TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF THE PHILIPPINES

363 P. CASAL ST., QUIAPO, MANILA

INDUSTRIAL WASTE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL

HOMEWORK

SUBMITTED BY:
DELA TORRE, JUDY ANN T.

SUBMITTED TO:
ENGR. FLORANTE MAGNAYE

JULY 21, 2016

STOCKHOLM CONVENTION

A global treaty in protecting human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants,
also known as POPs, is called the Stockholm Convention. POPs are chemicals that are toxic, and that are
persistent in the environment and able to last for many years before breaking down. They are poisonous to
human and wildlife since POPs accumulate in the fatty tissue of living organisms. With this, over 150
countries signed the convention, and through Stockholm Convention, governments are tasked to make
actions in eliminating or reducing the release of POPs in the environment.
The Dirty Dozen or the 12 POPs is the focus of the Stockholm Convention. The 12 POPs
includes aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, toxaphene,
polychlorinated biphenyls, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, and polychlorinated dibenzofurans. The said
convention sets up a system for dealing with the additional chemicals which are identified as unacceptably
hazardous or poisonous. With this, an extra effort is needed to eliminated or reduce those chemicals for
certain uses. Also, it channels resources into cleaning up the existing stockpiles and dumps of POPs that
litter the worlds landscape. Most importantly, the Stockholm Convention aims for a future free of dangerous
POPs and assures to reform our economys dependence on toxic chemicals.
The five essential aims of Stockholm Convention are to eliminate dangerous POPs, starting with
the 12 worst, to support the transition to safer alternatives, to target additional POPs for action, to cleanup
old stockpiles and equipment containing POPs, and to work together for a POPs-free future.
The assigned acting financial mechanism for the Stockholm Convention is the Global
Environmental Facility (GEF). While the United Nations Environment Programme or UNEP is the one who
coordinated the organization of the Stockholm Convention, which was originally signed by 92 nations and
the European Community last May 23, 2001 in Stockholm, Sweden. The said convention started with an
initial list of 12 key POPs chemicals or the dirty dozen wherein the countries who signed the convention
are required to phase out or at least reduce the risks to human health and the environment that arises from
the POPs.

BASEL CONVENTION
It was March 22, 1989 when the Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Basel, Switzerland adopted the
Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.
This is in response to a public outcry in Africa and other parts of the developing world of deposits of toxic
wastes coming from abroad.
In 1970s and 1980s, an increase of public resistance to the disposal wastes occurred due to
emerging environmental awareness and corresponding tightening of environmental regulations in the
industrialized world. This in turn led some operators to seek cheap disposal options for hazardous wastes
in Eastern Europe and the developing world, where environmental awareness was much less developed
and regulations and enforcement mechanisms were lacking. It was against this background that the Basel
Convention was negotiated in the late 1980s, and its thrust at the time of its adoption was to combat the
toxic trade, as it was termed. The Convention entered into force in 1992.
The overarching objective of the Basel Convention is to protect human health and the environment
against the adverse effects of hazardous wastes. Its scope of application covers a wide range of wastes
defined as hazardous wastes based on their origin and/or composition and their characteristics, as well as
two types of wastes defined as other wastes - household waste and incinerator ash.
The first aim is addressed through a number of general provisions requiring States to observe the
fundamental principles of environmentally sound waste management. A number of prohibitions are
designed to attain the second aim: hazardous wastes may not be exported to Antarctica, to a State not
party to the Basel Convention, or to a party having banned the import of hazardous wastes. Parties may,
however, enter into bilateral or multilateral agreements on hazardous waste management with other parties
or with non-parties, provided that such agreements are no less environmentally sound than the Basel
Convention. In all cases where transboundary movement is not, in principle, prohibited, it may take place
only if it represents an environmentally sound solution, if the principles of environmentally sound
management and non-discrimination are observed and if it is carried out in accordance with the
Conventions regulatory system.
The Convention also provides for the establishment of regional or sub-regional centres for training
and technology transfers regarding the management of hazardous wastes and other wastes and the
minimization of their generation to cater to the specific needs of different regions and subregion. Fourteen
such centres have been established. They carry out training and capacity building activities in the regions.

KYOTO PROTOCOL
The Kyoto Protocol was an agreement negotiated by many countries in December 1997 and came
into force with Russia's ratification on February 16, 2005. The reason for the lengthy timespan between the
terms of agreement being settled upon and the protocol being engaged was due to terms of Kyoto requiring
at least 55 parties to ratify the agreement and for the total of those parties emissions to be at least 55% of
global production of greenhouse gases.The protocol was developed under the UNFCCC - the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Participating countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol have committed to cut emissions of not
only carbon dioxide, but of also other greenhouse gases, being: Methane (CH4), Nitrous oxide (N2O),
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Perfluorocarbons (PFCs),Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).
If participant countries continue with emissions above the targets, then they are required to engage
in emissions trading; i.e. buying "credits" from other participant countries who are able to exceed their
reduction targets in order to offset. The goals of Kyoto were to see participants collectively reducing
emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% below the emission levels of 1990 by 2012. While the 5.2% figure
is a collective one, individual countries were assigned higher or lower targets and some countries were
permitted increases. For example, the USA was expected to reduce emissions by 7%.
India and China, which have ratified the Kyoto protocol, are not obligated to reduce greenhouse
gas production at the moment as they are developing countries; i.e. they weren't seen as the main culprits
for emissions during the period of industrialization thought to be the cause for the global warming of
today. This is a little odd given that China is about to overtake the USA in emissions, but take into account
the major differences in population and that much of the production in these countries is fuelled by demand
from the West and influence from the West on their own culture. As a result of this loophole, the West has
effectively outsourced much of its carbon emissions to China and India.
While almost every country in the world has signed the Kyoto Protocol, the signature alone is
symbolic; a token gesture of support. Ratification carries legal obligations and effectively becomes a
contractual arrangement.169 countries have ratified the agreement. Of the signatories, only 2 refused to
ratify Kyoto up until December of 2007 - Australia and the USA. Australia negotiated hard when the Kyoto
Protocol was being developed; in fact it was to be allowed an 8% increase in emissions. Even so,
Australia refused to ratify the agreement until a change in government in late 2007. The excuse - it will be
bad for Australia's economy, the same reasoning the USA uses.

MONTREAL PROTOCOL

To reduce the production and consumption of ozone depleting substances in order to lessen their
abundance in the atmosphere, the Montreal Protocol on Substance that Deplete the Ozone Layer was
designed. Also, Montreal Protocol intended to protect the earths fragile ozone layer from depleting. It was
agreed on September 16, 1987, and entered into force on January 1, 1989.
The Montreal Protocol has a unique adjustment provision which allows the countries who agreed
the protocol to respond immediately to new scientific information. Also, the countries who agreed in this
protocol should have a fast track in the reductions required on chemicals already covered by the Montreal
Protocol. The Montreal Protocol has been modified six times since its initial adoption, to be specific, during
the second, fourth, seventh, ninth, eleventh, and nineteenth meeting of the parties. This is in lieu with the
procedures written in 9 of Article 2 of the Montreal Protocol. Those certain adjustments and reductions of
production and consumption of the controlled substances are listed in the Annexes of the Protocol. The
adjustments happened on March 7, 1991, September 23, 1993, August 5, 1996, June 4 1998, July 28,
2000, and lastly May 14, 2008, respectively.
The countries who agreed with the Montreal Protocol have amended or revised the Protocol to
enable the control of new chemicals. Also, to have a financial mechanism that enables the developing
countries to comply. The second, fourth, ninth, and eleventh meetings adopted four amendments to the
protocol, namely, the London Amendment (1990), the Copenhagen Amendment (1992), the Montreal
Amendment (1997), and the Beijing Amendment (1999). Contrasting to adjustments, the amendments must
be approved by the countries or the different parties before their requirements are applicable to those
countries. The London, Copenhagen, Montreal, and Beijing Amendments entered into force on August 10,
1992, June 14,1994, November 10,1999, and February 25,2002 respectively. Moreover, the parties to the
Protocol meet yearly and take a variety of decisions that has a goal of allowing effective implementation of
this important legal instrument. By the 22nd meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, they already
have 720 decisions in total.