European companies faced with higher costs and taxes for waste disposal and recycling are finding a cheaper alternative; they are shipping more waste overseas to Africa, China, India and Indonesia, the New York Times reports.

While much of this waste is sent to qualified recyclers, some of waste trade is illegal. The great concern is the export of waste to countries where children often dismantle waste containing toxic substances.

The European Union, which has strict recycling laws for electronics, saw only two to three million tons of electronic waste turning in for recycling at European facilities last year, not the anticipated seven million. Experts believe the rest was dumped overseas, illegally. In addition to electronic waste, paper, plastic and metal trash exported from Europe has increased ten times.

The economic pressure on companies in Europe is great. The New York Times notes that “[b]ecause of Europe’s new environmental laws, it is four times as expensive to incinerate trash in the Netherlands as to put it - illegally- on a boat to China.” The container ships bringing cheap goods from China and other parts of Asia are then filled with a “profitable return cargo: garbage.”

The exportation of waste by EU member countries is governed by the 1992 Basel Convention, a treaty that sets out regulations for export of hazardous and other types of waste. The Basel Convention, however, has no enforcement provisions, therefore, in 1995 the Basel Ban Amendment, was proposed. The Ban Amendment prohibits the export of hazardous waste from developed countries to developing countries. The Ban applies to export of hazardous waste for any reason, including recycling. It also applies to the sale of ships for salvage or ship-breaking.

The Ban is not technically in effect because it has not be ratified by the requisite number of countries. Only 65 of the required 129 have ratified it. The EU, however, codified the Ban Amendment in its Waste Shipment Regulation.

The U.S signed the 1992 Basel Convention but did not ratify it. As the New York Times notes, “much of the trash trade banned by Europe is still legal in the United States, where laws focus on only the most hazardous wastes.” The Obama administration is reviewing the U.S. waste export policies.

Photo:
Container ships -  http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonsoleil/494763961/

Copyright 2009 - K.J.Collins