Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions

The Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions include provisions and mechanisms of direct relevance to marine plastic litter abatement. These include:

• The minimization of the generation of plastic waste;
• The control of transboundary movements of plastic waste;
• The environmentally sound management of plastic waste; and
• The identification and control of plastic additives, including through restrictions and other regulatory measures.

The Basel Convention sets out obligations to reduce the generation and promote the environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes and other wastes, including plastic waste, and restrict transboundary movements of such wastes except where it is perceived to be in accordance with the principles of environmentally sound management; and sets up a regulatory system (PIC procedure) applying to cases where transboundary movements are permissible. As amended in 2019, all plastic waste covered in Annex II and VIII to the Convention, including mixture of plastic waste not destined for recycling as well as those containing or contaminated with hazardous constituents, is subject to the provisions on waste minimization, environmentally sound management, and the PIC procedure. Certain plastic waste destined for recycling that does not exhibit hazardous characteristics and meets specific criteria set out in Annex IX is not subject to the PIC procedure, in order to promote environmentally sound recycling.
 
There are a number of guidance documents under the Basel Convention that support upstream efforts to promote sustainable consumption and production of plastics, including product design, and that guide Parties to ensure the environmentally sound management of plastic waste, including through resource efficiency and circular economy approaches. The technical guidelines on the environmentally sound management of plastic wastes adopted at COP-16 in May 2023 set guidance as to how plastic waste should be managed in an environmentally sound manner.

Actions undertaken on plastic waste under the Basel Convention include, among other things:

1. The activities, work products and reports¹ of the four project groups² and pilot projects³ under the Plastic Waste Partnership (PWP)⁴. Established in 2019, the PWP aims to mobilize resources, interests, and expertise from business, government, academia and civil society to improve and promote the environmentally sound management (ESM) of plastic waste at global, regional and national levels, and to prevent and minimize its generation (further information provided below);
2. The work of the expert working group on the review of Annexes, which, as part of its mandate, is considering whether any additional constituents or characteristics in relation to plastic waste should be added to Annex I or III to the Convention, respectively;
3. The work of the Committee Administering the Mechanism for Promoting Implementation and Compliance (ICC), which is monitoring the legislative implementation of the plastic waste amendments and is developing a report scoping the extent of illegal traffic, including in relation to plastic waste, as part of its biennium work programmes. More information is available in the report of the sixteenth meeting of the Committee;
4. The updating of the technical guidelines on the environmentally sound management of used and waste pneumatic tyres, and further work on this topic is taking place during the intersessional period;
5. Cooperation with the World Customs Organization to amend the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System in relation to plastic waste covered by the Convention;
6. Ongoing consideration of whether further activities on plastic waste should be undertaken under the Basel Convention, in response to developments in scientific knowledge and environmental information related to plastic waste as a source of land pollution, marine plastic litter and microplastics. At its 2025 meeting, the Conference of the Parties agreed to advance work on plastic waste by inviting submissions on the implementation and impacts of the plastic waste amendments and by requesting the Secretariat to prepare a draft report by October 2026;
7. The development of guidance on the development of inventories of plastic waste (UNEP/CHW.15/INF/19/Rev.1), to support Parties in fulfilling their reporting obligations under Article 13 of the Convention and develop baselines on the flow of plastic waste through the waste management systems;
8. The provision of technical assistance and capacity-building activities to support implementation of the Basel Convention, including with respect to plastic waste.

¹:For instance, the report on best practices and lessons learned on measures taken by key stakeholders to prevent and reduce single-use plastic waste and packaging waste, and the compilation of national and international specifications related the Basel Convention plastic waste amendments.
²:The Plastic Waste Partnership’s project groups focus, respectively on: plastic waste prevention and minimization; plastic waste collection, recycling and other recovery including financing and related markets; transboundary movements of plastic waste; outreach, education and awareness-raising.
³: To date, 38 pilot projects have been selected for implementation in 46 countries. https://www.basel.int/Implementation/Plasticwaste/PlasticWastePartnership/PWPpilotprojects/tabid/8494/Default.aspx
⁴:https://www.basel.int/Implementation/Plasticwaste/PlasticWastePartnership/tabid/8096/Default.aspx

The Stockholm Convention aims to protect human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including those found as plastic additives, by-products, in stockpiles, and in waste. To date, there are 37 chemicals or groups of chemicals have been listed under the Convention, 19 of which are related to the production, use or disposal of plastics. While the Convention does not establish general labelling or information disclosure requirements (except for specific listed chemicals), it obliges Parties to develop strategies for identifying stockpiles, products and articles in use, as well as wastes that contain chemicals listed in Annex A, B or C. The process of reviewing and listing new POPs is set out in Article 8 of the Convention⁵.
 
The Rotterdam Convention promotes shared responsibility and cooperative efforts among Parties in the international trade of certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides and contributes to the environmentally sound use of those hazardous chemicals and pesticides. As of the adoption of decisions at COP-12 in April 2025, 15 of the 57 chemicals listed in Annex III to the Convention are related to plastics⁶.
 
To support Parties in implementing their obligations under the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm (BRS) conventions, various projects have delivered technical assistance and capacity-building support. These efforts aim to strengthen national systems for managing plastic waste, enabling countries to more effectively control transboundary movements and prevent environmental harm. In many cases, this includes building capacity in countries with limited infrastructure to address the complex challenges associated with plastic waste and related hazardous chemicals.
 
Key activities included the Small Grants Program (SGP) on Plastic Waste, with projects implemented by the Regional Centres, pilot projects under the Plastic Waste Partnership (PWP), pilot projects on plastic waste management in remote and mountainous areas, BRS-Norad pilot projects in Sri Lanka and Ghana, and other technical assistance projects on plastic waste management, as well as the organization of regional Chemicals in Plastics Forums.
 
Since the adoption of the plastic waste amendment in 2019, the BRS Secretariat has delivered plastic waste technical assistance through 126 projects implemented in 76 countries across Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. This work has been made possible through more than USD 20 million in voluntary contributions from various donors, including the European Union, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States of America, as well as the private fund, the Norwegian Retailers' Environment Fund. On 8 August 2025, the Secretariat launched a €2 million project in partnership with the French Global Environment Facility (FFEM) to support plastic waste management and policy reform in Cabo Verde, Senegal, and French-speaking West Africa.

⁵: https://chm.pops.int/TheConvention/Overview/tabid/3351/Default.aspx
⁶:https://www.pic.int/TheConvention/Overview/tabid/1044/language/en-US/Default.aspx

The goal of the PWP is to improve and promote the ESM of plastic waste at the global, regional and national levels and to prevent and minimize its generation so as to, among other things, reduce significantly and in the long-term eliminate the discharge of plastic waste and microplastics into the environment, in particular the marine environment.
 
The work of the Partnership is overseen by a working group which established four project groups as follows:

• Plastic waste prevention and minimization
• Plastic waste collection, recycling and other recovery including financing and related markets
• Transboundary movements of plastic waste
• Outreach, education and awareness-raising

Some of the work products, resources and publications developed by the PWP are provided below:

• Textile waste - Pathways to Environmentally Sound Management;
• • What Can’t We Live Without? Exploring Essential Uses for Single-Use Plastics;
• • Compilation of information on transboundary movement of plastic wastes, in particular data on the import and export of plastic wastes;
• Compilation of key policies and initiatives to promote the environmentally sound collection, separation and recycling of plastic waste;
• Compilation of best practices and identification of challenges for improving the design of plastic products to increase their durability, reusability, repairability and recyclability, as well as to reduce hazardous constituents in plastic products;
• Analysis of the impacts and challenges, including environmental, socio-economic and technical considerations, of the practices and measures taken to prevent and reduce plastic waste;
• Compilation of information on actions taken by Parties to implement the amendments to the Convention on plastic waste, including information regarding any adopted measures, and challenges experienced in preparing for implementation;
• Factsheet on Harmonized System codes relevant to plastic waste and their relation to the amendments to the Basel Convention on plastic waste;
• Factsheet on the roles of stakeholders in Parties’ implementation of the amendments to the Basel Convention on plastic waste;
• Compilation of information, best practices and lessons learned on measures taken by key stakeholders to prevent and reduce single use plastic waste and packaging waste.

Further information on the work of the project groups is available here.
 
Pilot projects are implemented under the Basel Convention PWP to improve and promote the environmentally sound management (ESM) of plastic waste and to prevent and minimize its generation. To date, 38 pilot projects have been selected for implementation in 46 countries. Further information on the pilot projects is available here.

A series of projects on plastic waste are being undertaken under the Basel and Stockholm Conventions’ Regional Centre Small Grants Programme (SGP). Funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and the Government of Germany, these projects are implemented by the Basel Convention regional and coordinating centres and Stockholm Convention regional and subregional centres.
The SGP on Plastic Waste seeks to identify and implement low-cost high impact pilot projects on the ground, supported by the centres and with full engagement of relevant national focal points of the Basel Convention and Stockholm Convention.
 
The projects aim to improve the management of plastic waste in partner countries and thus contribute towards preventing and significantly reducing marine pollution. Three rounds of project proposals have been carried out to date, for a total of 23 projects being implemented in 44 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean. 12 projects have been successfully completed to date.
 
Furthermore, several SGP and PWP pilot projects have introduced a range of innovative elements, such as:

• Customized waste management hubs in South Africa, which integrate community engagement and business models for sustainability;
• Development of a regional strategy in Southeast Asia for single-use plastics, drawing from policy comparisons across countries;
• A community-based approach in Niger, integrating educational programs and practical waste recovery initiatives;
• New procurement strategies in Albania focusing on minimizing plastic waste through public-sector procurement changes;
• Enhancing ESM of plastic waste through identifying, building and scaling up SMEs across the recycling value chain in Myanmar.

Further information about the SGP can be sourced at: https://www.basel.int/Implementation/Plasticwaste/Technicalassistance/Projects/BRSNorad2/SGPonplasticwaste/tabid/8402/Default.aspx