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 76. In OECD member countries alone. thousands of waste disposal sites exist, many of which are likely to require some form of remedial action. Clean-up is expensive: Estimates include $10 billion for the Federal Republic of Germany, more than $1.5 billion for the Netherlands, $20-100 billion for the United States, and at least $60 million for Denmark (in 1986 dollars). A large number of potentially hazardous sites may also exist in concentrated industrial-urban areas in centrally planned economies as well as in developing countries. Some form of government intervention is required through regulatory action or financial support.

77. Waste management in developing countries suffers from a variety of problems. Frequent and heavy rains in the tropics, for instance, leach wastes into the soils under landfills or even cause them to overflow. With little or no pretreatment of wastes, this could contaminate water supplies or cause local people to be directly exposed to the wastes. Land-filling generally occurs close to industrial states that are surrounded by poor neighbourhoods or shanty towns. These dangers point up the need for land use planning in developing countries, and the more urgent need to actually implement and enforce such plans.

78. The overriding policy objective must be to reduce the amount of waste generated and to transform an increasing amount into resources [or use and reuse. This will reduce the volume that otherwise must be treated or disposed of through incineration, land disposal. or dumping at sea. This is first and foremost a problem of industrialized countries. But it is also a problem in NICs and developing countries, where rapid industrialization is bringing the same severe problems of hazardous waste management.

79. The amount of wastes crossing national frontiers is increasing and is likely to continue to do so. Between 1982 and 1983, wastes transported in Western Europe for disposal in another country virtually doubled, reaching some 250,000-425,000 tons (1-2 per cent of the total hazardous wastes generated). This increase may be attributed partly to the availability of relatively low-cost, legal. land-based disposal facilities in some countries. For example. about 4,000 shipments of hazardous wastes went from the Netherlands to the German Democratic Republic in 1984. And the Federal Republic of Germany sent about 20,000 shipments to the German Democratic Republic the preceding year. International transport of wastes meant for disposal at sea, either by incineration or dumping, amounted to about 1.8 million tons in 1983. Small and poor countries are especially vulnerable to offshore dumping, as has occurred in the waters of the Pacific and the Caribbean.

80. Some countries have recently proposed what. amounts to a commodity trade in hazardous (including radioactive) wastes. Strengthened international cooperation in this area is vitally important, and several international bodies have taken up the matter. An international agreement currently being developer by OECD is to be based on three important principles: equally strict controls on shipments to non member countries; /…