Chemicals and Hazardous Waste Management: International Norms and their Implementation in India

The objective of this paper is to analyse the status of Chemicals and Hazardous waste management in India. Chemicals and hazardous wastes generated in the current industrialised world cause serious damage to human health and the environment. India is a party to five international instruments, namely the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, the Minamata Convention on Mercury, and the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM), to protect the environment from the evil effects of chemicals and hazardous wastes. Financial and technological constraints, lack of awareness, the attitude of indifference of industrial units, the developmental needs of the country, and inadequate enforcement mechanisms have severely affected Indian compliance status vis-a-vis international norms. Evaluating the present scenario, especially to unearth the problems faced in grassroots-level implementation and to address them adequately, is indispensable to prevent the looming catastrophe. We have discussed the five international instruments and India’s obligations as a member state in the first part of the paper followed by the status of chemicals and hazardous management in the country by analysing the national inventory of hazardous wastes from 2016-2022. In the final segment, we have summarised our findings and provided our independent opinion on measures that may be taken for the sound management of chemical and hazardous wastes in the country.