September 2012: The Secretariat of the Basel Convention has technical guidelines on mercury waste titled “Technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management of wastes consisting of elemental mercury and wastes containing or contaminated with mercury.” The guidelines were adopted at the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, which took place Cartagena, Colombia, in October 2011.

According to the Basel Convention, improper handling, collection, transportation or disposal of wastes consisting of elemental mercury and wastes containing or contaminated with mercury can lead to releases of mercury, as can some disposal technologies. As such the ESM of wastes consisting of elemental mercury and wastes containing mercury is critical.

The 67-page guide covers: registration of waste generators; reduction and phase-out of mercury in products and industrial processes; transboundary movement requirements; authorization and inspection of disposal facilities; identification and inventory; sampling, analysis and monitoring; waste prevention and minimization; handling, separation, collection, packaging, labelling, transportation and storage; environmentally sound disposal; and remediation of contaminated sites. [Basel Convention Website]