India's Not A Wasteland

LATER this month, more than 100 nations will gather in Malaysia to vote on the proposed Basel Ban which seeks to outlaw export of hazardous wastes from developed to developing countries. Will India ratify the ban? That's a million dollar question to which the mandarins of environment ministry are yet to give an unequivocal answer. While they appear favourable on the ban, greens suspect they might just buckle under pressure both from the domestic industry as well as exporting countries, especially the US and Australia.

The bureaucracy's dilemma is obvious. For, while espousing the ban would mean the end of many recycling firms, leading to loss of capital and jobs, a laissez-faire policy would compromise the environment.

Greens are chiefly concerned about zinc and lead waste—comprising over 80 per cent of total imports—much of which is processed in backyard smelting plants. What's more, notes Ravi Agarwal of Srishti, "much of this imported waste is the most contaminated on the international market and procured at prices that recyclers in the West can't compete with because of high costs of pollution control". Cheap labour and lax environmental norms make India an ideal dumping ground for the West's hazardous wastes.

No wonder the lead and zinc recycling industry is lobbying with the government to dilute India's position on the ban. It argues that a ban would sound the death-knell for over 200 zinc-waste recycling units, causing loss of revenue.

It's a good defence only if one overlooks the environmental costs. For instance, pollution control authorities have found many zinc waste recycling units "very crude with very poor housekeeping". And that's not all. Most units operate without licence and hazardous sludge is often discarded along the roadside or in open areas, and India doesn't recycle waste produced by the domestic industry.

Going by these facts, endorsing a ban seems the sensible thing to do. It puts the onus on the exporting country to ensure that the consignment is not hazardous and that it is not destined for a facility inferior to its own.

However, the ban is still a proposal. Of the 87 signatories to the Basel Convention, only Finland has ratified it. At least two-thirds of the members have to ratify it in their national parliaments before it can come into force. Will India lead by example?