12th Meeting of the Open-ended Working Group of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (OEWG12)

The twelfth meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (OEWG12) met for the first of two days of its online segment. Despite technical problems, the OEWG got through most of the strategic and technical issues scheduled for discussion.

Participants reviewed the status of the draft report on the evaluation of the strategic framework for the implementation of the Basel Convention for 2012–2021. One party raised concern about a recommendation in the draft report involving the Convention’s Implementation and Compliance Committee. Another requested an extension on submitting comments on the draft report. 

OEWG12 also briefly reviewed the status of work on the revised draft practical manual for stakeholders to ensure that notifications of transboundary movements meet environmentally sound management (ESM) requirements.

The OEWG spent much of its time reviewing the status of work on a series of technical guidelines, including:

• updated technical guidelines on wastes containing persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and mercury;  
• draft updated technical guidelines on incineration on land and on specially engineered landfills; and
• new technical draft guidelines on for the identification and ESM of plastic wastes and their disposal.

On the plastic guidelines, participants differed over whether they should further address upstream matters, covering plastic waste prevention.

The OEWG also discussed the deadline for comments on parties’ use and testing of the technical guidelines on transboundary movements of e-waste and used electrical and electronic equipment adopted by the Conference of the Parties (COP) in 2019. The deadline is set for 30 October 2020.

OEWG12 will resume on Thursday, 3 September 2020, after a day of side events.