Lee Bell ESD, IPEN's Mercury Policy Advisor, and Jindrich Petrlik RNDr., Chair of IPEN's Dioxin, PCBs and Waste Working Group and Director of Arnika's Toxics and Waste Programme, have contributed to a new paper that addresses POPs-contaminated sites and the need for stringent soil standards:
On Thursday, November 15th, the EU Parliament plenary will vote on the recast of the POPs regulation. Some of the proposed amendments would still undermine the regulation, allowing very high levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and toxic recycling.
A decision that will impact toxic waste dumping in developing countries, as well as the amount of Persistent Organic Pollutant (POPs) waste allowed in the circular economy, will be made by delegates from the Parties to the Basel Convention (Geneva, Sept. 3-7, 2018).
Threshold limit concentrations that define POPs waste – the most toxic form of waste that exists— determine whether a toxic substance is considered a POP and must be destroyed, or is considered “clean” and can re-enter the recycling stream. If a high level is set of one specific POP, Short Chained Chlorinated Paraffins (SCCPs), known to cause sever health and environmental impacts, it will result in increased hazardous waste dumping in developing countries and more contamination of products made of recycled materials, such as children’s toys.
