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Legal regulation of transboundary movement of plastic waste in China under the Basel Convention
Summary
This paper isn't a health study—it's a legal analysis of how China regulates plastic waste shipped in from other countries under an international treaty called the Basel Convention. The researchers found gaps in China's laws that make it harder to control this waste properly, and they suggest fixes like clearer rules and better accountability when things go wrong. This matters because poorly managed plastic waste often ends up dumped, burned, or degraded in ways that release microplastics and toxic chemicals into soil, water, and eventually our food and bodies.
The transboundary movement of plastic waste has increasingly become a focal point of widespread concern in the international community. Against this backdrop, the Basel Convention, as the core international legal instrument governing the control of transboundary movement of hazardous waste, provides an important framework for the international regulation of plastic waste through its prior informed consent procedure, environmentally sound management system, hazardous waste list system and illegal shipment control system. However, China faces numerous challenges in applying the Basel Convention, including poor alignment between domestic policies, laws and the Convention, an incomplete regulatory system and a lack of liability and compensation regimes. To this end, this paper proposes suggestions such as improving the legal system, strengthening access regulation and perfecting the liability and compensation system, with a view to enhancing China’s capacity for legal regulation of the transboundary movement of plastic waste and better addressing the global plastic pollution crisis.