Global waste trade

Background on Global Waste Trade (Political Economy of Global Trade)

The global waste trade is the international trade of waste between countries, for further treatment, disposal, or recycling. Toxic or hazardous wastes are often exported from developed countries to developing countries, also known as countries of the Global South. Therefore, the burden of the toxicity of wastes from Western countries falls predominantly onto developing countries. The World Bank Report What a Waste: A Global Review of Solid Waste Management, describes the amount of solid waste produced in a given country. “MSW [municipal solid waste] generation rates are influenced by economic development, the degree of industrialization, public habits, and local climate. Generally, the higher the economic development and rate of urbanization, the greater the amount of solid waste produced” (World Bank Report, What a Waste: A Global Review of Solid Waste Management). Therefore, it is apparent that the magnitude of waste produced is directly dependent economic development and urbanization. Meaning that countries in the Global North, which are more developed economically, produce more solid waste than Global South countries.

In this section, the historical, global, economic policies and their direct implications on Global Waste Trade will be exhibited. Numerous scholars and researchers have linked the sharp increase in waste trading to the prevalence of neoliberal economic policy. Focusing on the major economic transition towards neoliberal economic policy [crosslink] in the 1980s, the shift in political economy towards “free-market” policy demonstrates the sharp increase in global waste trade. Henry Giroux, [crosslink] Global TV Network Chair in English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University, gives his definition of neoliberal economic policy: “Neoliberalism ...removes economics and markets from the discourse of social obligations and social costs. ...As a policy and political project, neoliberalism is wedded to the privatization of public services, selling off of state functions, deregulation of finance and labor, elimination of the welfare state and unions, liberalization of trade in goods and capital investment, and the marketization and commodification of society” . Given this economic platform of privatization, neoliberalism is based on expanding free-trade agreements and establishing open-borders to international trade markets. Trade liberalization [crosslink] policies in particular, designed to further developing countries’ economies and integrate them into the global economy, have come at a price. According to the International Monetary Fund, “progress of integration has been uneven in recent decades” (IMF November 2001 Report).

Specifically, developing countries, mainly of the Global South, have been targeted by trade liberalization policies to incur waste as a means of economic expansion. The guiding neoliberal economic policy argues that the way to integrate into the global economy is by participating in trade liberalization and exchanging in international trade markets.

Global Waste Trade

Current trade flows of waste throughout the world follow a pattern of waste being produced in the Global North/Western world and being exported/disposed of in the Global South. As mentioned earlier, multiple factors affect which countries produce waste, and at what magnitude, including: geographic location, degree of industrialization, and level of integration into the global economy.

Arguments Supporting Global Waste Trade

Current supporters of global waste trade argue that it is an economic transaction which can benefit countries with little to offer the global economy. Countries which do not have the production capacity to manufacture high quality products can import waste to stimulate their economy.

Lawrence Summers, former President of Harvard University and Chief Economist of the World Bank, issued a confidential memo arguing for global waste trade in 1991. The memo stated:

“I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that… I’ve always thought that countries in Africa are vastly under polluted; their air quality is probably vastly inefficiently low compared to Los Angeles… Just between you and me shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging more migration of the dirty industries to the Least Developed Countries?”

The logic here being purely motivated by economics, financial profit, demonstrates the main argument to support global waste trade. The Cato Institute published an article supporting global waste trade suggesting that “there is little evidence that hazardous wastes, which are often chronic carcinogens, contribute to death rates in developing countries” (Johnson 401). Elaborating on this point, the article argues that “people in developing countries would rationally accept increased exposure to hazardous pollutants in exchange for opportunities to increase their productivity—and, hence, their income” (Johnson 401).

Overall, the argument for global waste trade rests largely upon a perception that developing countries need economic development. Supporters suggest that in engaging in global waste trade to developing countries of the Global South, their economies will grow at the expense of accruing hazardous materials.

Johnson, J. “Potential Gains from Trade in Dirty Industries: Revisiting Lawrence Summers’ Memo.” Cato Institute.

Critiques of Global Waste Trade

Critics of the global waste trade claim that lack of regulation and failed policies have allowed developing nations to become toxic dump yards for hazardous waste. The ever-increasing amounts of hazardous waste being shipped to developing countries increases the disproportionate risk that the people in these nations face. Critics of the effects of the global waste trade emphasize the enormous amount of hazardous wastes that people in poorer countries must deal with. They highlight the fact that most of the world’s hazardous wastes are produced by Western countries (the United States and Europe), yet the people who suffer negative health effects from these wastes are from poorer countries that did not produce this waste.

Peter Newell, Professor of Development Studies, argues that “environmental inequality reinforces and, at the same time reflects, other forms of hierarchy and exploitation along lines of class, race and gender” (Newell 70). Arguing that the detrimental effects of hazardous waste trade affects the disadvantaged more than others, critics of global waste trade suggest that the implications of dumping hazardous waste has significant consequences for People of Color, women, and low-income people in particular.

Critiquing the global waste trade for reproducing inequality on a global scale, many activists, organizers, and environmentalists from regions affected in the Global South have vocalized their disappointment with global waste trade policies. ...

T.V. Reed, Professor of English and American Studies at Washington State University, argues that the correlation between historical colonialism and toxic colonialism is based on perceptions of indigenous land as ‘waste.’ He argues that Western cultures have deemed indigenous land as “underdeveloped” and “empty,” and that the people inhabiting it are therefore less “civilized.” Using the historical premises of colonialism, toxic colonialism reproduces these same arguments by defining Global South land as expendable for Western wastes.

Toxic Colonialism, Environmental Justice, and Native Resistance in Silko's "Almanac of the Dead" T. V. Reed MELUS , Vol. 34, No. 2, Ethnicity and Ecocriticism (Summer, 2009) , pp. 25-42. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20532677.

Toxic Colonialism

Toxic colonialism, defined as the process by which “underdeveloped states are used as inexpensive alternatives for the export or disposal of hazardous waste pollution by developed states,” is the core critique against the global waste trade. Toxic colonialism represents the neocolonial policy which continues to maintain global inequality today through unfair trade systems, . Toxic colonialism, uses the term colonialism because “the characteristics of colonialism, involving economic dependence, exploitation, and cultural inequality are intimately associated within the new realm of toxic waste colonialism” (Pratt 587). Furthermore, toxic waste colonialism,” where still poses an interesting problem for the successful global management of transboundary hazardous waste”

http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1519&context=wmelpr

Newell, Peter. "Race, Class, and the Global Politics of Environmental Inequality." Global Environmental Politics 5.3 (2005): 70-94. MIT Press Journals. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. <http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/1526380054794835>. Pellow, David N., Adam Weinberg, and Allan Schnaiberg. "The Environmental Justice Movement: Equitable Allocations of the Costs and Benefits of Environmental Management Outcomes." Social Justice Research 14.4 (2001): 423-39. Springer Link. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

Electronic Waste

Various studies have investigated the environmental and health effects upon the people who live and work around electronic waste dumps. (Link to Electronic Waste page). Heavy metals, toxins, and chemicals leak from these waste dumps into surrounding waterways and groundwater, poisoning the local people. People who work in these dumps, as well as local children searching for items to sell, are also exposed to these deadly toxins.

Electronic Waste Dump of the World: Giuyu, China

One such study compares the levels of heavy metals in Giuyu [INCLUDE CROSS REFERENCE TO GIUYU PAGE] to the levels in other cities, illustrating the alarming differences between locations that are on the receiving end of the hazardous waste trade and those that are on the producing end. It also shows how these toxic chemicals spread to surrounding areas such as rivers and rice paddies, spreading the contamination over vast distances. (Link to Electronic Waste page under “Electronic Waste Dump of the World: Guiyu, China” section). Wong, M.h., S.c. Wu, W.j. Deng, X.z. Yu, Q. Luo, A.o.w. Leung, C.s.c. Wong, W.j. Luksemburg, and A.s. Wong. "Export of Toxic Chemicals – A Review of the Case of Uncontrolled Electronic-Waste Recycling." Environmental Pollution 149.2 (2007): 131-40. Print.

Incinerator Ash

Khiar Sea Incident

An example of incinerator ash being dumped onto the Global South from the Global North in an unjust trade exchange is the Khiar Sea [INCLUDE CROSS REFERENCE TO KHIAR SEA PAGE] waste disposal incident. Carrying 14,000 tons of ash from an incinerator in Philadelphia, the cargo ship, Khian Sea, was to dispose of its waste (Additional Case Studies). However, upon being rejected by The Dominican Republic, Panama, Honduras, Bermuda, Guinea Bissau, and the Dutch Antilles, the crew finally dumped a portion of the ash near Haiti (Additional Case Studies). After changing the name of the ship twice to try and conceal the original identity, Senegal, Morocco, Yemen, Sri Lanka, and Singapore still banned the ship’s entry (Additional Case Studies). Upon consistent rejections, the ash is believed to have been disposed of in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans (Basel Action Network). Following this disaster of handling hazardous waste, the Haitian government banned all waste imports leading a movement to recognize all of the disastrous consequences of this global waste trade. Based on the Khian Sea waste disposal incident and similar events, the Basel Convention was written to resist what is known to developing countries as ‘toxic colonialism’ (Dalyell 50). It was open for signature in March 1989 and went into effect in May 1992 (United Nations Treaty Collection). The U.S. has signed the treaty, but has yet to ratify it (United Nations Treaty Collection).

Chemical Waste

Chemical waste is extremely difficult and costly to dispose of. It poses many problems and health risks upon exposure, and must be carefully treated in toxic waste processing facilities.

Italy to Nigeria PCB shipment

One example of chemical waste being exported from the Global North onto the Global South was the event of an Italian business man seeking to avoid European economic regulations. Allegedly exporting 4,000 tons of toxic waste, containing 150 tons of PCBs [INCLUDE CROSS REFERENCE TO PCBs], the Italian businessman made $4.3 million in shipping hazardous waste to Nigeria (Okaru 138). The Fordham Environmental Law Review published an article titled “The Basel Convention: Controlling the Movement of Hazardous Wastes to Developing Countries,” explaining the impacts of the toxic waste imposed on Nigeria in further detail. “Mislabelling the garbage as fertilizers, the Italian company deceived a retired/illiterate timber worker into agreeing to store the poison in his backyard at the Nigerian river port of Koko for as little as 100 dollars a month. These toxic chemicals were exposed to the hot sun and to children playing nearby. They leaked into the Koko water system resulting in the death of nineteen villagers who ate contaminated rice from a nearby farm” (Okaru 139). This is just one example of how the traditional trade flow, from developed Western countries has severely, unfairly, and disproportionately impacted developing countries in the Global South. Clapp, J. "Africa, NGOs, and the International Toxic Waste Trade." The Journal of Environment & Development 3.2 (1994): 17-46. Print. Okaru, Valentina O. "The Basil Convention: Controlling the Movement of Hazardous Wastes to Developing Countries." Fordham Environmental Law Review 6th ser. 4.2 (2011): 137-65. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.

Shipbreaking in Asia

Another danger to developing countries is the growing issue of shipbreaking occurring mostly in Asia. Industrialized countries seeking to retire used vessels find it cheaper to send these ships to Asia for dismantling. China and Bangladesh are seen as the two hubs of shipbreaking in Asia. One of the main issues lies in the fact that these ships which are now too aged to continue, were constructed at a time with less environmental regulation. In A China Environmental Health Fact Sheet titled A Toxic Trade: Shipbreaking in Asia, Samantha Jones articulates the immense impact this new toxic trade sector has on workers. “These older ships contain potentially health-damaging substances such as the fire retardant asbestos; the anti-corrosives lead oxide and zinc chromate; and antifouling paints that often contain mercury, arsenic, and tributyl tin (TBT). Similar to other developing countries, ship breaking in China is often done by workers who lack proper equipment or protective gear” (Jones 2). Jones, Samantha L. "A Toxic Trade: Ship Breaking in China." A China Environmental Health Project Fact Sheet (2007): n. pag. Web. <http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/shipbreaking_feb1.pdf>.