Hazardous Waste

Primary reference(s)

Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit, 2011. Disaster Waste Management Guidelines. Annex X: Terminology. Joint United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) / United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Environment Unit. Accessed 3 February 2025.

Annotations

Key relevant UN convention / multilateral treaty

Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (1989). At the time of writing, there were 187 parties to the Basel Convention (UN Treaty Collection, 2019).

International Conventions related to Harmonised System, Accord relatif au transport international des marchandises Dangereuses par Route (ADR), International Maritime Dangerous Goods, International Civil Aviation Organisation/International Air Transport Association and Globally Harmonised Systems codes

Stockholm Convention on Persistent organic Pollutants (POPs) Overview.

Drivers

Hazardous waste can arise from diverse origins, including industrial manufacturing procedures, laboratories, hospitals, and even residences (e.g., specific cleansers, pesticides, or electronics) (Saleh et al., 2023). The risk of waste being mismanaged is heightened when waste management practices and regulations are weak, or where waste management is a low political priority and thus regulations are enforced incompletely or inconsistently. In such cases, the risks of waste being mismanaged are heightened by actors in the service chain seeking to reduce costs and maximise profits. This can occur even in countries with high-performing waste management sectors and extensive legislation (UNEP 2024). 

Impacts

Disposal and management of waste are worldwide problems. Toxic waste has the potential to pollute ecosystems, cause harm to wildlife, and disturb natural habitats (Saleh et al., 2023). Hazardous waste possesses the capability to infiltrate the ground and pollute soil and groundwater reserves, and cleaning polluted soil and water can be prohibitively expensive and arduous. Air pollution can occur depending on the nature of management of hazardous waste. If certain categories of dangerous waste are not properly managed, they can release noxious fumes and fine particles into the atmosphere (Saleh et al., 2023). 

Hazardous waste also has impacts on human health. A recent systematic review of scientific literature on the link between hazardous waste and health indicated a limited causal relationship between hazardous waste and liver, bladder, breast and testis cancers and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (Fazzo et al., 2017). Among non-neoplastic diseases, asthma was found to be related to hazardous waste with limited evidence. Although links between hazardous waste and adverse birth outcomes were suspected, the evidence of a causal relationship was inadequate to support definitive conclusions. These data confirm that hazardous waste, if not suitably managed, might cause adverse health effects on populations living near the sites where they are dumped or processed. The contamination of different environmental matrices, including food, water, soil and air, represents a health risk for these populations (Fazzo et al., 2017). 

Multi-hazard context

The figure below summarises common interactions between hazardous waste and other hazards. This information should be used with caution and not be solely relied upon in Disaster Risk Management, particularly as some interactions may not have been included. Note that hazardous events occurring together or locally in space or time may not necessarily cause, amplify, or be otherwise related to each other. Specific examples of multi-hazard context can be found in the ‘Hazard drivers’ and ‘Impacts’ sections above.

Multi-hazard diagram

Risk Management

According to Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, adopted by more than 178 governments at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 3-14 June 1992, it was recognised that to address effective control of the generation, storage, treatment, recycling and reuse, transport, recovery and disposal of hazardous wastes is “of paramount importance for proper health, environmental protection and natural resource management, and sustainable development” (United Nations, 1992: Chapter 20). The development of an Early Warning System (EWS) for hazardous chemicals is a pivotal element in safeguarding public health and environmental quality. The EWS aims to proactively detect and assess potential risks caused by hazardous chemicals on a European level, serving as a rapid-response tool to enable mitigation actions and protect communities. In this effort, to identify chemical hazards, the detection of risks is intrinsically linked to the biological effects that these chemicals can cause. Consequently, to accurately estimate chemical risks, the inclusion of methods capable of identifying toxicity effects, known as effect-based methods, becomes indispensable (PARC, 2023). 

Monitoring

The section and the table below offer an overview of monitoring for hazardous waste. This information can be used for forecasting within a national early warning system (EWS). Since EWS capacities and processes differ across countries, the most current and specific information regarding EWS should be obtained from the appropriate national or regional agency/authority responsible for disaster management.