On Monday 25 March, France, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Austria called on the Commission, at the Council of EU Member State environment ministers, to launch the process to amend the Basel Convention – on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous waste – and to include textile waste alongside plastic and electronic waste.
By means of an amendment, the five Member States want stricter controls on textile waste exports to developing countries.
“We need to work at international level to bring exports to developing countries under the Basel Convention control procedure”, commented Cyril Piquemal, France’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the EU.
If the wishes of the five countries were followed, this would mean requiring prior consent for the import and export of textile waste. The export of hazardous textile waste would be banned.
The Commission, for its part, considered the idea relevant, but warned that imposing such restrictions could prove complex. In its view, the solution would be to try, as a first step, to work more closely with the third countries in question and form alliances with them to make progress in this area. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)