Why does exporting black mass or used batteries require the Basel Convention?

Because they are classified as hazardous waste. The Basel Convention subjects every transboundary movement of hazardous waste to a prior informed consent procedure (art. 6): the exporter must notify and obtain written authorization from each State of export, transit and import before shipping — a process that typically takes 3 to 12 months per route.

Why don't Ecobaterías' shipments need that consent?

Because the process, approved by the health authority (Seremi), completes valorization inside Chile: what leaves the plant are mineral products — cobalt and nickel sulfate, copper, aluminium and graphite — not wastes under article 2 of the Convention. A product ships as common cargo with a standard vessel booking.

How much is saved by not exporting under the Basel Convention?

Ecobaterías estimates USD 265 to 640 per tonne exported (about 6 to 15 UF/t), across six items: prior notification and consents, financial guarantees and waste insurance, hazardous-cargo freight and packaging surcharges, working capital locked up during the wait, rejection or re-import risk, and specialized waste management. Shipping lead time also drops from 3–12 months to 2–3 weeks.

What happens if a vessel calls at an unplanned port or the cargo is rejected?

With waste under Basel, the cargo can be held until the unplanned State consents, and if the movement cannot be completed the exporter must re-import it at its own cost (art. 8). A mineral product simply continues its voyage or is resold at destination like any commercial cargo.

Home / Basel advantage

We export products, not waste

Our Seremi-approved process completes valorization inside Chile: what leaves the plant are minerals — cobalt and nickel sulfate, copper, aluminium and graphite — not waste. That places our shipments outside the prior-consent procedure of the Basel Convention, and that is worth real money on every tonne.

Calculate the savings See the two routes

state-by-state consents (PIC) needed for each of our shipments

2–3 wk

to ship a product, versus 3–12 months of paperwork for a waste

maximum estimated savings per tonne exported (range USD 265–640)

per tonne at the high end of the savings range (6–15 UF/t)

Same port, two different worlds

The waste route and the Ecobaterías route

Whoever exports black mass or used batteries travels as hazardous waste under the Basel Convention. Our minerals travel as product cargo. This is what the difference looks like:

Legal basis: Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal — definition of wastes (art. 2), general obligations (art. 4), prior informed consent (art. 6) and duty to re-import (art. 8).

The advantage, in numbers

What every tonne saves by shipping as a product

Six cost items disappear when the shipment is not a waste. Company estimate in conservative ranges, per tonne exported; open each item to see the assumption behind it.

1 · Prior notifications and consents (PIC, art. 6)USD 40 – 90 /t

How we estimate it

Notification and written authorization from every State of export, transit and import: legal and consulting fees, charges and months of paperwork, prorated over the tonnes of each shipment. Our products simply do not require the procedure.

2 · Financial guarantee and waste insurance (art. 6.11)USD 20 – 45 /t

How we estimate it

The Convention requires insurance, a bond or another guarantee covering a possible return of the shipment. A mineral product travels with the standard cargo insurance of any commodity.

3 · Freight and packaging: common cargo vs. hazardous wasteUSD 90 – 180 /t

How we estimate it

Dangerous-goods surcharges, UN-certified packaging, inspections and a much smaller pool of carriers willing to load lithium battery waste, all of which make every container more expensive. Sulfate packs and ships as standard industrial chemistry.

4 · Working capital that is not locked upUSD 50 – 160 /t

How we estimate it

While consents are pending, material already produced sits as idle inventory. Collecting in 2–3 weeks instead of 3–12 months frees that capital: a 10–15% annual cost of capital on a cargo value of ~USD 2,000 per tonne.

5 · Rejection, roll-over or re-import risk (art. 8)USD 40 – 110 /t

How we estimate it

Expected cost of shipments a carrier refuses, holds at an intermediate port or the destination rejects: demurrage, re-handling and, in the worst case, mandatory re-import at the exporter's cost. With a product, only normal commercial risk remains.

6 · Specialized waste managementUSD 25 – 55 /t

How we estimate it

Licensed waste brokers, per-shipment permits and specialized paperwork that a product cargo simply does not need.

Bars to scale: solid segment = low end of the range · striped segment = up to the high end (scale 0–200 USD/t).

Total estimated savings

USD 265 – 640 per tonne

Equivalent to 6–15 UF per tonne: between 0.6 and 1.5 times the disposal fee of the internal plan (10 UF/t). The logistics and regulatory advantage alone is worth roughly one full disposal fee for every tonne exported.

Time until the cargo can ship

Waste under Basel (notification + consents)3 – 12 months

Ecobaterías product (standard vessel booking)2 – 3 weeks

In the waste's best case (3 months) the product has already completed ~4 sell-and-collect cycles.

Interactive calculator

What is this advantage worth per year?

Annual savings from exporting products instead of waste

Move the slider: tonnes of material exported per year.

800 t/yr

Estimated annual savings

—

range of USD 265–640 per tonne

Equivalent in UF

—

at UF 38,450 and USD 900 of reference

Pays the disposal of

—

additional tonnes at the plan's fee (10 UF/t)

Company estimate based on typical hazardous-waste export costs; conservative ranges. Not legal advice or a commercial offer.

The hidden cost of waste

What if something goes wrong at sea?

The most expensive differences are not in the tariff: they appear when the voyage does not go to plan.

The vessel calls at an unplanned port

Waste: the cargo can be held until the State not covered by the notification gives its consent.

Ecobaterías product: continues its voyage like any commercial cargo; the port call is a logistics event, not a regulatory one.

The carrier refuses the cargo

Waste: few lines load lithium battery waste; roll-overs mean lost shipping windows and lost sales.

Ecobaterías product: standard booking with any carrier, like any exporter's sulfate or copper.

The destination rejects the shipment

Waste: if the movement cannot be completed, the exporter must re-import the cargo at its own cost (art. 8).

Ecobaterías product: renegotiated or resold at destination — the normal commercial risk of any commodity.

The basis of the advantage

Why we can say this

Health-authority approval of the process

The Seremi de Salud approved our hydrometallurgical process: valorization is completed entirely in Chile and the outputs are mineral products with commercial specification, not wastes under article 2 of the Convention. Based on the company's analysis, it is the only known process with this characteristic; documentation is available to counterparties in a due-diligence process.

A closed, validated loop

This is not a lab promise: recycled cobalt sulfate was sold to and is used in large-scale copper mining, at 22% lower cost and 40% lower consumption than the imported input. Learn how the process works and the Codelco El Teniente experience.

Buying recycled minerals, or considering an investment?

Let's talk about supplying recycled sulfates and metals without Basel friction, or about the growth plan of Chile's first lithium battery recycling platform.

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