E‐products, E‐waste and the Basel Convention: Regulatory Challenges and Impossibilities of International Environmental Law

• Author: Sabaa Ahmad Khan
• Date: 01 July 2016
• Published date: 01 July 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12163

E-products, E-waste and the Basel Convention:

Regulatory Challenges and Impossibilities of

International Environmental Law

Sabaa Ahmad Khan*

Electronic waste is recognized as the fastest growing haz-

ardous waste stream of the twenty-f‌irst century. Because

e-waste streams contain highly valuable precious metals

and other secondary resources as well as hazardous toxic

substances, the issue of their regulation lies at a liminal

space between products and wastes. This complex legal

interface engages the distinct and sometimes contradictory

international regimes of liberalized trade and environmen-

tal protection. With most global f‌lows of e-waste being

treated by informal recycling industries in developing

countries, and given the continued structural exclusion of

these marginalized e-waste recycling sectors from off‌icial

waste governance paradigms, the globalization of e-waste

raises important environmental justice and North–South

development issues. The present article examines the dis-

cussion of e-waste within international environmental

law. In particular, it assesses new guideline developments

under the Basel Convention on Transboundary Move-

ments of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal. It is argued

that despite its overarching objectives in relation to human

health and environmental protection, the Basel Convention

and the newly adopted Technical Guidelines on E-waste

primarily ensure the continued circulation of obsolete elec-

tronic commodities in conditions that reproduce interna-

tional externalities. The impossibility of this international

environmental regime to foster any meaningful and

authoritative notion of accountability over hazardous

wastes that are generated through transboundary f‌lows

of ‘products’inevitably limits its potential to curb the

externalization of hazardous waste pollution to vulnerable

populations who suffer the most acute health risks of

global hi-tech production, consumption and reproduction.

In essence, the success of this international regime over

‘wastes’depends very critically on its coupling with

national legislative controls over ‘products’and more

importantly, necessitates serious ref‌lection on the legal

dimensions of the notion of sustainable consumption.

INTRODUCTION

The pervasion of human–computer interaction in all

aspects of daily life is a salient feature of the

contemporary global economy, one that presents new

concerns in relation to environmental and human

health. While the emergence and popularity of new

electronic products in all world markets continue to

facilitate human life to almost instant gratif‌ication, it is

when we begin to consider the environmental burden of

these products that their short life cycles and prevalent

use become problematic.

This article focuses on the globalization of e-waste with

a view to understanding to what extent the problematic

social and ecological impacts of the incessantly growing

transboundary waste resource economy have been –

and can be –addressed or not under international envir-

onmental law. It begins with a discussion on the spatial

dynamics of the globalization of e-waste, highlighting

the relevant regulatory issues that have emerged in

association with global e-waste trading. It goes on to

pinpoint weaknesses of the current international legal

framework governing transboundary movements of

hazardous wastes with respect to regulating interna-

tional transfers of e-waste. It argues that the current

international environmental regime governing trans-

boundary movements of e-waste primarily ensures the

continued circulation of obsolete electronic commod-

ities in conditions that reproduce the externalization of

hazardous waste pollution. Positing that the success of

this international regime over ‘wastes’depends very

critically on its coupling with national legislative con-

trols over ‘products’, the article subsequently highlights

the role of extended producer responsibility legislation

as a necessary part of the governance complex that is

required to abate global e-waste pollution. Concluding

remarks point to the importance of continuing to

enhance our understanding of the legal dimensions of

the notion of sustainable consumption in order to

meaningfully weave together the regulatory worlds of

e-products and e-wastes.

THE GLOBALIZATION OF E-WASTE

The impressive pace at which electronic products

become available, accessible, obsolete and upgraded for

a constantly expanding global consumer market has led

to the generation of 41.8 million tonnes of electronic

* Corresponding author.

Email: sabaa.ahmadkhan@uef.f‌i

ª2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.

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RECIEL 25 (2) 2016. ISSN 2050-0386 DOI: 10.1111/reel.12163

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Review of European Community & International Environmental Law