NIA has provided its comments to the United Nations ‘Report on issues related to waste containing nanomaterials and options for further work under the Basel Convention'. The report is comprehensive and provide an overview of the current aspects of waste containing nanomaterial. However, NIA points out that a number of the issues presented, are not different from conventional non-nano waste materials and are thus not nanospecific in nature. Further, waste containing nanomaterials (WCNM) is not necessarily hazardous, and would therefore not fall under the Basel Convention Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal in the first place.
It should be recalled that nanotechnologies and nanomaterials are actively being developed to reduce, mediate, or mitigate environmental impact or reduce resources required to manufacture products. Nanotechnology and nanomaterials are not hazardous per se, and just as any conventional materials, some may be hazardous, and some may not. The push to utilise green nanotechnologies can in many instances mitigate waste issues in the first place
