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Major waste exporters
Spain
France
Luxembourg
Belgium
Russian Federation
Switzerland
Denmark
Austria
Italy
The Netherlands
Germany
Ukraine
Finland
Norway
Sweden
United Kingdom
Ireland
Portugal
United States
Japan
Singapore
declared as “countries of origin”
in the reporting of imports
by other Parties to the Convention.
Amounts of exchanged waste
Thousand tonnes
500
600
400
300
200
100
0
700
800
900
1 000
1 300
1 200
1 100
Only countries
receiving or sending
more than fifty thousand tonnes
are shown.
imports + exports
0
4
8
12
16
20
1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003
Million tonnes
Source: Basel Convention, 2006.
Transboundary movements of waste
among Parties to the Convention
OFFICIAL WASTE TRADE
Official waste trade routes
Describing and quantifying global trade in waste is difficult. The official
figures compiled by the Basel Convention on the Control of Transbound-
ary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal are a good start,
but have their limitations. Reporting is based on collaboration by member
states and the Convention has no means of obliging any state to do so
or of checking that data is complete. At present 99 countries monitor and
publicise their imports and exports of 45 types of hazardous waste and
two categories of waste “requiring special consideration” – household
waste and their incineration residues. (Radioactive waste is not covered
by the Convention.) Of the 99 countries reporting in 2003, 62 reported
on the amounts of hazardous wastes exported. In addition, 17 Parties
stated that there was no export from their country. 79 countries reported
on imports. Of these 79, 42 declared not to have imported any hazard-
ous wastes, and 37 described the quantities. The limited availability of
national reports can distort the interpretation of the official data sets.
Basel Convention data trends
Looking at the Basel Convention datasets reveals several
global patterns:
The official trade in waste predominantly involves developed
countries and official exports are not particularly directed to-
wards developing countries. Although the BAN amendment
that forbids trade from developed to developing countries
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(if both are Parties to the Convention) has not yet come into
force, it is already implemented by the European Union.
Incineration residues and lead compounds are among the
most traded waste categories.
Germany, Italy and France were the leading waste im-
porters among Parties to the Convention in 2003.
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