KSBL Circular Plastic Institute (CPI) aims to establish an ecosystem for circular economy in Pakistan. Situated on the academic side of the academic-practitioner ecosystem, CPI aims to reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing, reprocessing, and plastic use and ensuring adequate end-of-life management of plastic through collaboration, research, and implementation.
CPI’s project investigated the socio-economic and political aspects influencing the implementation of the Basel Convention's amendments, with the aim to bolster the capacity of Pakistan’s government and stakeholders in managing transboundary plastic waste movement. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the project assesses value chains, social networks, and policy alignment to build a database which will help in bringing future regulatory reforms related to the movement of plastic waste and develop a strong policy action plan for implementing the Basel Amendments.
Limited capacities to implement the Basel Amendment
To strengthen Pakistan’s national capacity to implement the Basel Amendment, it is important to translate this international benchmark into national legislation, policy development and enforcement tools. To deal with plastic waste, we must regulate the cross-border flows of plastic waste and implement the Basel amendment. It is important to understand these reasons, identify the factors that prevent the country from regulating the trade in hazardous plastic waste, and develop appropriate evidence-based solutions. The Basel Convention changed its rules to require all participating countries to pay particular attention to the trade in plastic waste.
Mix-method approach for implementing Basel Amendments
1. In this project we use a transdisciplinary approach to understand the socio-economic and political factors that lead to low implementation of the Basel Amendments. The objectives of the transdisciplinary approach are:
a) expand knowledge of the socio-economic factors associated with cross-border imports of plastic waste.
b) collaboratively develop solutions that increase the government’s ability to implement the Basel Amendment.
2. We use evidence from our research to enhance the capacity of Government stakeholders to develop policy solutions that address the challenges related to Basel Amendment implementation.
3. We compare world Trade Organization’s tariff tools (Tariff Analysis Online, Integrated database and Consolidated Tariff Schedules Database) against Pakistan Customs Tariff Schedules to evaluate reporting issues.
4. We conduct a value chain analysis using a qualitative approach. This value chain analysis will help to identify a series of activities and the organisations who shape the Imported PVC waste market.
Achieve Sustainability with policy actions
The proposal project aims to achieve the objective of effective control of cross-border movements of plastic waste in Pakistan through the following capacity building and research objectives. This project is also important because it helps advance the Asia-Pacific Network’s research and capability development agenda. Through this project, we will facilitate interaction between Pakistani scientists and government stakeholders, strengthen science-policy connections, and increase the ability of government stakeholders to regulate cross-border movements of plastic waste. The project will strengthen Pakistan’s national capacity to implement the Basel Amendment by bringing together governmental and non-governmental stakeholders and facilitating their joint development of evidence-based policy solutions. It will also contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals through SDG 3 (reducing exposure to hazardous chemicals), SDG 6 (protecting drinking water and sanitation due to the potential use of plastic waste for water pipes) and SDG 8 (ensuring safety of people involved in plastic waste related economic Activities), SDG 9 (Promoting end-of-life plastic waste management) and SDG 12 (Consumption and responsible production of recycled plastic).
Shiza Aslam
Director & Head of Research
