The Disproportionate Burden on Vulnerable Communities in the Trade of Plastic Waste: How Environmental Justice Should be Integrated into the United Nations Treaty on Plastic Pollution

Authors

Jackson Moffett

Abstract

The United Nations Environment Assembly passed a resolution to end plastic pollution with a legally binding treaty in response to growing international concern over the destruction of the environment and human health from plastic pollution. Plastic waste disposal is currently regulated under the Plastic Waste Amendments of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (Basel Convention), which subjects it to prior informed consent (PIC) and the environmentally sound management of waste (ESM). Unfortunately, the increasing amount of plastic production and limited number of recycling facilities around the world have rendered the Basel Convention ineffective in limiting the environmental harms caused by plastic pollution. Environmental justice communities suffer disproportionate burdens caused by the improper disposal of plastic waste. In 2018, China closed its borders to receiving plastic waste, which used to account for more than half the world’s plastic waste disposal. This action led to an influx of plastic waste into Global South countries which lack the technical and financial resources to accept such waste. As a result, more than 70 percent of plastic waste ends up in landfills or open-burning pits, which are often located in the communities of the poor and people of color. The United Nations’ proposed binding treaty is premised on the need to address the full life-cycle of plastic and a call to curb the overall production of plastic. It also reinforces some of the key principles of the Basel Convention. However, environmental justice is not mentioned explicitly in the resolution, nor are any recommendations to provide remediation measures to communities in damage. This Article first provides a background on the disproportionate burden of plastic waste disposal on environmental justice communities, principles of environmental justice, and how they are reflected in international law. Then, it provides an overview of how the Basel Convention regulates plastic waste and analyzes how it fails environmental justice communities. Finally, this Article recommends how the United Nations’ new binding treaty must integrate environmental justice by including binding targets on plastic production, mitigation and enforcement measures for illegal waste disposal, and effective capacity building for developing economies. These Associate changes can help environmental justice communities by both addressing current harms being suffered, and by offering a roadmap for protecting them in the future.

Recommended Citation

Jackson Moffett, The Disproportionate Burden on Vulnerable Communities in the Trade of Plastic Waste: How Environmental Justice Should be Integrated into the United Nations Treaty on Plastic Pollution, 30 Hastings Envt'l L.J. 177 (2024)
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_environmental_law_journal/vol30/iss2/6