) Exchange of information on cleaner production experiences
and training has to be strengthened;

   (d) Examinations of the full dimension of soil and water
contamination, due to improper disposal of hazardous wastes as
well as improper use of pesticides and fertilizers or air
pollutants particularly in developing countries, have to be
stepped up as in some cases these acts might be environmental
emergencies waiting to happen.

93. Economic:

   (a) Capital investments are required for instituting cleaner
production processes resulting in cost-effective production often
with short payback periods;

   (b) Governments should develop economics instruments to
complement their hazardous waste legislation in order to provide
the necessary incentives for industry and consumers to shift
towards cleaner processes and products.

                                     Notes

   1/  Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992, vol. I, Resolutions
adopted by the Conference (United Nations publication, Sales No.
E.93.I.8 and corrigendum), resolution 1, annex II.

   2/  See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council,
1993, Supplement No. 5A (E/1993/25/Add.1), chap. I, para. 28.

   3/  Ibid., para. 24.

   4/  Steve Call, "Global economy faces the global dump",
International Herald Tribune, 24 March 1994.

   5/  This subsection is based in part on a report distributed
to the Commission on Sustainable Development's Inter-sessional Ad
Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Technology Transfer and
Cooperation (which met from 23 to 25 February 1994), entitled
"UNEP input to the report of the Department of Policy
Coordination and Sustainable Development of the United Nations
Secretariat on chapter 34 of Agenda 21 ("Transfer of
environmentally sound technology, cooperation and
capacity-building"):  the case of technology transfer for
hazardous waste management".

   6/  The information in this subsection is partly based on
background paper, No. 4, entitled "Financing of hazardous wastes
for sustainable development", which was available to the
Commission on Sustainable Development's Inter-sessional Ad Hoc
Open-ended Working Group on Finance (which met in New York from
28 February to 3 March 1994).

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Date last posted: 1 December 1999 12:18:30
Comments and suggestions: DESA/DSD