Household Waste Partnership

 

Overview

One of the key challenges related to waste management faced by national governments and municipalities, particularly in developing countries, countries with economies in transition and small island development states (SIDS), is the implementation of an integrated approach for the environmentally sound management for household wastes. This includes approaches which aim at avoiding or minimizing the generation of household waste at source as well as the development of integrated concepts, as relevant, for collection, separation, transport, storage, treatment, processing, recycling and disposal of household waste.

The volume of household waste in many countries is increasing while its composition is permanently changing. Based on their origin and/or composition and their characteristics, household waste may contain hazardous materials co-mingled with non-hazardous materials. Because of the potential for contamination with hazardous substances, waste collected from households is classified under the Basel Convention as requiring special consideration (Basel Convention, Annex II, Y46).

The Household Waste Partnership was established by the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention in 2017 to address this important issue and to provide technical assistance worldwide, supporting all countries to benefit from already available solutions for environmentally sound management, including issues such as separation at source, collection, transport, storage, recycling, energy recovery and final disposal.

Objectives of the Partnership:

  • To promote the environmentally sound management of household waste including its prevention and minimization
  • To enable the decoupling of economic growth and environmental impacts associated with the generation of household waste and its initial handling by the public in their households