A paradigm of international environmental law: The case for controlling the transboundary movements of hazardous wastes

The production of large quantities of wastes globally has created a commerc ial activity involving the transfrontier shipments of hazardous wastes, int ended to be managed at economically attractive waste-handling facilities lo cated elsewhere. In fact, huge quantities of hazardous wastes apparently tr avel the world in search of "acceptable" waste management facilities. For i nstance, within the industrialized countries alone, millions of tonnes of p otentially hazardous waste Gross national frontiers each year on their way for recycling or to treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDFs) bec ause there is no local disposal capacity for these wastes, or because legal disposal or reuse in a foreign country may be more environmentally sound, or managing the wastes in the foreign country may be less expensive than at home. The cross-boundary traffic in hazardous wastes has lately been tinde r close public scrutiny, however, resulting in the accession of several int ernational agreements and laws to regulate such activities. This paper disc usses and analyzes the most significant control measures and major agreemen ts in this new commercial activity involving hazardous wastes. In particula r, the discussion recognizes the difficulties with trying to implement the relevant international agreements among countries of vastly different socio economic backgrounds. Nonetheless, it is also noted that global environment al agreements will generally be a necessary component of ensuring adequate environmental protection for the world community-and thus a need for the ca reful implementation of such agreements and regulations.