Conventions, agreements and other documents

Waste is any substance or object that the user discards because he no longer wants or needs it, and he must act responsibly and ensure the lowest possible impact on the environment (separate and appropriate disposal, recycling, reuse). The field of waste and recycling is a wide range of areas, as it includes electronic and electrical waste, batteries and accumulators, end-of-life vehicles, waste from the extraction of raw materials, construction, municipal, biological, health, radioactive and hazardous waste, waste from production and service activities. wastewater treatment, ship-generated waste and any other possible waste classification.

Data from 2018 on the Eurostat portal show that the average EU citizen produces 5 tonnes of waste per year, while only 38% of all waste is recycled.

At the international level, waste management and recycling are regulated by the following key conventions:

- Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal,
- Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants,
- Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade,
- The Bamako Convention is a treatment of African nations prohibiting imports into Africa of any hazardous (including radioactive) waste,
- Minamata Convention on Mercury,
- Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter,
- Convention on the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL),
- The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, etc.