The Global Waste Trafficking and Its Correlates

Abstract

Our understanding of illicit waste trafficking (IWT) is in its embryonic stages; most notably, the transnational nature of this phenomenon has hitherto been neglected in extant empirical research. This study provides the first analysis of the possible coorrelates of transnational IWT at a global level. Through recourse to information extracted from the official Basel Convention National Reports, we constructed a network of the most relevant IWT connections between 148 countries. Next, we quantitatively investigated the role of specific potential factors that influence the structure of this transnational network. Our results indicate that illicit waste is trafficked toward poorer and more insecure countries, primarily via former colonial connections. As such, IWT poses a direct threat to the sustainable development of these countries. Mere adherence to international treaties and promulgation of environmental laws does not in and of themselves explain whether a country is part of the global IWT network, although the establishment of dedicated courts and tribunals does reduce the risk of being a recipient of trafficked waste. Solid anticorruption measures and a strong rule of law increased the likelihood of being a source country in the IWT network, which, in turn, calls for a more global approach to the management of environmental issues.

Transboundary movement of waste review: From binary towards a contextual framing

“…In this binary, waste is predominantly seen as discard and is ‘discarded to’ destinations without infrastructures and capacities. The social and environmental risks and burdens associated with the transboundary waste movement are distributed unequally, thus characterising the Global North as the perpetrators and Global South as the victims ( Cotta, 2020 ; Favarin and Aziani, 2020 ). Using a quantitative model, Favarin and Aziani (2020 : 372) confirmed their hypothesis that ‘countries sharing a colonial relationship are more likely to exchange illicit waste’.…”

“…The social and environmental risks and burdens associated with the transboundary waste movement are distributed unequally, thus characterising the Global North as the perpetrators and Global South as the victims ( Cotta, 2020 ; Favarin and Aziani, 2020 ). Using a quantitative model, Favarin and Aziani (2020 : 372) confirmed their hypothesis that ‘countries sharing a colonial relationship are more likely to exchange illicit waste’. This binary is motivated to showcase disregard for equity, fairness and distributive justice in the phenomenon of the transboundary waste movement and is characterised by toxic colonialism, garbage imperialism and environmental racism ( Brownell, 2011 ; Lipman, 2015 ; Müller, 2019 ; Okafor-Yarwood and Adewumi, 2020 ).…”

Evaluating waste and scrap trade risks in Belt and Road Initiative countries

“…Relatedly, the global trade of steel scrap (Lee and Sohn, 2015), scrap copper (Wang et al, 2020a), scrap metal (Hu et al, 2020a;Hu et al, 2020b), and illicit waste (Favarin and Aziani, 2020) has been studied, emphasizing spatiotemporal evolution in global trade patterns.…”

The world-wide waste web

“…This would be a win-win situation if it were not because many of the importer nations are highly indebted countries with very poor track records of waste management and environmental performance 8 . In addition, as revealed by several high-profile cases 14 , the situation is aggravated by illegal HW trafficking to, and dumping in, developing countries 15 .…”