Understanding Recent Changes to Basel Convention on Transboundary Waste Movements

In 1989, countries around the world gathered in Basel, Switzerland, where they would eventually establish an international treaty, known as the Basel Convention, to prevent dumping of wastes in developing countries. The Convention applies restrictions to movements of hazardous (Annex I) and other (Annex II) wastes.

The United State is one of two countries that signed but never ratified the treaty. The U.S. signed the Basel Convention in 1990. The United States, however, has not ratified the Convention because it does not have sufficient domestic statutory authority to implement all of its provisions. Another reason is that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) definition of hazardous waste did not (and to this day, still does not) align with the Basel Convention’s.

In 2019, the Convention met and determined that plastic was the biggest threat to our oceans. The Convention added certain plastic waste to Annex II (other wastes), limiting its movement between countries without prior informed consent (PIC), while at the same time exempting plastic waste mostly originating from packaging in Annex IX from the PIC requirement. The amendment went into effect on Jan. 1, 2021, and as you may imagine, directly affects the plastics industry. However, its impact for the most part is limited to plastics containing organohalogens and certain halogens; PVC/vinyl, is one of the plastics that is directly impacted, given that it contains halogen and is not specifically exempted like many fluoropolymers are.

The amendment singles out PVC.

Interestingly, the Basel Convention made exceptions to continue to allow for international transport without PIC of nearly every type of plastic, except brominated and chlorinated flame retarded plastics and PVC. And what’s rather incredulous is that a primary outcome of the Basel Convention was to combat ocean plastic waste; however, there is no evidence to suggest that PVC is even a significant portion of ocean plastic waste.

To provide some comparison, PVC accounts for about 11% of global plastics manufacturing, and scientists advising the Basel Convention have made the false assumption that this must mean that 11% of ocean plastic waste must also be PVC. However, in 2018, according to the American Chemistry Council’s Resin Report, PVC production made up 13.3% of U.S. plastics manufacturing – yet PVC was only 2.6% of all plastic that was landfilled. Most PVC is used in durable applications with little used in single use packaging. The correlation the Basel Convention is drawing is just plain inaccurate, unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.

While noble in concept, the plastic waste amendment is a restriction that can impede recycling.

The Vinyl Institute (VI) understands the great impact of ocean plastic waste, and we fully support finding methods to reduce this, but the Basel Convention actions need to be science-based. Our membership supports and are members of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, for example. And our association is active in advancing sustainable practices and have an aggressive PVC recycling goal. PIC poses a bureaucratic implementation problem, as there is no clear guidance from the Convention as to how governments receive incoming shipments or approve the destined recycling facility. This is causing denials of U.S. plastic scrap, including PVC, shipment that could be legitimately used by international manufacturing and recycling facilities. These unnecessary restrictions force the shipping company to prepare complicated prior approval paperwork and wait to receive bureaucratic approval.  Other plastics don’t have to face this hurdle, despite causing more ocean waste issues.

In addition, the Basel Convention’s naming conventions could use reconsideration. The amendment is called the plastic waste amendment, which would signify that since it’s waste, the materials are no longer able to be used, and it’s ready to be discarded. But that’s not the case for much of the plastic scrap that would be crossing these boundaries – and instead, materials that could be recycled elsewhere, are unable to be.

PVC materials are highly recyclable and are recycled. In the U.S. and Canada, some 1.1 billion pounds of vinyl materials from pre- and post-consumer sources are recycled annually. The U.S. and Canada established a bilateral agreement in late 2020 to continue movement of PVC scrap without the Basel PIC requirement, since so much scrap material is exchanged between our two countries for recycling into new PVC products. This bilateral agreement recognizes the value that can be achieved by keeping PVC scrap flowing without the restrictions placed on it by the Basel Convention.

One of the best ways to combat plastic pollution and plastic waste is to invest in recycling. If the Basel Convention is truly interested in combating ocean plastic waste, the Convention should promote the responsible transfer of recyclable materials across boundaries, instead of putting impediments in its way.