The movement of hazardous wastes represents a Driving Force indicator in the DSR Framework. The present problem of defining whether a waste is hazardous or not will, in some cases, cause difficulties in relation to the use of amounts of hazardous wastes generated as a sustainable development indicator. Consideration of the nature of the different kinds of hazardous wastes generated would be a better indicator of sustainable development progress. Availability, accuracy, and harmonization of data represent other limitations of this indicator. Finally, the nature of the waste itself makes it sometimes difficult to use them as indicators because wastes are often mixed and not produced to specifications.
Additional limitations relate to the existence of illegal traffic in hazardous wastes.
The amount of exports in proportion to the total hazardous waste generated, and the relationship between imports and the treatment capacity of a country represent two possible supplementary indicators. This is normally the case for developed countries which are Parties to the Basel Convention. However, many developing countries have no such procedure in place at this time. In the case of the Basel Convention, each Party is obliged under Article 5 to designate a competent authority and a focal point. The competent authority is the entity in the government which should receive the notification of a transboundary movement of hazardous wastes or other wastes, and the focal point should receive and submit information as provided for in Articles 13 and 16, including information on export and import of hazardous wastes.