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International Waste Agreements
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The United States is party to major international waste agreements with Canada, Mexico, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). More limited agreements are in place with Costa Rica, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In addition, the US is a signatory to the Basel Convention. These agreements between the US and other countries impact the handling of wastes shipped across national borders:- Canada - The original 1986 agreement (PDF) (10 pp, 317K) between Canada and the
United States regarding the transboundary shipment of hazardous waste
between the two countries. The bilateral agreement, among other goals,
seeks to provide both countries with safe, low cost options for managing
waste for which there is either a lack of domestic capacity or the
technology to appropriately manage the waste.
- Mexico -The 1986 agreement between Mexico and the United States (PDF) (20 pp, 303K) regarding the transboundary shipment of hazardous wastes between the two countries.
- OECD - The 2001 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) Decision (PDF) (43 pp, 196K) revising Council Decision C(92)/39/final) on the control
of transboundary movements of wastes destined for recovery operations.
- Basel Convention - The 1989 Basel Convention on the Control
of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal is
a multilateral environmental agreement negotiated by the United Nations
among more than 160 ratifying nations. The Basel Convention regulates
the import and export of hazardous waste and establishes legal obligations
to ensure that such wastes are managed in an environmentally sound manner.
- Secretariat of the Basel Convention
- US role in the Basel Convention
- Secretariat of the Basel Convention
- Costa Rica, Malaysia, and the Philippines - The Agreement Between the Government of America and the Government of Malaysia Concerning the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes from Malaysia to the United States (1995), the Agreement on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste from Costa Rica to the United States (1997), and the Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines Concerning the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes from the Philippines to the United States (2001) are bilateral agreements that provide only for the export of hazardous wastes from these countries into the US.