Chapter 1 - Preamble

Section 1 - Social & Economic Dimensions

Section 2 - Conservation and Management of Resources
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22

Section 3 - Strengthening the Role of Major Groups

Section 4 - Means of Implementation

Complete text of Agenda 21: Chapter 20
Chapter 20: Managing Hazardous Wastes

An increasing amount of hazardous waste is affecting human health and the environment, but many countries do not have the expertise to manage the problem. Governments often lack information about how much and what types of pollution are released, and what risk they pose to people and the environment.

All national environmental protection plans should include targets for hazardous waste reduction. Programmes are needed to identify wastes and their potential effects, and to minimize them and treat them safely. They should be based on the "polluter pays" principle.

The priority is to change industrial processes, and this includes setting targets for reducing the amount of hazardous campaigns to minimize hazardous wastes waste produced per unit of manufacture. Governments should work with industry on campaigns to minimize hazardous waste, and on the reduction of other emissions. Industries have a critical role to play, and should promote cleaner production methods on a wide scale and ensure that their hazardous wastes standards are not weaker in one country than in another.

Governments should immediately identify contaminated waste-disposal sites and populations at high risk, and take the necessary remedial measures, including cleaning up the sites.

Governments should:

• Require and assist in the innovation by industry of cleaner production methods, and of preventive and recycling technologies.
• Encourage the phasing out of processes that produce high risks because of hazardous waste.
• Conduct environmental audits of existing industries to improve hazardous waste management.
• Hold producers responsible for the environmentally sound disposal of the hazardous wastes they generate.
• Establish public information programmes and ensure that training programmes are provided for industry and government workers on hazardous-waste issues, especially waste minimization.
• Build treatment centres for hazardous wastes either at a national or regional level. Industry should treat, recycle, reuse and dispose of wastes at or close to they are created.

Governments should ensure that the military conforms to national environmental norms for hazardous waste treatment and disposal.

Developed countries should promote the transfer of environmentally sound technologies and know-how on clean technologies and low-waste production methods to developing countries.

Part of the international movement of hazardous wastes involves illegal shipments, often to developing countries. Governments should ban hazardous wastes export of hazardous wastes to countries that are not equipped to deal with those wastes in an environmentally sound way. They should see that hazardous-waste shipments destined for recovery are handled by environmentally and economically sound recycling systems. Countries should create an alert system to detect illegal traffic in hazardous wastes.

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