Editing Basel Convention (section)

==Regulation of plastic waste==
In the wake of popular outcry, in May 2019 most of the world's countries, but not the United States, agreed to amend the Basel Convention to include plastic waste as a regulated material.<ref name="unep.org"/> The world's oceans are estimated to contain 100 million [[metric tons]] of plastic, with up to 90% of this quantity originating in land-based sources. The United States, which produces an annual 42 million metric tons of plastic waste, more than any other country in the world,<ref>National Geographic, 30 Oct. 2020, [https://web.archive.org/web/20210220014137/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/us-plastic-pollution "U.S. Generates More Plastic Trash than Any Other Nation, Report Finds: The Plastic Pollution Crisis Has Been Widely Blamed on a Handful of Asian Countries, But New Research Shows Just How Much the U.S. Contributes"]</ref> opposed the amendment, but since it is not a party to the treaty it did not have an opportunity to vote on it to try to block it. Information about, and visual images of, wildlife, such as [[seabird]]s, ingesting plastic, and scientific findings that [[nanoparticles]] do penetrate through the [[blood–brain barrier]] were reported to have fueled public sentiment for coordinated international legally binding action. Over a million people worldwide signed a petition demanding official action.<ref name="unep.org"/><ref>The Guardian, 10 May 2019, [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/10/nearly-all-the-worlds-countries-sign-plastic-waste-deal-except-us "Nearly All Countries Agree to Stem Flow of Plastic Waste into Poor Nations: US Reportedly Opposed Deal, which Follows Concerns that Villages in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia Had ‘Turned into Dumpsites’"]</ref><ref name="phys.org"/> Although the United States is not a party to the treaty, export shipments of plastic waste from the United States are now "criminal traffic as soon as the ships get on the high seas," according to the [[Basel Action Network]] (BAN), and carriers of such shipments may face liability, because the Basel Convention as amended in May 2019 prohibits the transportation of plastic waste to just about every other country.<ref name="maritime-executive.com"/>

The Basel Convention contains three main entries on plastic wastes in Annex II, VIII and IX of the convention. The Plastic Waste Amendments of the convention are now binding on 186 States. In addition to ensuring the trade in plastic waste is more transparent and better regulated, under the Basel Convention governments must take steps not only to ensure the environmentally sound management of plastic waste, but also to tackle plastic waste at its source.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Environment |first=U. N. |date=2021-10-21 |title=Drowning in Plastics – Marine Litter and Plastic Waste Vital Graphics |url=http://www.unep.org/resources/report/drowning-plastics-marine-litter-and-plastic-waste-vital-graphics |access-date=2022-03-21 |website=UNEP - UN Environment Programme |language=en}}</ref>