Chemicals & Wastes
When used improperly or disposed of unsafely, chemicals pose significant risks for both the environment and human health. Toxic chemicals are found in all ecosystems on Earth, including Antarctica and the most remote seas, affecting biodiversity, agricultural production, water quality, and human health. Over 100 million man-made chemicals and chemical formulations are used in every sector of the industrial economy. Many chemicals, such as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and mercury, travel over large distances through air, water currents, and in migratory species. Some POPs can remain in the human body for more than 50 years. Mercury, an element, is infinitely persistent. While chemicals and waste are major contributors to world economies, their sound management is essential to avoiding risks to human health and ecosystems and substantial costs to national economies.
Events and Articles
Showing 31 - 40 of 205 results
2nd Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to Develop an International Legally Binding Instrument on Plastic Pollution, Including in the Marine Environment (INC-2)
While the meeting was characterized by procedural scuffles, long delays, and late nights, delegates shared views on an options paper and set out a path for the intersessional period leading to the next negotiating session, mandating the preparation of a “zero draft” of the new treaty to address plastics pollution.
PCB Fair: Tools and guidance to support parties achieving the 2025 and 2028 Targets on PCB
The final day of the PCB Fair featured expert insights into potential tools and guidance to support parties working to eliminate the use of PCBs in equipment by 2025 and to ensure the environmentally sound waste management of liquids containing PCBs and PCB-contaminated equipment by 2028.
PCB Fair: Results achieved, challenges and lessons learned on PCB elimination to meet the Stockholm Convention goals
A panel of experts share experiences with national and regional projects to eliminate PCBs discussing results achieved, challenges, and lessons learned.
PCB Fair: Launch of the report on progress towards elimination of PCBs
The Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions (BRS) Secretariat kicked off the PCB Fair by presenting a report on progress toward eliminating PCBs and ensuring the environmentally sound waste management of chemicals and wastes, prepared in consultation with a small intersessional working group.
2023 Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions (BRS COPs)
Beyond addressing resource mobilization and the illegal traffic of hazardous chemicals and wastes, delegates tried to effectiveness challenges under the Rotterdam Convention, listed new persistent organic pollutants and adopted a compliance mechanism under the Stockholm Convention, and tackled guidelines on different categories of hazardous wastes under the Basel Convention.
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is a global treaty between 186 countries to protect human health and the environment from chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and wildlife, and have harmful impacts on human health or the environment. It is the youngest of the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions, which together tackle the life cycle of global chemicals and waste.
Brief by Pamela Chasek, PhD
Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal
The 1989 Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal is an international treaty between 190 countries on the management, disposal, and transboundary movements of hazardous wastes produced worldwide. It is the oldest of the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions, which together tackle the life cycle of global chemicals and waste management.
Brief by Pamela Chasek, PhD
The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade
The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade is a global treaty between 165 countries that provides early warning to countries about a broad range of hazardous chemicals that are traded internationally. The information shared under the Convention, including whether a hazardous chemical is banned or severely restricted in other countries, enables governments to assess the risks posed by these chemicals to human health and the environment, and to make informed decisions on their import. It is one of the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions—a triad of agreements that together tackle the life cycle of global chemicals and waste management.
Brief by Pamela Chasek, PhD
Resumed 4th Meeting of the Intersessional Process for Considering SAICM and the Sound Management of Chemicals and Waste Beyond 2020
While delegates made great progress on a blueprint of a post-2020 instrument on the sound management of chemicals and waste, consensus was elusive in this multi-stakeholder process. Negotiations will continue on the eve of the International Conference on Chemicals Management in Bonn, Germany in September 2023.
13th Meeting of the Open-ended Working Group of the Basel Convention
Delegates had three days to address the challenges of updating the Basel Convention and its associated tools on issues including e-waste, plastic wastes, and modernizing the prior informed consent (PIC) procedure, while working to ensure the Convention is functioning effectively given the shifting landscape of chemicals and waste policy.