As one of the world’s earliest multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal seeks to align itself with newer multilateral frameworks. The 14th meeting of the Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) of the Basel Convention moved toward aligning the new Strategic Framework to be put forward at the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) in 2025 with the 2030 timeframe of the SDGs.

According to the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) analysis of the meeting, delegates sought “to improve the effectiveness of the Convention and ensure it is adapting to changes in trade, technology, and waste management.”

ENB summary report of the meeting notes that OEWG 14 was also “the first opportunity for parties to review draft amendment proposals to Annex IV that will clarify which processes count as ‘final disposal’ or ‘recovery’ operations.” “The processes listed in this Annex are critical to determining whether a substance or object is a ‘waste’ subject to the Basel Convention,” ENB writes. COP 17 is expected to decide on updates to this and other annexes.

Proposed updates to technical guidelines on environmentally sound management (ESM) of wastes consisting of, containing, or contaminated with persistent organic pollutants were also on OEWG 14’s agenda. “The update to the general guideline on POPs wastes grappled with the tricky but important issue of the threshold above which waste containing POPs should be considered hazardous, and thus be subject to the Basel Convention protections,” ENB notes.

The OEWG also reviewed sets of technical guidelines on: waste electrical and electronic equipment (e-waste); waste lead acid batteries and other types of waste batteries; and waste pneumatic tires – to provide direction for the intersessional working groups that will continue to refine the guidelines.

In addition, the OEWG considered ways to improve the prior informed consent (PIC) procedure for parties to notify others of transboundary movement of waste, focusing on “exporters not receiving timely responses when notifications are sent.” Proposed improvements discussed by the Working Group include adoption of electronic approaches and changes to the national reporting format to provide better information to the Convention’s Implementation and Compliance Committee.

Future work on plastic waste was the subject of long discussions at OEWG 14. Delegates sought to aid implementation of the 2019 amendments to the Convention annexes on plastic wastes and the global plastics treaty, the negotiations for which are expected to conclude later in 2024.

However, no agreement was reached on a package of activities on plastics, “due to divisions over whether to initiate work on technical guidelines on chemical recycling.” According to ENB, “[p]roponents argued that chemical recycling could make a major dent in the amount of plastic waste generated and traded, but many parties considered it premature to begin work on technical guidelines in this area before it becomes clear whether the technology will be economically feasible, widely available, and environmentally sound.”

OEWG 14 convened in Geneva, Switzerland, from 25-28 June 2024. [ENB Coverage of OEWG 14]