Responsibility And Liability In The Context Of Transboundary Movements Of Hazardous Wastes By Sea

The term “hazardous wastes” covers a wide range of disused products and production wastes generated not only in industrial sectors, but also in all areas of everyday life. Hazardous wastes are to a large extent shipped by sea to third countries for recycling or disposal. While the procedural requirements for such movements are laid out in the 1989 Basel Convention, explicit rules of responsibility and liability for resulting damages are neither provided by the Basel Convention nor by other international conventions. The Liability Protocol to the Basel Convention of 1999 has not yet entered into force. This book examines the existing rules of responsibility and liability applying to States and private persons and outlines the conditions under which liability may be incurred. Subsequently, the advantages and shortcomings of the 1999 Liability Protocol are analyzed. Although this Protocol faces substantial political headwind, from a legal perspective it includes principally useful and reasonable approaches and should therefore be ratified.

This work deals with the international response to one of the serious environmental problems we face: transboundary traffic in hazardous wastes. The book analyses the key international treaties in this field, and proposes ways to build a comprehensive global waste management regime.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License. It is free to read, download and share on Elgaronline.com. In this authoritative book, Ioanna Hadjiyianni and Kleoniki Pouikli incisively map out the regulatory landscape of ship recycling, exploring the main international and European regulatory approaches that govern its environmental impacts. In light of the transnational demands of environmental justice, they critically assess the interaction between multiple regimes from the perspective of key environmental principles and the EU’s attempts to steer regulatory developments in this field.

Waste management poses increasing challenges to both the protection of the environment and to human health. To face these challenges, this book claims that environmental law needs to shift attention from media-specific pollution regimes to integrative life-cycle approaches of waste management i.e., from the prevention of waste generation to the actual handling of wastes. Furthermore, the cooperation of States and the establishment of coordinated activities is essential because states can no longer have separate standards for wastes posing transboundary risks and for ‘purely domestic’ wastes. Drawing upon both International and EU law, the book provides a detailed analysis of the regimes set up to deal with the transboundary movement of wastes and ship-source pollution, so as to elucidate the obligations and legal principles governing such regimes. It concludes that treaty obligations concerning transboundary movements of wastes are inapplicable to ship wastes while on board ships and on land. However, despite the limitations of the transboundary movement of wastes regime, the principle of Environmentally Sound Management (ESM) embodied in this regime has gradually transformed into a legal principle. ESM works to address the legal gaps in the regulation of wastes, and consequently, it provides the desired coherence to the legal system since it acts as a bridge between several regulatory and sectoral levels. Furthermore, ESM offers a new light with which to understand and interpret existing obligations, and it provides a renewed impetus to regimes that directly and indirectly govern wastes. This impetus translates into greater coordination and the establishment of cross-sectional policies. By offering alternative ways to solve problems linked to the management of ship wastes in the sea-land interface, this book will appeal to anyone with an interest in International Environmental Law.

Can waste become a profitable business rather than a costly problem, creating green business opportunities and green jobs while protecting the environment? Might this reduce illegal trade and improper recycling of hazardous wastes by making the legitimate alternatives more attractive? Addressing these questions, this book examines environmentally sound waste management as a driver in the transition to a green economy, and discusses how this transition is challenged by technical limitations, weak regulatory environments and lack of financial incentives.

The new edition of this essential text offers a comprehensive, critical and future-thinking commentary on international environmental law.

A full examination of global legal rules governing liability for environmental harm in areas beyond the national jurisdiction of states.

This book concerns the developments in the field of e-waste management with a particular focus on urban mining, sustainability, and circular economy aspects. It explains e-waste recycling technologies, supply chain aspects, and e-waste disposal in IT industries, including health and environmental effects of e-waste recycling processes, and associated issues, challenges, and solutions. Further, it describes the economic potential of resource recovery from e-waste. Features: Covers recent developments in e-waste management Explores technological advances, such as nanotech from e-waste, MREW, fungal biotech, and so forth Reviews electronic component recycling aspects Discusses the implementation of circular economy in the e-waste sector Includes urban mining and sustainability aspects of e-waste This book is aimed at graduate students and researchers in environmental engineering, waste management, urban mining, circular economy, waste processing, electronics, and telecommunication engineering, electrical and electronics engineering, and chemical engineering.