International Waste Trade[Commerce International de Déchets]

This paper is about the International Waste Trade. We are going to analyze the essen- tial determinants that drive the imports of waste. Our focus is the European Union and we will observe the role of the environmental regula- tion in the trade dynamics. Waste trade has some straightforward determinants, but some others are not so obvious. The empirical evidence that emerges is the rapid and significant growth of in- ternational waste trade. This raises the question of the environmental and health impact of waste in the importing country. There are two possi- ble outcomes for this kind of trade: international waste trade could be an instrument of sustaina- ble development, or on the contrary, it contribu- tes to the degradation of the global environment of poor countries. Currently, there are two op- posite economic logics. If the export of waste is due to technological challenges, especially if the importing country has better technology for waste treatment, waste is imported as a good that is valuable and recyclable, then the International Trade Waste (IWT) is virtuous. In this case, the main determinants of the IWT will be the price of raw primary and secondary materials, as well as technical and financial offer of the green indus- tries (Bernard et al, september, 2012). However, if the export of waste is due to the search for a solution to the problem of local treatment and disposal of waste at least economic cost, regard- less of physical fate of these wastes, the IWT is then a threat to natural resources and to the health of the population of the importing coun- try. Where applicable, the difference in severity of local environmental regulations between IWT partners will be the driver key of waste exchan- ges. This will inevitably lead to the emergence of waste havens. In the context of this paper, we show empirically the trends of these two approa- ches within the European Union, with the speci- fic objective of providing more information for policy makers in environmental regulations and waste trade.