NEW DELHI, February 23: The fate of hundreds of Indian factories hangs in balance as the fourth meeting of the conference of parties to Basel Convention which regulates international trade in hazardous substances gets under way in Malaysia this week.Due to lack of clarity on the issue, "hundreds of factories are shut with some running into trouble with the banks as they cannot pay back their loans", according to V R Subramanium of the industry-backed Lead and Zinc Information Centre.
Subramanium, who left for Malayasia to put the recyclers' case forward, said that the industry was interested in importing secondary lead and zinc in the form of scrap and skimmings.
On the other hand, environmental groups say these materials are hazardous and importing them would make India the dumping yard of the western nations. Even the Director General of Foreign Trade has put zinc ash and skimmings on the negative list.
Nityanand Jayaraman of Greenpeace International said that many western countries like Australia,Netherlands and US were trying to break the ban. "These countries will use non-OECD countries as pawns in their efforts to export their hazardous wastes to developing countries," he said. At the meeting, government ministers will specify the hazardous wastes that will be subject to a worldwide export ban from developed to developing countries.
Discussions will be based on two lists developed by the Basel Convention's Technical Working Group. The "first hazardous waste list" would ban the export of wastes containing arsenic, lead, mercury, asbestos, and dozens of other chemicals and substances. The "second non-hazardous" list would wastes that normally not be covered by the treaty.
These are wastes that can be safely (and profitably) recycled or re-used, including scrap iron, steel or copper, certain electronic assemblies, non-hazardous chemical catalysts, and many ceramics, solid plastics and paper and textile wastes. The adoption of these lists will help clarify the rules of the game and enablegovernments to "satisfy both environmental and economic concerns", feel United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) officials. Indian officials want a clear categorisation of wastes which are covered by the convention, and which are not, so that countries can make informed economic decisions.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
