Decreasing Dirty Dumping? A Reevaluation of Toxic Waste Colonialism and the Global Management of Transboundary Hazardous Waste

Even though the phrase “toxic waste colonialism” has fallen outof usage in the past ten years, the effective global management of transboundaryhazardous waste has yet to become an out-of-date topic. Startingin the early 1980s, the international community sought to develop internationalagreements governing the transboundary movement of hazardouswaste in order to protect developing countries from illegal “dirty dumping”practices. Over twenty years have passed since the adoption of the BaselConvention formed the foundation for other subsequent global protocols.However, the ever-increasing global quantities of hazardous waste, includingthe growing electronic waste issue, only exacerbate the disproportionaterisks faced by developing countries in current efforts of implementationand policy of global hazardous waste management. The persistence ofthese issues indicates that the transboundary movement of hazardouswaste and the international methods introduced to correct these problemsare ripe for reevaluation. Hopefully, by considering the loopholes in thecurrent international system and suggesting possible recommendationsfor future global agreements, this area of international law can be moreeffectively addressed