Regulating the International Hazardous Waste Trade: A Proposed Global Solution
![handle is hein.journals/cjtl28 and id is 809 raw text is: Regulating The International Hazardous
Waste Trade: A Proposed Global
Solution
INTRODUCTION
The complex practical problems of how and where to dispose of
the millions of tons of hazardous wastes' generated around the world
each year have elicited a tremendous amount of public attention and
concern in recent years. A large number of even the most technologi-
cally advanced industrial and chemical processes produce wastes,
many of which are considered hazardous due to their actual or poten-
tial dangers to human health and the environment. In response to the
vast amounts of hazardous wastes produced each year2 and growing
knowledge of the dangers resulting from improper waste disposal,3
1. For purposes of domestic legislation and international regulation, defining hazardous
waste is a difficult problem. Hazardous waste can be classified in several different ways: by
type, origin and constituent elements; by certain tested characteristics (i.e. ignitability, cor-
rosivity, toxicity and reactivity with water, air or other chemicals); or by their concentration
levels of harmful substances. The challenge is to develop a definition of hazardous waste that
is flexible yet neither too limited nor over-inclusive. See Yakowitz, Identfyin& Classifying and
Describing Hazardous Wastes, UNEP INDUS. & ENV'T, Jan.-Mar. 1988, at 3. Whether a spe-
cific waste is defined as hazardous can have significant economic implications, since nonhaz-
ardous wastes are subject to fewer regulations and are generally less expensive to dispose. See
Note, Issues and Policy Considerations Regarding Hazardous Waste Exports, 11 Hous. J. INL'
L. 373, 375 (1989). For the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) definition of haz-
ardous waste, see 40 C.F.R. §§ 261.3(a), 261.20-.24 (1989).
For purposes of this note, hazardous waste is broadly defined as waste posing a present or
potential risk to human health or to the environment if not properly treated, transported or
disposed. Such waste could result from any commercial, agricultural or industrial process.
Radioactive wastes are generally regarded as separate from other forms of hazardous wastes
and are specifically regulated by the International Atomic Energy Agency. As such, they are
outside the scope of this note. See infra notes 76-82 and accompanying text.
2. U.S. industries generate approximately two hundred fifty million tons of hazardous
wastes each year, an amount estimated to be ninety percent of all hazardous waste produced
around the world. U.S. Waste Exports: Hearing Before the Subcomm. on Human Rights and
International Organizations and the Subcomm. on International Econ. Policy and Trade of the
House Comm on Foreign Affairs, 101st Cong., 1st Sess. 2 (1989) [hereinafter 1989 Waste
Export Hearing] (statement of Rep. Gejdenson).
3. Some of the more common dangers associated with improper hazardous waste dispo-
sal are the contamination of soil and underground water supplies resulting from leachate
migration or surface run-off from the disposal site, and the destruction of natural habitats such
as rivers, lakes and fields. Contamination can result in major fish kills and livestock losses, as
well as increased risks of cancer and birth defects in humans. For a general discussion of the
problems and dangers of hazardous waste, see, e.g., S. EPSTEIN, L. BROWN & C. POPE, HAZ-
ARDOUS WASTE IN AMERICA (1982).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/cjtl28&div=43&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Regulating the International Hazardous Waste Trade: A Proposed Global Solution
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