The global waste trade is the international trade of waste between countries for further treatment, disposal, or recycling. Toxic or hazardous wastes are often imported by developing countries from developed countries. The World Bank Report What a Waste: A Global Review of Solid Waste Management, describes the amount of solid waste produced in a given country. Specifically, countries which produce more solid waste are more economically developed and more industrialized. The report explains that "Generally, the higher the economic development and rate of urbanization, the greater the amount of solid waste produced." Therefore, countries in the Global North, which are more economically developed and urbanized, produce more solid waste than Global South countries. Current international trade flows of waste follow a pattern of waste being produced in the Global North and being exported to and disposed of in the Global South. Multiple factors affect which countries produce waste and at what magnitude, including geographic location, degree of industrialization, and level of integration into the global economy. Numerous scholars and researchers have linked the sharp increase in waste trading and the negative impacts of waste trading to the prevalence of neoliberal economic policy. With the major economic transition towards neoliberal economic policy in the 1980s, the shift towards "free-market" policy has facilitated the sharp increase in the global waste trade. Specifically, developing countries have been targeted by trade liberalization policies to import waste as a means of economic expansion. The guiding neoliberal economic policy argues that the way to be integrated into the global economy is to participate in trade liberalization and exchange in international trade markets. Their claim is that smaller countries, with less infrastructure, less wealth, and less manufacturing ability, should take in hazardous wastes as a way to increase profits and stimulate their economies.
Current debate over global waste trade
Arguments in support Current supporters of global waste trade argue that importing waste is an economic transaction which can benefit countries with little to offer the global economy; countries which do not have the production capacity to manufacture high quality products can import waste to stimulate their economy. Lawrence Summers, former President of Harvard University and Chief Economist of the World Bank, issued a confidential memo arguing for global waste trade in 1991. The memo stated:
"I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that... I've always thought that countries in Africa are vastly under polluted; their air quality is probably vastly inefficiently low compared to Los Angeles... Just between you and me shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging more migration of the dirty industries to the Least Developed Countries?" This position, which is mainly motivated by economics and financial profit in particular, demonstrates the main argument for global waste trade. The Cato Institute published an article supporting global waste trade suggesting that "there is little evidence that hazardous wastes, which are often chronic carcinogens, contribute to death rates in developing countries." Elaborating on this point, the article argues that "people in developing countries would rationally accept increased exposure to hazardous pollutants in exchange for opportunities to increase their productivity—and, hence, their income." Overall, the argument for global waste trade rests largely upon a perception that developing countries need to further their economic development. Supporters suggest that in engaging in global waste trade, developing countries of the Global South will expand their economies and increase profits.
Critiques Critics of global waste trade argue that lack of regulation and failed policies have allowed developing nations to become toxic dump yards for hazardous waste. The ever-increasing amounts of hazardous waste being shipped to developing countries increases the disproportionate risk that the people in these nations face. Critics of the effects of the global waste trade emphasize the enormous amount of hazardous wastes that people in poorer countries must deal with. They highlight the fact that most of the world's hazardous wastes are produced by Western countries (the United States and Europe), yet the people who suffer negative health effects from these wastes are from poorer countries that did not produce the waste. Peter Newell, Professor of Development Studies, argues that "environmental inequality reinforces and, at the same time reflects, other forms of hierarchy and exploitation along lines of class, race and gender." Arguing that the detrimental effects of hazardous waste trade affect the disadvantaged more than others, critics of global waste trade suggest that the implications of dumping hazardous waste has significant consequences for people of color, women, and low-income people in particular.
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