Identifying best available technology for hazardous waste management

This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities. Agenda 21 recommends that international organizations should identify relevant and improved technology for handling, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous waste.

The Convention on the Protection and use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes describes the term "best available technology" as follows: "Best available technology" is taken to mean the latest stage of development of processes, facilities or methods of operation which indicate the practical suitability of a particular measure for limiting discharges, emissions and waste. In determining whether a set of processes, facilities and methods of operation constitute the best available technology in general or individual cases, special consideration is given to: (a) Comparable processes, facilities or methods of operation which have recently been successfully tried out; (b) Technological advances and changes in scientific knowledge and understanding; (c) The economic feasibility of such technology; (d) Time limits for installation in both new and existing plants; (e) The nature and volume of the discharges and effluents concerned; (f) Low- and non-waste technology. It therefore follows that what is "best available technology" for a particular process will change with time in the light of technological advances, economic and social factors, as well as in the light of changes in scientific knowledge and understanding.