Prominent texts from the past 20 years include:
‟
... the outcome document
from the UN Conference on
Sustainable Development, held
in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012
deals with chemicals and waste,
and is of particular relevance to
waste management.
strengthening co-operation among Governments,
NGOs, and other stakeholders.
INTERNATIONAL POLICY TEXTS
Waste management, aside from transboundary
movement issues, is mainly a national rather
than international issue. It therefore receives
limited international attention from international
bodies. However, from time to time, especially but
not exclusively in the sustainable development
context, policy texts on waste or dealing in part
with waste issues are adopted. These are,
generally speaking “normative” texts that set
policy norms or standards which are non-binding
in international law but establish expectations for
the policies that countries should adopt.
Agenda 21, adopted by the UN Conference on En
vironment and Development at Rio de Janeiro in
June 1992 – Chapter 20 on environmentally sound
management of hazardous wastes and Chapter
21 on environmentally sound management of
solid wastes are centrally relevant. Chapter 3 on
combating poverty, Chapter 4 on consumption
patterns and Chapter 7 on sustainable human
settlements are also relevant.
The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation,
adopted by the World Summit on Sustainable
Development at Johannesburg in May 2002 –
Section III focuses on
●●
sustainable production and consumption.
●●
cleaner production and eco-efficiency and
●●
waste management.
Mention was made in Part I of “The Future
We Want”, the outcome document from the
UN Conference on Sustainable Development,
held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012. It deals with
chemicals and waste, and is of particular relevance
to waste management. The text endorses:
●●
Public-private partnerships in waste
management
●●
Adopting a life-cycle approach and policies
for resource efficiency and environmentally
sound waste management
●●
Using approaches that recognise the 3Rs,
increasing energy from waste and treating
waste as a resource
●●
Preventing unsound management and
illegal dumping of hazardous wastes
●●
Addressing the problems associated with
electronic and plastic waste, in particular.
Other parts of the text address related issues
such as sustainable consumption and production;
sustainable cities and human settlements; and
poverty eradication. Chapter III on the green
economy is also relevant for countries considering
waste management policy options.
The Conference reaffirmed sustainable
consumption and production as a cornerstone of
sustainable development, and adopted the 10year Framework of Programmes for Sustainable
Consumption and Production as a concrete
outcome.
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