21.21.
States, through bilateral and multilateral cooperation, including through the United Nations and
other relevant international organizations, as appropriate, should:
a.
Undertake a periodic review of the extent to which countries reuse and recycle their
wastes;
b.
Review the effectiveness of techniques for and approaches to waste reuse and recycling
and ways of enhancing their application in countries;
c.
Review and update international guidelines for the safe reuse of wastes;
d.
Establish appropriate programmes to support small communities' waste reuse and
recycling industries in developing countries.
Means of implementation
(a) Financing and cost evaluation
21.22. The Conference secretariat has estimated that if the equivalent of 1 per cent of waste-related municipal expenditures was devoted to safe waste reuse schemes, worldwide expenditures for this purpose would amount to $8 billion. The secretariat estimates the total annual cost (1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this programme area in developing countries to be about $850 million on grant or concessional terms. These are indicative and order-of-magnitude estimates only and have not been reviewed by Governments. Actual costs and financial terms, including any that are non- concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the specific programmes proposed by international institutions and approved by their governing bodies.
(b) Scientific and technological means
21.23.
The transfer of technology should support waste recycling and reuse by the following means:
a.
Including the transfer of recycling technologies, such as machinery for reusing plastics,
rubber and paper, within bilateral and multilateral technical cooperation and aid
programmes;
b.
Developing and improving existing technologies, especially indigenous technologies, and
facilitating their transfer under ongoing regional and interregional technical assistance
programmes;
c.
Facilitating the transfer of waste reuse and recycling technology.
21.24.
Incentives for waste reuse and recycling are numerous. Countries could consider the following
options to encourage industry, institutions, commercial establishments and individuals to recycle
wastes instead of disposing of them:
a.
Offering incentives to local and municipal authorities that recycle the maximum
proportion of their wastes;
b.
Providing technical assistance to informal waste reuse and recycling operations;
c.
Applying economic and regulatory instruments, including tax incentives, to support the
principle that generators of wastes pay for their disposal;
d.
Providing legal and economic conditions conducive to investments in waste reuse and
recycling;
e.
Implementing specific mechanisms such as deposit/refund systems as incentives for reuse
and recycling;
f.
Promoting the separate collection of recyclable parts of household wastes;
g.
Providing incentives to improve the marketability of technically recyclable waste;
h.
Encouraging the use of recyclable materials, particularly in packaging, where feasible;
i.
Encouraging the development of markets for recycled goods by establishing programmes.
(c) Human resource development
21.25.
Training will be required to reorient current waste management practices to include waste reuse
and recycling. Governments, in collaboration with United Nations international and regional
organizations, should undertake the following indicative list of actions:
a.
Including waste reuse and recycling in in-service training programmes as integral
components of technical cooperation programmes on urban management and
infrastructure development;
b.
Expanding training programmes on water supply and sanitation to incorporate techniques
and policies for waste reuse and recycling;
c.
Including the advantages and civic obligations associated with waste reuse and recycling
in school curricula and relevant general educational courses;
d.
Encouraging non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations and
women's, youth and public interest group programmes, in collaboration with local
municipal authorities, to mobilize community support for waste reuse and recycling
through focused community-level campaigns.
(d) Capacity-building
21.26.
Capacity-building to support increased waste reuse and recycling should focus on the following
areas:
a.
Making operational national policies and incentives for waste management;
b.
Enabling local and municipal authorities to mobilize community support for waste reuse
and recycling by involving and assisting informal sector waste reuse and recycling
operations and undertaking waste management planning that incorporates resource
recovery practices.
C. Promoting environmentally sound waste disposal and treatment
Basis for action
21.27. Even when wastes are minimized, some wastes will still remain. Even after treatment, all discharges of wastes have some residual impact on the receiving environment. Consequently, there is scope for improving waste treatment and disposal practices such as, for example, avoiding the discharge of sludges at sea. In developing countries, the problem is of a more fundamental nature: less than 10 per cent of urban wastes receive some form of treatment and only a small proportion of treatment is in compliance with any acceptable quality standard. Faecal matter treatment and disposal should be accorded due priority given the potential threat of faeces to human health.
Objectives
21.28. The objective in this area is to treat and safely dispose of a progressively increasing proportion of the generated wastes.
21.29. Governments, according to their capacities and available resources and with the cooperation of the United Nations and other relevant organizations, as appropriate, should:
a.
By the year 2000, establish waste treatment and disposal quality criteria, objectives and
standards based on the nature and assimilative capacity of the receiving environment;
b.
By the year 2000, establish sufficient capacity to undertake waste-related pollution
impact monitoring and conduct regular surveillance, including epidemiological
surveillance, where appropriate;
c.
By the year 1995, in industrialized countries, and by the year 2005, in developing
countries, ensure that at least 50 per cent of all sewage, waste waters and solid wastes are
treated or disposed of in conformity with national or international environmental and
health quality guidelines;
d.
By the year 2025, dispose of all sewage, waste waters and solid wastes in conformity
with national or international environmental quality guidelines.
Activities
(a) Management-related activities
21.30.
Governments, institutions and non-governmental organizations, together with industries , in
collaboration with appropriate organizations of the United Nations system, should launch
programmes to improve the control and management of waste-related pollution. These programmes
should, wherever possible, build upon existing or planned activities and should:
a.
Develop and strengthen national capacity to treat and safely dispose of wastes;
b.
Review and reform national waste management policies to gain control over waste-
related pollution;
c.
Encourage countries to seek waste disposal solutions within their sovereign territory and
as close as possible to the sources of origin that are compatible with environmentally
sound and efficient management. In a number of countries, transboundary movements
take place to ensure that wastes are managed in an environmentally sound and efficient
way. Such movements observe the relevant conventions, including those that apply to
areas that are not under national jurisdiction;
d.
Develop human wastes management plans, giving due attention to the development and
application of appropriate technologies and the availability of resources for
implementation.
(b) Data and information
21.31.
Standard setting and monitoring are two key elements essential for gaining control over waste-
related pollution. The following specific activities are indicative of the kind of supportive actions that
could be taken by international bodies such as the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements
(Habitat), the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Health Organization:
a.
Assembling and analysing the scientific evidence and pollution impacts of wastes in the
environment in order to formulate and disseminate recommended scientific criteria and
guidelines for the environmentally sound management of solid wastes;
b.
Recommending national and, where relevant, local environmental quality standards based
on scientific criteria and guidelines;
c.
Including within technical cooperation programmes and agreements the provision for
monitoring equipment and for the requisite training in its use;
d. Establishing an information clearing -house with extensive networks at the regional,
national and local levels to collect and disseminate information on all aspects of waste
management, including safe disposal.
(c) International and regional cooperation and coordina tion
21.32. States, through bilateral and multilateral cooperation, including through the United Nations and
other relevant international organizations, as appropriate, should:
a. Identify, develop and harmonize methodologies and environmental quality and health
guidelines for safe waste discharge and disposal;
b. Review and keep abreast of developments and disseminate information on the
effectiveness of techniques and approaches to safe waste disposal and ways of supporting
their application in countries.
Means of implementation
(a) Financing and cost evaluation
21.33. Safe waste disposal programmes are relevant to both developed and developing countries. In developed countries the focus is on improving facilities to meet higher environmental quality criteria, while in developing countries considerable investment is required to build new treatment facilities.
21.34. The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total annual cost (1993 -2000) of implementing the activities of this programme in developing countries to b e about $15 billion, including about $3.4 billion from the international community on grant or concessional terms. These are indicative and order -of-magnitude estimates only and have not been reviewed by Governments. Actual costs and financial terms, inclu ding any that are non -concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the specific strategies and programmes Governments decide upon for implementation.
(b) Scientific and technological means
21.35. Scientific guidelines and research on various aspects of waste -related pollution control will be
crucial for achieving the objectives of this programme. Governments, municipalities and local
authorities, with appropriate international cooperation, should:
a. Prepare guidelines and technical reports on subjects such as the integration of land -use
planning in human settlements with waste disposal, environmental quality criteria and
standards, waste treatment and safe disposal options, industrial waste treatment and
landfill operations;
b. Undertake research on critical subject s such as low -cost, low-maintenance waste -water
treatment systems; safe sludge disposal options; industrial waste treatment; and low -
technology, ecologically safe waste disposal options;
c. Transfer technologies, in conformity with the terms as well as the p rovisions of chapter
34 (Transfer of environmentally sound technology, cooperation and capacity -building),
on industrial waste treatment processes through bilateral nad multilateral technical
cooperation programmes and in cooperation with business and indu stry, including large
and transnational corporations, as appropriate.
d. Focus on the rehabilitation, operation and maintenance of existing facilities and technical
assistance on improved maintenance practices and techniques followed by the planning
and construction of waste treatment facilities;
e. Establish programmes to maximize the source segregation and safe disposal of the
hazardous components of municipal solid waste;
f. Ensure the investment and provision of waste collection facilities with the concomitan t
provision of water services and with an equal and parallel investment and provision of
waste treatment facilities.
(c) Human resource development
21.36. Training would be required to improve current waste management practices to include safe
collection and w aste disposal. The following is an indicative list of actions that should be taken by
Governments, in collaboration with international organizations:
a. Providing both formal and in -service training, focused on pollution control, waste
treatment and disposal technologies, and operating and maintaining waste -related
infrastructure. Intercountry staff exchange programmes should also be established;
b. Undertaking the requisite training for waste -related pollution monitoring and control
enforcement.
(d) Capacity-building
21.37. Institutional reforms and capacity -building will be indispensable if countries are to be able to
quantify and mitigate waste -related pollution. Activities to achieve this objective should include:
a. Creating and strengthening independent environm ental control bodies at the national and
local levels. International organizations and donors should support needed upgrading of
manpower skills and provision of equipment;
b. Empowering of pollution control agencies with the requisite legal mandate and fina ncial
capacities to carry out their duties effectively.
D. Extending waste service coverage
Basis for action
21.38. By the end of the century, over 2.0 billion people will be without access to basic sanitation, and an estimated half of the urban population i n developing countries will be without adequate solid waste disposal services. As many as 5.2 million people, including 4 million children under five years of age, die each year from waste -related diseases. The health impacts are particularly severe for th e urban poor. The health and environmental impacts of inadequate waste management, however, go beyond the unserved settlements themselves and result in water, land and air contamination and pollution over a wider area. Extending and improving waste collect ion and safe disposal services are crucial to gaining control over this form of pollution.
Objectives
21.39. The overall objective of this programme is to provide health -protecting, environmentally safe
waste collection and disposal services to all people. Go vernments, according to their capacities and
available resources and with the cooperation of the United Nations and other relevant organizations,
as appropriate, should:
a. By the year 2000, have the necessary technical, financial and human resource capacity to
provide waste collection services commensurate with needs;
b. By the year 2025, provide all urban populations with adequate waste services;
c. By the year 2025, ensure that full urban waste service coverage is maintained and
sanitation coverage achieved in all rural areas.
Activities
(a) Management-related activities
21.40.
Governments, according to their capacities and available resources and with the cooperation of the
United Nations and other relevant organizations, as appropriate, should:
a.
Establish financing mechanisms for waste management service development in deprived
areas, including appropriate modes of revenue generation;
b.
Apply the "polluter pays" principle, where appropriate, by setting waste management
charges at rates that reflect the costs of providing the service and ensure that those who
generate the wastes pay the full cost of disposal in an environmentally safe way;
c.
Encourage institutionalization of communities' participation in planning and
implementation procedures for solid waste management.
(b) Data and information
21.41.
Governments, in collaboration with the United Nations and international organizations, should
undertake the following:
a.
Developing and applying methodologies for waste monitoring;
b.
Data gathering and analysis to establish goals and monitor progress;
c.
Inputting information into a global information system building upon existing systems;
d.
Strengthening the activities of existing information networks in order to disseminate
focused information on the application of innovative and low-cost alternatives for waste
disposal to targeted audiences.
(c) International and regional cooperation and coordination
21.42.
Many United Nations and bilateral programmes exist that seek to provide water supply and
sanitation services to the unserved. The Water and Sanitation Collaborative Council, a global forum,
currently acts to coordinate development and encourage cooperation. Even so, given the ever-
increasing numbers of unserved urban poor populations and the need to address, in addition, the
problem of solid waste disposal, additional mechanisms are essential to ensure accelerated coverage
of urban waste disposal services. The international community in general and selected United Nations
organizations in particular should:
a.
Launch a settlement infrastructure and environment programme following the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development to coordinate the activities of all
organizations of the United Nations system involved in this area and include a clearing-
house for information dissemination on all waste management issues;
b.
Undertake and systematically report on progress in providing waste services to those
without such services;
c.
Review the effectiveness of techniques for and approaches to increasing coverage and
identify innovative ways of accelerating the process.
Means of implementation
(a) Financing and cost evaluation
21.43. The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total annual cost (1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this programme to be about $7.5 billion, including about $2.6 billion from the international community on grant or concessional terms. These are indicative and order-of- magnitude estimates only and have not been reviewed by Governments. Actual costs and financial