The decision to introduce a ban on trade in hazardous waste with secondary values between Annex VII countries (the OECD, EU and Liechtenstein) and Annex VIII countries (other signatories) could have important implications for developing countries. The specific case of non-ferrous waste has been chosen for analysis since it is an important component of waste trade flows and since a number of reports have been written which argue that the ban may have adverse economic and environmental effects for a number of developing countries. The study examines some of the relevant trade data as well as the underlying economic factors behind the trade. In particular, the generation of non-ferrous metal (NFM)-bearing waste, the use of non-ferrous metals in manufacturing sectors, and the production of secondary non-ferrous metals in the two areas will be examined. The main findings of the paper are that: metal-bearing solid waste generation amongst developing countries is lower in absolute terms, but the rate of growth is much higher than amongst OECD countries; many developing countries are exhibiting much faster rates of growth in demand for non-ferrous metal than OECD countries due to shifts in the sectoral composition of their economies; international trade in NFM-bearing waste and scrap is relatively significant for some metals, but those types of waste most likely to be affected by the ban do not appear to be important parts of this trade; and, imports of non-ferrous metal waste and scrap help to explain the production of secondary metals, thus indicating that at least some of the trade in waste is motivated by demand for the waste for reclamation. The report concludes that while the ban is far from being an ideal environmental policy instrument, it must be understood as a reflection of both market failures (in the market for hazardous waste treatment and reclamation) and policy failures (in previous efforts to control adverse effects from the trade). If appropriate criteria are applied (mainly waste classifications and Annex classifications) then the environmental implications of the ban may be positive and the negative economic consequences quite small. However, given the rate of growth in generation in many of the Annex VIII countries, such benefits are likely to be slight relative to the problem of the treatment and reclamation of waste generated domestically. Thus, it is argued that if the ban is to be introduced, the dormant 'positive' measures in the Convention related to financial and technical assistance need to be revived. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
