Environmentally sound management of electronic scrap and the Basel Convention on control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal

The electronics industry faces a challenge, perhaps a legal responsibility, and in some respects an opportunity, to take back and manage, on an international scale, in an environmentally sound manner, hundreds of millions of pieces of electronic equipment. But every manner of management is subject to regulation. The Basel Convention, the primary mechanism for control of international movements of hazardous waste, defines "waste" to include any material intended for "disposal" and defines "disposal" to include all forms of reuse and recycling. It defines a waste as "hazardous" if, under virtually any circumstances, its "disposal" may have an adverse environmental effect. By its terms, and in actual practice under its enforcement, electronic scrap and complete used computers are hazardous waste. The Convention thus has a substantial impact upon international efforts to reuse, recycle, and reclaim electronic equipment and electronic scrap. This paper describes elements of a management system applicable under the Convention for control and environmentally sound management of computers, electronic materials and scrap.