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A public/private partnership, technical guidelines on environmentally sound management, and a massive open online course are amongst the measures tackling e-waste, the world’s fastest growing hazardous waste stream.
On the occasion of the second International E-waste Day, read what Parties to the Basel Convention are doing to address this growing global problem
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The Basel Convention ENFORCE partnership met in Geneva from 30 September to 1 October, thanks to funding support from Norway.
International partnership of enforcement experts push forward on preventing illegal traffic of waste
The Environmental Network for Optimizing Regulatory Compliance on Illegal Traffic (ENFORCE) staged its 11th Meeting in Geneva from 30 September to 1 October, 2019, with funding support kindly provided by the Government of Norway.
As well as Basel Convention Parties representing their regions, the partnership includes representatives from of the Basel Convention Regional Centres, and organizations with a specific mandate to deliver implementation and enforcement capacity-building activities for preventing and combating illegal traffic of hazardous wastes and other wastes under the Basel Convention, such as UNEP, IMPEL, the International Criminal Police Organisation – INTERPOL - and the World Customs Organisation.
Members and observers exchanged information on their activities which will be included in the roadmap of activities for 2019-2020. ENFORCE also agreed to continue collecting training tools developed by its members as well as under the framework of the Basel Convention which will be made available through an online library on the Basel Convention website later this year.
Click here to read more information on the meeting and on ENFORCE.
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With waste the theme of this year’s World Habitat Day, Antonio Guterres highlights the role of frontier technologies to transform waste into wealth, and stresses the need to reduce waste in the first place.
UN Secretary General calls for increased investment in waste management
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With waste the theme of this year’s World Habitat Day, Antonio Guterres highlights the role of frontier technologies to transform waste into wealth, and stresses the need to reduce waste in the first place.
BRS Executive Secretary urges strong cooperation between chemicals and waste and regional seas conventions
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The final evaluation of the Convention’s Strategic Framework for implementation for 2012-2021 is underway, and Parties are asked to submit information by 31 January 2020.
Parties invited to provide information to improve Basel Convention implementation
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The BRS Secretariat is still accepting applications for membership to the follow-up partnership to the Partnership for Action on Computing Equipment (PACE), and also inviting comments on the new work programme and terms of reference, with deadline 30 September 2019.
E-waste: Deadline approaching for the Basel Convention’s follow-up partnership to PACE
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Building on the recent Basel Convention plastic waste amendment, a new Norwegian-funded initiative has begun, with inception meetings in Dhaka for experts and stakeholders, 18 to 19 September, 2019.
New plastic waste project underway in Bangladesh
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Dakar, Senegal, hosts a capacity-building workshop for governments and other stakeholders working towards the sound management of chemicals and waste, including plastic waste. Funding support kindly provided by the Government of France.
More than 100 participants attend regional meeting to boost implementation of the Basel and Rotterdam conventions in Africa
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Read Rolph Payet’s guest blog on plastic waste and the oceans and how the Basel Convention’s Plastic Waste Amendment can contribute to tackling the problem.
Plastic waste and the oceans: new guest blog by BRS Executive Secretary for the World Ocean Initiative
More than 300m tonnes of plastics are produced every year and the majority is not recycled. This leaves us with colossal amounts of plastic waste. Some of this is disposed of properly, but in many regions plastic waste is dumped on land and in rivers, eventually finding its way to our oceans”. So began the BRS Executive Secretary Rolph Payet in a Guest Blog on plastic waste, oceans and the Basel Convention’s 2019 Plastic Waste Amendment for The Economist’s World Ocean Initiative, published 13 September 2019.
Click here to read the article.
Click here for more info on The Economist’s World Ocean Initiative.
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At the recent regional High-Level Minister’s Talanoa in Apia, Samoa, Pacific countries welcomed the recent amendments to the Convention and urged action on implementing the new controls.
Pacific countries welcome the Basel Convention’s Plastic Waste Amendment
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With Croatia’s recent ratification of the @UN Basel Convention’s Ban Amendment, the threshold has now been reached, strengthening the prohibition of unwanted shipments of hazardous waste from developed to developing countries. Entry-into-force is 5 December 2019. Official Press Release to follow.
Basel Convention’s Ban Amendment to enter-into-force
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The second meeting of the Household Waste Partnership takes place in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 4 to 6 September.
Household waste challenge takes centre stage as Basel Convention stakeholders meet in Trinidad
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The meeting report of the recent COP-14 is now accessible (Advance English version).
Meeting report from the recent Basel Convention COP now available
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Parties and observers are kindly invited to respond to requests from the recent COP-14, for follow-up to the decisions taken by Parties in Geneva, in May.
Follow-up to recent Basel Convention COP decisions for sound management of wastes, including actions to address plastic waste
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The French government’s new fund supports activities in support of the global chemicals conventions in developing countries, and has a deadline for project proposals of 4 October 2019.
Funding support available for sound management of chemicals and waste
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Watch the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions “Behind the Scenes” video for a better understanding of how the Triple COPs work.
Behind the Scenes at the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions 2019 COPs - video
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On the occasion of World Environment Day, read the BRS Press Release highlighting the need to make the invisible, visible to beat air pollution.
7 million premature deaths per year from visible and invisible air pollution
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Watch key parts of the Triple COPs, including the moment Parties decided, by consensus, to amend the Basel Convention to tackle plastic wastes.
Highlights of the 2019 BRS COPs captured on video
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First plastics meeting since the COP decision to amend the Basel Convention sees GESAMP experts assess risks associated with plastics in the marine environment.
Global experts on marine litter meet at BRS Secretariat in Geneva
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Plastic waste and especially marine plastic litter is an environmental problem occurring on a global scale today. The ubiquitous transboundary movement of plastic wastes and microplastics is becoming a major concern as their property of durability makes their particles remain for long period of time.
Plastic Wastes: A World Problem
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Read the opening day BRS press release, outlining what to expect from the 2019 meetings of the conferences of parties to the Basel, Rotterdam & Stockholm conventions.
2019 Triple COPs open in Geneva: for a Clean Planet & Healthy People
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BRS co-hosts workshop with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) on the circular economy, e-waste, and the SDGs during the 2019 World Summit on the Information Society.
Electronic waste on the agenda of global summit in Geneva, 8 to 12 April 2019
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To reduce plastic waste at the meetings of the conferences of the Parties, arrangements have been made with the venue and catering service to minimize the use of plastic take-out containers, sandwich bags, cutlery and cups. Delegates are therefore invited to bring reusable drinking containers (mugs, bottles) for use at the cafeteria and water fountains located throughout the venue. There will be no disposable plastic cups at the COPs!
Bring your own bottle to reduce the footprint of the 2019 Triple COPs – for a Clean Planet, Healthy People!
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Experts converge on the Stockholm Regional Centre for the Mediterranean in Barcelona 3 to 6 April, to share and develop best practices on ESM of plastic waste, with thanks to Sweden for funding support.
Preventing Marine Litter: technical workshop in Barcelona pushes for environmentally sound management of plastic wastes
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With thanks to Norway and Switzerland for funding support, BRS regional preparatory meetings continue this week in Brno, Czech Republic and in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Regional meetings in Brno and Montevideo continue Triple COPs preparations
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