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Environmental harmful product dumping (“environmental dumping”) is the practice of transfrontier shipment of waste (household waste, industrial/nuclear waste, etc.) from one country to another. The goal is to take the waste to a country that has less strict environmental laws, or environmental laws that are not strictly enforced. The economic benefit of this practice is cheap disposal or recycling of waste without the economic regulations of the original country.

This historical dumping of hazardous waste was possible because less-developed countries did not always: 1) know what was being imported, 2) know what the hazards and trade-offs were, 3) have the enforcement structure in place to apprehend and halt imports, or 4) possess the political consensus and necessary independence to look out for their own national interests.^[1]

With the industrialization and globalization of China and other developing countries, environmental dumping can involve both developing and developed countries as origin and destination.^[1] Now, environmental harmful product dumping is analogous to economically harmful price dumping controlled under the World Trade Organization (WTO) which occurs when goods and services are sold in the importing country at prices below the selling price and/or cost of production in the country of export.^[2]

An example of an attempt at environmental dumping is the story of the decommissioned French aircraft carrier, the FS Clemenceau, which was originally sold to a ship breaking yard in Gujarat India to be demolished and recycled as scrap.^[3] The Indian Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that it could not enter Indian waters due to the high level of toxic waste and 700 tons of asbestos present on the ship, forcing the French government to take the Clemenceau back. The ship was subsequently blocked from entering the Suez Canal for the same reason. In 2009, the task of recycling the vessel was ultimately taken over by specialist recyclers at Hartlepool in the United Kingdom.^[4]

Environmental dumping

The modern definition of environmental dumping has necessarily evolved beyond the transboundary toxic waste dumping to include “the exporting of products to another country or territory that:

Contain hazardous substances,
Have environmental performance lower than is in the interest of consumers or that is contrary to the interests of the local and global commons, or
Can undermine the ability of the importing country to fulfill international environmental treaty commitments."^[1]

The shipment of waste between countries has been referred to as “transfrontier shipment” of waste. Transfrontier waste is shipped within the European Union (EU) and between the European Union and other countries. Most of this waste is traded by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The waste is typically non-hazardous and includes metals, plastics, and paper products. In 2007, it is estimated that OECD countries exported between 4 and 5 million tons of metal and paper waste. OECD countries also exported near a half of million tons of recovered plastics in 2007. Some of these wastes that are transported can be hazardous waste. These hazardous wastes can cause potential health risks to humans and the environment.^[5] According to the Basel Convention, there is at least 8 million tons of hazardous waste imported and exported every year.^[6]

The Basel Convention was created in 1989 but started enforcing rules in 1992. The purpose of the convention is to control the hazardous waste that was imported and exported throughout the EU. The convention is a great contributor to stopping the shipment of illegal waste.^{[citation needed]} In May 2005, 60 containers were seized that were on their way from the United Kingdom to China.^[6] The containers seized by Dutch authorities were supposed to be for paper but actually contained household wastes.^[6] Since neither the UK, China, nor Dutch had agreed to the importation of the wastes, the waste was shipped back. The Basel Convention also deals with the popular growing issue of E-waste. The Waste Shipment Regulation confirms what can be shipped to, from, and between EU countries. These regulation rules divide the waste into three separate lists: Green List, Amber List, and Red List.

Green List

These items are considered to be non-hazardous and more environmentally friendly. Some of these items may include paper and plastic that can be recycled. These types of shipment don’t have to receive prior permission to cross international waters and be shipped to parts of the European Union.

Amber List

Materials are considered to be mixed on this list containing both non-hazardous and hazardous parts. These materials can contain metal bearing wastes, organic and inorganic wastes, and/or organic or inorganic constituents. A company or country shipping these items would have to have prior consent before exporting the materials. As of 2007, consent for the shipment of waste is received by Dublin City Council.

Red List

This includes reasonably hazardous materials. These materials contain principally organic or inorganic constituents, which include polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs).

Ocean dumping

Shipment of waste from country to country can also involve dumping waste into the ocean. Ocean dumping has been a problem since the 19th century. In the United States, it was legal to dump industrial waste into the ocean until the Ocean Dumping Act was passed in 1972. During the years of 1970 and 1980 alone, it was estimated that 25 million tons of waste including scrap metal, chemicals, and acids were dumped into the ocean. Ocean dumping can lead to eutrophication which depletes the oxygen from the water, in turn killing marine life. Ocean dumping is placed into three lists: Gray List, Black List, and White List.

Gray List: Water is highly contaminated and toxic on the gray list. Some of the contaminants include arsenic, lead, acids, nickel, chromium, scrap metals, and radioactive materials.
Black List: The materials listed on the black list include mercury, cadmium, plastic, oil products, radioactive waste, and anything that is solely made for biological and chemical warfare. The materials on this list are highly potent and hazardous.
White List: The white list contains every other material not already mentioned in the above lists. This list is used to make sure nothing will be dumped into the ocean and disturb or damage the coral reef ecosystems.

The most recent example of hazardous waste being dumped into the ocean occurred along Côte d'Ivoire in Africa in 2006. Hundreds of tons of waste product were dumped into the ocean from a ship by the name of Probo Koala.^[7] The ship was chartered by an international oil trader in the Netherlands.^[7] The incident precipitated a health crisis and impacted the health of 100 000 people in the vicinity.^[8] The oil trader (Trafigura) paid 200 million dollars to help with cleanup.^[9] The owner of the local company that was responsible for disposing the chemicals in various places was given 20 years in jail.^[7]

In the European Union, new regulations on the shipment of hazardous and non-hazardous materials were implemented in 2007. According to the new regulations, the EU will no longer be able to export their hazardous wastes to developing countries that do not have the capabilities to deal with the waste in an environmentally friendly way. E-waste, such as computers, cannot be shipped to countries that are not in the EU or the European Free Trade Association. States and countries that are members of the EU or EFTA must conduct inspections periodically to make sure that all regulations are being followed and physically check containers to verify that the containers hold only what is authorized. Finally, if the country that is taking the waste is unable to accept or dispose of the waste then the sender must pay to take their waste back.^[10]

Ship dismantling

Ship dismantling is another form of trans frontier waste that is shipped from country to country. Many ships are broken down into parts that can be recycled. Many parts of the ships are hazardous and can potentially pollute the areas that they are broken down in. The ship parts can contain asbestos, PCB's, and oil sludge. All of these components can be a potential health risk and harm the environment. Most ship scrapping industries are in developing countries where the laws (environmentally as well as occupationally) are not as strict as in developed countries. International Maritime Organization states that India is the leader in ship dismantling, followed by China, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

The aircraft carrier Clemenceau was denied access to Indian waters because it contained asbestos. The French aircraft was carried from France to Britain to be recycled on February 8, 2009, despite the abundance of asbestos.

The EU Commission proposed improvements to be made to improve the ship dismantling as well as the ocean dumping process on November 19, 2008. Public consultations were held in 2009, and stakeholder workshops were organized between 2009 and 2011. On March 26, 2009, the EU Parliament adopted a resolution on the Communication that was adopted by the Commission on October 21, 2009.^[11]

The European Council's Conclusions endorse the Hong Kong Convention on environmentally responsible ship recycling, adopted in May 2009.^[12] According to the International Maritime Organization, he Hong Kong Convention “intends to address all the issues around ship recycling, including the fact that ships sold for scrapping may contain environmentally hazardous substances such as asbestos, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, ozone-depleting substances and others. It also addresses concerns raised about the working and environmental conditions at many of the world's ship recycling locations.”^[13] recycling is very important when it comes to recycling devices

The Montreal Protocol strategy to stop harmful product dumping

In the context of refrigeration and air conditioning equipment, increasingly necessary in a warming world, environmental dumping includes: “1) export of technology that cannot legally be sold in the country of export as a consequence of failure to meet environmental, safety, energy efficiency, or other product standards; and 2) export of technology that is unusable in the country of export because refrigerants are no longer available because of national regulation or phaseout and phasedown control schedules under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer”.^[1]

Transboundary toxic waste regimes are directed at managing and controlling transboundary shipments (including dumping in less-developed countries) of end-of-life equipment. In contrast, the Montreal Protocol is designed to top-down phaseout the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) – such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs, halons, hydrofluorocarbons (HCFCs), and methyl bromide; and phasedown the production and consumption of ozone-safe hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).^[14]

Environmental dumping especially hinders attempts under the Montreal Protocol to control ozone-depleting and climate-forcing chemical substances and/or products requiring unnecessarily high energy consumption. While developing country Parties to the Montreal Protocol are allowed to delay their phasedown of climate-forcing and ozone-depleting hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) during a multi-year grace period consistent with the principal of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, there are advantages to earlier implementation when superior alternatives are already available at reasonable costs, as is the case for many uses of HFCs today.^[1]

Decision of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol addresses dumping of cooling appliances (2022)

To strengthen the Montreal Protocol, Ghana on behalf of all African States parties to the Montreal Protocol proposed a Decision that the Montreal Protocol Parties negotiated and adopted as Decision XXXIV/4 at the Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in November 2022. Decision XXXIV/4 invites parties that have restricted the manufacture and/or import of certain refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pump products and equipment containing or relying on controlled substances, including with respect to energy efficiency, and that do not want to receive such products and equipment from other parties against payment or free of charge, to submit specific information to the Secretariat of the Montreal Protocol for discussion and consideration at the Forty-Fifth Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) and Thirty-Fifth Meeting of the Parties (MOP) in 2023.^[15]

In parallel, the Montreal Protocol Parties reached Decision XXXIV/3 that requests the Montreal Protocol Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) further investigate claims of environmentally harmful dumping of cooling equipment.^[15]

These decisions set the stage for further deliberation of and future decisions on the topic of preventing environmental dumping of inefficient cooling equipment containing or using high-GWP refrigerants with the ambition is to open markets to superior cooling appliances with savings in electricity cost spent locally.^[16]