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�Plastic pollution reduction and management:�The role of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions

Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions

World Environment Day, Virtual Symposium

Session 2: Environment

5 June 2023

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Pollution is one of the key drivers of climate change and biodiversity loss.

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The Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions

Address some of the most significant chemicals and waste pollution that has been identified over the last several decades and as such their implementation contributes towards addressing pollution, climate change as well as the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.

Adopted in 1989

191 Parties

Adopted in 1998

165 Parties

Adopted in 2001

186 Parties

Together, the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions embody the life-cycle approach to the management of chemicals and waste and form the overarching international legal basis for global efforts to address the adverse impacts of hazardous chemicals and wastes.

The 3 conventions together cover elements of “cradle-to-grave” approach

Common objective = to protect human health and the environment

Most POPs are covered by all 3 Conventions

Many pesticides are subject to the 3 Conventions

As wastes, all chemicals fall under the scope of the Basel Convention

🡪 Interlocking scope and coverage

More over the Basel, Stockholm and Rotterdam Conventions are living instruments that adapt to changing times, as the recent meetings of the Conferences of the Parties held in Geneva in May this year demonstrated.

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2023, GLOBAL GOVERNANCE OF PLASTICS AND ASSOCIATED CHEMICALS, BRS

13 Persistent Organic Pollutants – listed in the Stockholm Convention

16 hazardous chemicals – listed in the Rotterdam Convention

How do the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions contribute to address plastic pollution?

This scheme was extracted from the report Global Governance of Plastics and Associated Chemicals.
This independent report was commissioned by the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions and produced by the University of Wollongong, Australia. The report has benefitted from valuable expert input from governments, academia, non-governmental organizations, secretariats of multilateral environmental agreements, UN bodies and the private sector. The report was made possible by the generous support of the Government of Norway.
In the report, the life cycle phases of plastics were grouped into four primary phases to assist in delineating opportunities to address plastic pollution.
The Stockholm and Rotterdam Conventions have provisions that contribute to address plastic pollution during the “chemical phase” of plastic production.
Chemicals of potential concern are added to plastics, including additives, processing aids and monomers and non-intentionally added substances (NIAS).
13 of these chemicals of concern are POPs and are currently listed in the Stockholm Convention, and as such, their use and production is to be eliminated or restricted.
16 plastic additives are also listed in the Rotterdam Convention and thus they are subject to the PIC procedure.
What does this that mean?

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Stockholm Convention �on Persistent Organic Pollutants (2001)

Elimination – Annex A

Restriction – Annex B

Reduction/Elimination – Annex C

Identification and management of obsolete stocks and contaminated sites

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Rotterdam Convention�on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure �for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (1998)

Information Exchange

Prior Informed Consent (PIC)

16 plastic additives are also listed in the Rotterdam Convention and thus they are subject to the PIC procedure.
The Convention facilitates information exchange among Parties for a very broad range of potentially hazardous chemicals.
PIC Circular.
Export notification
The PIC procedure is a mechanism for formally obtaining and disseminating the decisions of importing Parties as to whether they wish to receive future shipments of those chemicals listed in Annex III of the Convention and for ensuring compliance with these decisions by exporting Parties.
For each of the chemicals listed in Annex III and subject to the PIC procedure a decision guidance document (DGD) is prepared and sent to all Parties. The DGD is intended to help governments assess the risks connected with the handling and use of the chemical and make more informed decisions about future import and use of the chemical, taking into account local conditions.
Import responses.
The chemicals traded need to be appropriately labeled and accompanied by basic health and safety information in the form of a safety data sheet.
The Rotterdam Convention enables Parties to take informed decisions on the import of 16 plastic additives and facilitates access to information on how to handle them safely.

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Basel Convention�on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Wastes and their Disposal (1989)

Prevention and Minimization

Environmentally Sound Management

Controlled Transboundary Movements

Prevention and minimization

The Basel Convention COP 14 emphasized that reducing the generation of hazardous wastes and other wastes to a minimum and reducing to a minimum and controlling transboundary movements of such wastes consistent with their environmentally sound and efficient management are among the general obligations of all Parties to the Basel Convention.
It also emphasized the need to adopt a life-cycle approach to plastics and to increase resource efficiency and the importance of the waste management hierarchy.
It further emphasized the relevance of the Cartagena Declaration on the Prevention, Minimization and Recovery of Hazardous Wastes and Other Wastes and the activities identified in the road map for action on its implementation in addressing plastic waste.

Environmentally Sound Management

Article 2: Environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes or other wastes” means taking all practicable steps to ensure that hazardous wastes or other wastes are managed in a manner which will protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects which may result from such wastes.
Technical guidelines on the environmentally sound management of plastic wastes.

Controlled Transboundary Movements

The Basel Convention includes the conditions for a transboundary movement of hazardous waste to take place and a prior informed consent procedure to be followed.

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Plastics waste under the Basel Convention

1989

Adoption of the Basel Convention

1992

Entry into force

2002

Adoption of Technical Guidelines for the identification & ESM of plastic wastes and their disposal

2019

Adoption of the Plastic Amendment

Establishment of the Plastic Waste Partnership

2021

The Plastic Amendment became effective on 1 January

2023

Adoption of the Technical guidelines on environmentally sound management (ESM) of plastic wastes

Over the past years, Parties to the Basel Convention have also been implementing a large number of projects and initiatives to address plastic waste. This includes projects targeting prevention and minimization of plastic waste, such as the use of natural biodegradable packaging, and projects aiming to strengthen capacities and promoting business models for the environmentally sound collection and recycling of plastic waste, for example through the establishment of financing schemes for the collection and recycling of fishing nets.
More than 50 countries have already received technical assistance to strengthen their capacity for addressing plastics pollution.
The Basel Convention Plastic Waste Partnership currently has 280 representatives from 59 Parties and one signatory, 15 intergovernmental organizations, 12 regional centres, 27 non-governmental organizations and 20 industry or industry associations .
Recent publications:

Global governance of plastics and associated chemicals (Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, 2023.
2 documents produced by the PWP:

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Thank you for your attention!�For more information visit us at:��@brsmeas��http://www.brsmeas.org/�