BAN, in partnership with several other NGOs are pleased to invite you all to two important OEWG12 side events taking place on Wednesday September 2nd. These online side events dive deep into two of the hottest topics of the Convention -- e-Waste and Plastic Waste. We hope you can join us!

e-Wastes: Closing the Remaining Loopholes

While the blatant trade and dumping of electronic waste has lessened in certain areas of the world, large volumes of toxic e-trash still moves across the globe to exploit weaker economies in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Many of these exports are "justified" as being exported for repair and subsequent reuse. However, if "repairables" are considered non-waste as is now proposed in the interim e-Waste Guidelines of the Basel Convention, the trafficking in broken electronics can fall completely outside of the control regime of the Convention and countries will be powerless to stop it even when the repair operations are very polluting, or the repair simply never happens at all.

This side event by BAN and Arnika/IPEN will reveal recent findings of the world's highest levels of brominated dioxins ever -- found in chicken eggs in Ghana's e-waste burning grounds. It will also examine the new proposal by Ghana and Switzerland to control "non-hazardous" e-waste, as well as the most recent decisions on the issue of the Bamako Convention. Finally, we will discuss how we can and must take the lead from Africa and properly close the last glaring "repairables loophole" that continues to allow unscrupulous traders to engage in exploitive e-waste trade and dumping. To attend the side event you must pre-register.

Date: September 2
Time: 9:00-10:00 a.m. (UTC+2)

Register here: https://unep-brs.webex.com/unep-brs/j.php?RGID=rb660e583b545465ed1827d3cb2c658af

Hidden Dangers in Plastic Waste: The Next Basel Challenge

COP14's recent amendments to adjust Annexes II, VIII and IX for certain mixed and contaminated polymer waste was an important step in preventing dangerous and irresponsible trade. However, what was not revealed at COP14 was the fact that most plastics, including those currently on the non-hazardous waste list (Annex IX) are not solely polymers but contain numerous hazardous additives which should qualify them as being hazardous wastes (Annex VIII), or at the very least Annex II wastes. Further, certain of the polymers on Annex IX currently, including the cured resins and fluorinated groupings are hazardous in their own right and do not belong on a non-hazardous list. This issue was not addressed at COP14 and must be remedied now.

Experts from BAN, IPEN, GAIA and Nexus3 will address these issues and provide recent analysis from Indonesian waste dumps to highlight the real-life dangers of such plastics routinely exported to developing countries. To attend the webinar you must pre-register.

Date: September 2
Time: 11:00-12:00 p.m. (UTC+2)

Register here: https://unep-brs.webex.com/unep-brs/j.php?RGID=r60c4b398e4341ac9ed48650e

We look forward to seeing you and engaging in discussion on these important issues soon.

Jim Puckett
Basel Action Network
and on behalf of Break Free From Plastics, IPEN, Arnika, GAIA, and Nexus3