Careless handling of toxic waste in poor countries is causing extensive damage to people and the environment every year. Environment minister Troels Lund Poulsen has therefore written to 21 environment ministers in developing countries around the world asking them to ratify the Basel Convention’s ban on the transportation of hazardous waste from rich countries to poor countries. The environment minister is also ready to dispatch a mobile team to help countries implement the ban.

”The illegal export of hazardous waste is a serious matter which I am looking into. Pictures of hazardous waste which has been dumped in poor countries where it constitutes serious health and environmental issues must be a thing of the past. That is why we want more countries to endorse the Basel Convention so that the export ban applies not just to the EU but also to the rest of the world,” says Mr. Lund Poulsen.

The export ban was agreed on in 1995, has been in force in EU member states since 1997, but has not yet been implemented on a worldwide basis, as too few countries have agreed to the rules. Denmark has therefore decided to speed up the process. Mr. Lund Poulsen commented on the initiative saying: "I hope that my letter to key environment ministers and our offer to send a mobile team will help the process move up a gear. Hazardous waste has to be controlled so that human health and our environment are not harmed by careless handling of, for example, toxic and chemical waste.”

There are industrial as well as developing countries on the list of countries that have not yet agreed to the ban, including, for example, a number of key countries such as the USA, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. We therefore need international pressure to turn the agreement into a worldwide reality.

The environment minister’s letter is part of a project which comes under the remit of the Nordic Council which Denmark is coordinating. The letters have been sent to the environment ministers in the following countries: Mexico, Zambia, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Iran, Malawi, Peru, Pakistan, Vietnam, Senegal, the Seychelles and Namibia.

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