Technical Guidelines on specially engineered landfill (D5) and on incineration on land (D10)

Technical Guidelines on specially engineered landfill (D5) and on incineration on land (D10) were adopted at the third meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Basel Convetion, in 1995. At its thirteenth meeting, as per decision BC-13/6, the COP decided to update these technical guidelines. And at COP-15 in 2022, the revised versions of the two technical guidelines were adopted. 

Adoption of the two technical guidelines at COP-15

At its fifteenth meeting, by its decision BC-15/8, the COP adopted the revised versions of the two technical guidelines, which are available on the section of "Technical Guidelines" under publications page

(a) Technical guidelines on the environmentally sound incineration of hazardous wastes and other wastes as covered by disposal operations D10 and R1; 
(b) Technical guidelines on the environmentally sound disposal of hazardous wastes and other wastes in specially engineered landfill (D5);

The work of the small intersessional working group was successfully completed. As such, the group was disbanded.

Work following COP-14

At its fourteenth meeting, by its decision BC-14/6, the COP took note of the draft updated technical guidelines on incineration on land (D10) and the draft updated technical guidelines on specially engineered landfill (D5) (UNEP/CHW.14/INF/11 and UNEP/CHW.14/INF/12).

In paragraphs 8 and 9 of the same decision, the COP decided to extend the mandate of the small intersessional working group (SIWG) established pursuant to paragraph 6 of decision BC-13/6 and invited Parties and others to nominate additional experts to participate in the SIWG and to inform the Secretariat of their nominations by 31 August 2019.

In paragraph 10 of the same decision, the COP invited Parties and others to submit to the Secretariat by 18 October 2019 comments on the draft updated technical guidelines, which can be seen here.

In paragraph 4 of the same decision, the COP agreed that the scope of the technical guidelines on incineration on land (D10) should be extended to also address incineration as covered by the operation “use as a fuel (other than in direct incineration) or other means to generate energy” (R1).

In paragraph 6 of the same decision, the COP invited Parties to consider serving as co-lead countries in the updating of the technical guidelines on incineration on land (D10) with an extended scope (R1) and to inform the Secretariat of their willingness to do so by 30 June 2019.

Argentina and Canada offered to continue to co-lead the work of updating the technical guidelines on specially engineered landfill (D5). Canada offered to continue to co-lead the work of updating the technical guidelines on incineration on land (D10) and was joined by Japan in the work, especially to also deal with the updates required by adding R1 operation to the scope of the technical guidelines. 

As per paragraph 11 of decision BC-14/6, the co-lead countries, in consultation with the SIWG, have prepared documents for the consideration of the OEWG-12 (UNEP/CHW/OEWG.12/INF/11 (D10/R1) and UNEP/CHW/OEWG.12/INF/12 (D5)).

During the OEWG-12 online segment (1 and 3 September 2020) and following the meeting, Parties and observers have provided comments, which can be found here

The SIWG is organizing an online meeting to take place in October and November 2020. More details can be found in the SWIG meetings page

Please find here the list of members to the SIWG on D5 and D10 technical guidelines.

General comments or queries should be sent to Ms. Carla Valle-Klann, Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions (Email: carla.valle@brsmeas.org, Tel: +41 22 917 86 86).

Work following COP-13

At its thirteenth meeting, by its decision BC-13/6, the Conference of the Parties (COP), decided that that the technical guidelines on incineration on land (D10) and on specially engineered landfill (D5) should be updated.

In paragraph 6 of the same decision, the COP established an SIWG, operating by electronic means, to undertake the work of updating both technical guidelines. Information on the meetings of the SIWG is available on the website. 

In paragraph 5 and 7 of the same decision, the COP invited Parties to consider serving as lead countries and invited Parties and others to nominate experts to participant in the small intersessional working group.

The Governments of Canada and Argentina have offered to co-lead the referred work on the D5 and D10 technical guidelines, in consultation with the SIWG. 

At the eleventh meeting of the Open-ended Working Group, by its decision OEWG-11/5, the Working group invited comments from Parties and others on the draft technical guidelines presented in documents UNEP/CHW/OEWG.11/INF/18 and UNEP/CHW/OEWG.11/INF/19

Comments received as per OEWG-11/5 decision, can be seen here and were compiled in a BC COP-14 document (UNEP/CHW.14/INF.13). 

Based on the comments received, the co-lead countries prepared, in consultation with SIWG, new versions of the draft updated technical guidelines on incineration on land (D10) and on specially engineered landfill (D5) for the consideration of the COP at its fourteenth meeting (UNEP/CHW.14/INF/11 and UNEP/CHW.14/INF/12).