Hazardous Waste Management

The basic qualitative indicator Hazardous Waste refers to the existence of regulations controlling hazardous waste. The presence of regulations themselves should also promote environmentally sound management of hazardous waste. Amounts and rates of generation of hazardous waste are the main quantitative indicators. To assess a country’s hazardous waste treatment and disposal capacity, imports and exports of hazardous waste should be taken into account. Many Asian countries have ratified the Basel Convention and compile the required data for submission to the convention secretariat every year. Such data covers information on hazardous waste regulations, existing facilities, generation and import and export.
As regards disposal, it is preferable to dispose of non-recyclable hazardous waste at the location of its generation. However, in the absence of appropriate domestic treatment or disposal facilities, it should be exported to an environmentally sound facility through the ‘prior notice and consent’ procedure. Environmentally sound management is also a prerequisite for export of recyclable hazardous waste . In accordance with the economies of scale of recycling technologies and pollution prevention, and due to fragmentation of the production processes involved, resource efficiency may be improved by providing regional recycling centres.