Producer responsibility solution to electronic waste in developing countries - EurekAlert (press release)

How can legislation be used to avoid hazardous waste being dumped where it could poison people and the environment in developing countries? Introducing producer responsibility could be one solution, says Panate Manomaivibool of the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) at Lund University, Sweden, in a new thesis.

In recent years, the problems of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in China, India and various African countries have been highlighted. Unregulated recycling in these countries has led to toxic substances such as lead and mercury from televisions, PVC from wire coating and brominated flame retardants from plastics leaching into the environment and poisoning people. Both the poor people who work with recycling and local residents have been affected.

Initially, a lot of the hazardous electrical and electronic waste was exported from the West in breach of the Basel Convention. More recent studies also show that WEEE from domestic consumption has increased sharply in emerging and developing economies.

Faced with this growing problem, a number of these countries are now developing systems and legislation for the management of WEEE. Panate Manomaivibool's thesis shows how lessons can be learnt from the OECD countries' solutions when tackling the problem and developing relevant legislation.

Producer responsibility is a key part of the solution. It creates incentives not only to improve the recyclability of the product but also to improve other aspects of the product system. This could mean better waste management technology and methods or changes to the design of products to facilitate waste management. This helps to reduce the amount of toxic substances in the materials and components.

Producers can be given responsibility for WEEE in a number of different ways. In Europe, for example, manufacturers often join forces and form collective producer responsibility organisations, which manage the collection and recycling of products on their behalf, free of charge to householders. In Japan, obsolete products are returned to retailers and then sorted according to manufacturer. The major manufacturers have their own recycling facilities. This system has been effective in engaging the manufacturers in learning about recycling and stimulating product redesign.

There are good opportunities to apply producer responsibility for WEEE in non-OECD countries. The levels of this waste are still relatively low, which means that effective preventive measures can still be taken for the future growth in WEEE. For example, producers could be required to phase out hazardous substances and provide recycling guarantees for new products before they come onto the market. The countries also benefit from the fact that many manufacturers of ICT are working to develop systems to deal with obsolete products. Many of them are multinational companies with long experience of producer responsibility from OECD countries.

However, there are challenges involved in introducing producer responsibility. One problem is that it can be difficult to identify the producers of counterfeit or non-branded goods, and another is that the polluted informal recycling sector competes for recyclable material. These challenges are nonetheless manageable. Large companies which supply components for non-branded products, for example 'white-box' computers, can be made responsible instead of pursuing the small assemblers. It is important that fees collected can be used to support the recycling facilities that operate legally.

"In order to succeed, the politicians in non-OECD countries need to take on the challenges that exist by exploiting the full potential of producer responsibility. They have the privilege of being able to learn from the successes and mistakes of the OECD countries. In combination with an understanding of the context of their own country, there are good opportunities for them to design and run a programme that rewards producers who develop their products in a way that improves their environmental performance", says Panate Manomaivibool.

The thesis, Advancing the Frontier of Extended Producer Responsibility The management of waste electrical and electronic equipment in non-OECD countries was defended on 9 September at the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics at Lund University.

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Labpacks and bulk chemical defined for hazardous waste generator

When the Generator requires waste must be removed from his instrument, a good chemist Labpack is therefore invited to training to know how obvious and packing container with D.O.T. guidelines. In the framework of the trade "labpack" there are more "gray" area on the packaging of creative. This because the "abort", which defines the volumage "thou", labpack is five gallons or 50 pounds.

So if you have a bag of arsenic, lead based paint, if weight is less than 50 pounds, then rather than the classification as waste ' bulk ', chemist labpack has the option of "labpacking" on. The beauty is that many labpack separate bags or containers, waste chemical substances may be packed in the same container D.O.T. rated for as long as the basic hazard classes are similar.

There are other considerations which chemist Labpack also takes into account, such as auxiliary classes, and even higher education. Hazard class is the type of classification that D.O.T. assigns different chemical substances. Things such explosives have Your class 1. Flammables transport of class 3, Your Toxics-6, 5 oxidizers, and so on.

Liquids such as sodium hydroxide or sulphuric acid, can also be labpacked, so long as the contents of a container is less than five gallons in volume. So it is very common to the four-five gallon bladder bags Labpack (or pails), various inorganic acids as part of a larger container, such as drum open top fifty-five gallon and manifest it as not bulk waste labpack stream.

Conversely, should a waste will exceed five gallon fifty-pound limit, must then sent as "bulk" of the waste stream. To this end, the samples must be sent to confirm the suspicions of the analytical content and jeopardise the levels. This is a more time and cost to the generator. Should be no hint as to what the contents are bulk waste element becomes the "unknown", and the whole set of new criteria are required to meet the waste to ultimately be reduced again, or recycled, in short, destroyed.

Retail chemist Labpack is one, which compares with plumbing or electrician and is certainly more involved than any courses online hazardous materials training you train for. It includes, knowledge and common sense, practice, excellence and communicate with facility to remove the end.

You can view the trusted chemist's work and enable the Generator to a sense of safety and liability, during their of hazardous chemical waste for disposal is properly recorded in the hazardous waste Manifest generator.

MLI environment specializes in cleaning, identification, proper packaging, transportation and disposal of hazardous waste, fluorescent, batteries, CRT's and electronics recycling. MLP is allowed by many States, EPA and dot to shipments of waste destined for reuse, recycling or destruction. Contact us for more information.

Hazardous waste import's probe sought - Manila Bulletin

MANILA, Philippines — Green advocates Wednesday appealed to the government to investigate the importation of hazardous wastes, particularly from New Zealand, after it purportedly exported at least 50,000 tons of toxic wastes to the Philippines and South Korea since 2008.

Greenpeace-NewZealand claimed that official documents show that used lead acid batteries were allegedly sent to the Philippines for recycling.

However, it remains unclear how much is exported to the Philippines as this information has not yet been made available.

“We call on the Philippine government to investigate the importation of hazardous wastes from New Zealand and from other countries,” Greenpeace-Southeast Asia toxics campaigner Beau Baconguis said.

“We demand that details of these shipments be made publicly available. Republic Act (RA) 6969, the law that regulates trans-boundary movement of hazardous wastes, recognizes the public's right to information. It is government's obligation to disclose such information if we are to prevent more pollution from happening,” she added.

RA 6969 or the Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Control Act of 1990, prohibits the entry, even in transit, of hazardous and nuclear wastes and their disposal into the Philippine territorial limits for whatever purpose.

“For many years, different environmental groups have been campaigning to end exports of hazardous wastes by developed countries to developing countries like the Philippines,” Baconguis said, adding that Philippine laws allow toxic wastes to enter the country under the guise of recycling.

“The Philippines cannot continue to be a dumping ground of toxic wastes from countries that are more capable of managing their own wastes. We call on the Philippine government to immediately ratify the Basel Ban Amendment, as this is what is needed to address the loophole in the current laws,” EcoWaste president Roy Alvarez said.

The Basel Ban Amendment prohibits the export of toxic waste from developed countries such as the European Union to developing countries that can further enhance the control that is needed to prevent toxic wastes ending up in Asia.

“New Zealand is a country that prides itself in its clean and green image. A genuinely green country takes responsibility for its own toxic wastes. By exporting its own hazardous waste, it is, in effect, taking advantage of countries like the Philippines already struggling from countless environmental and social problems,” Alvarez said.

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Largest Illinois hazardous waste site you have never heard about - KMOV.com

(KMOV.com) -- A local activist is calling an area "the largest hazardous waste site" you have never heard of before.

The site the activist is referring to is a 400 acre plot near Albers, Illinois that used to be owned by Exxon-Mobil Coal.  Looking at the site today, you would never know that the site used to be a hazardous waste dump.  A satellite image from several years ago shows what is now covered by dirt: a coal-wa
ste slurry from the now closed Monterrey Mine.

Don Langenhorst lives less than a mile away from the site and he wants the site cleaned up.  He also fears the waste led to his kidney problems.  Langenhorst said he drank the water for years without any indication he was possibly hurting his health.

According to reports, the water leaking out of the site includes iron, sulfides and chlorides.  It is supposed to be pumped in to the Kaskaskia river, but is already infiltrated the water aquifer underneath.  That infiltration has seriously deteriorated the water quality in two nearby towns.

Exxon has already paid $1 million to pump in clean water to the people who live nearby.  The residents around the site say they are not after money.  They just want the site cleaned up.  Under the mining reclamation act, the site is technically not considered hazardous waste.  Area residents beg to differ.

Attorney Penni Livingston hopes the Illinois Supreme Court sees the flaw in the law.  "It's a slurried material and the reclamation act says you may not have anything that's a permanent impoundment of clean water, so maybe it's not hazardous waste, but it is not clean water either," Livingston stated.

Livingston also said she is concerned about water from that aquifer now being pumped into the nearby Kaskaskia River, which may be news to many who boat there.

Exxon-Mobil Coal sold that site to another company in 2009.  The Illinois Supreme Court will hear the case in October. 

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Maharashtra govt blasted on Union Carbide waste analysis and disposal - Hindustan Times

Conveying its strong displeasure in equally strong words, the Madhya Pradesh high court on Thursday lashed out at the Maharashtra government for its ‘casual’ approach on the issue of Union Carbide’s toxic waste disposal. The court gave three days to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) to inspect Union Carbide’s Bhopal plant, collect samples and analyse the toxicity of the waste in two weeks.

A court had directed the MPCB last month to collect and examine the toxic waste and submit its findings. But on Thursday while hearing the case, the MPCB sought more time, which annoyed the court.

The court would now hear the matter on August 29 and directed the MPCB to furnish the details of the findings of toxic waste examination then. The court asked MP government to allow MPCB to carry out analysis of 346-tonne of the toxic material lying at the now defunct Bhopal plant.

The Jabalpur high court had last month granted a stay on its July 12 order directing MP government to transport toxic waste lying at Union Carbide’s abandoned Bhopal plant to Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) facility near Nagpur for its scientific disposal. 

However, a division bench comprising justice Sushil Harkauli and justice U C Maheshwari made it clear that hazardous waste needs disposal and refused to curtail the process and directed MPCB to collect sample of toxic waste from Bhopal. This means the actual transportation of the toxic waste has been stayed until further orders.

Earlier, responding to a petition, the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court had directed the state government to file an appropriate application before the MP high court to modify its earlier orders regarding dumping and incinerating the Union Carbide’s toxic waste near Nagpur, apparently to avoid conflict between two high courts.

Hence, a fresh application was filed before the MP court on the issue.

The petition was filed before the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court when the Jabalpur bench directed the Madhya Pradesh government on July 12 to transport toxic waste to Nagpur and file compliance report by July 28.

The Jabalpur court’s directives to transport the toxic waste near Nagpur triggered resistance and anger among the people of Nagpur.

Local units of political parties, including the ruling Congress, NCP and BJP and environment activists opposed the move, though the DRDO had said it has the expertise and the facility for safe toxic waste disposal.

It was the then minister of forests and environment Jairam Ramesh, who suggested disposing the 346-tonne of Union Carbide waste at the DRDO facility. However, Ramesh did not take Maharashtra government into confidence while making such a suggestion.

People of Nagpur feel that it would pose a pollution threat for them. The toxic waste is lying on the Union Carbide factory premises in Bhopal for well over two and half decades.

The Maharashtra environment minister, Sanjay Deotale, had told the state Assembly last week that the government would approach the apex court, if necessary, to oppose the burning of toxic waste near Nagpur.

The minister made it clear that even transporting the material from Bhopal to Nagpur -- a journey of 360 km -- would also pose problems.

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Rockford Hazardous Waste Pickup a Long Running Success - MyStateline.com

It's a long running program to keep hazardous waste out of our landfills.

Rockford approved renewing its contract with the state E.P.A. to continue its household hazardous waste program.

Weekends in Rockford can seem kind of scary at this disposal site. But the haz-mat suits allows these workers to get rid of dangerous garbage.

"It's getting rid of things that if they were put into the regular waste stream, would be a problem for the landfills to handle and so they don't dispose of in a random fashion by the homeowners."

The state E.P.A. picks up the cost of picking up paint, tires, oil, and chemicals. Keeping them from getting into ground water. The contractor will sort them out and hand them off to the proper disposal sites. Property Improvement Manager Charles Schaefer says they can get overwhelmed.

"It's really popular, in fact that's why we need to schedule people for special pickups when they have large items because it holds up the line."

The waste pickup started in the early nineties after a huge turnout for an Illinois clean up day.

"People were lined up for four hours waiting to dispose of their hazardous waste there was no other option."

Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful takes calls regularly from people asking how to dispose of hazardous materials. Rockford's collection is open to any Illinois resident. And Executive Director Lori Gummow says the collection was unique.

"Rockford was number two, and for years we were only one of two permanent facilities in the state of Illinois, other communities were still applying for the one day sweeps."

Other cities have started up permanent collection facilities as the E.P.A. has phased out one day collections because of a lack of money. Gummow says it's important to keep the pickup going.

"You don't want it going in the garbage truck and leaking as its taken down the city street, you don't want the chemicals going into a landfill."

For times and a list of what's accepted, click here.

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Govt suspends chemical firm for dumping toxic waste in Cavite - GMANews.TV

The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) on Friday issued a suspension order against hazardous waste management firm SOLCHEM Philippines Inc. (SPI) for illegal dumping of toxic waste in a private lot in Dasmariñas, Cavite.

Following a technical conference with officials of SOLCHEM and EMB-Region 4A director Allan Leuterio on Tuesday, EMB director Juan Miguel Cuna said the recommendation of the regional office is to suspend the company's transporter and treatment, storage and Disposal (TSD) registration certificates.

In the conference, SOLCHEM president and general manager Edwin Afzelius admitted to contracting a person identified only as "Boyong" to transport and store their partially treated hazardous wastes.

The company reportedly did not verify whether the individual actually operates a storage facility accredited by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The company said they did not also know the location of the facility.

Last week, a total of 63 drums of hazardous waste were recovered in Barangay Langkaan I in Dasmariñas.

Upon investigation, truck driver Ramon Olager said the drums came from the treatment facility of SOLCHEM Philippines in Las Piñas City.

With this action, Cuna said the company violated Republic Act No. 6969 or the Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act.

He added, however, that the penalty for the company has yet to be determined.

?The temporary suspension of SOLCHEM?s TSD permits would mean that the firm is not allowed to transport and treat hazardous wastes until such time that the disposition that came up during the technical conference conducted between the EMB and SOLCHEM has been complied with," Cuna said. ? JMT/VS, GMA News

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Bid to clear Union Carbide plant toxic waste hits hurdle - Hindu Business Line

Bhopal, July 22:  The process of disposal of 346 tonnes of toxic waste lying at the defunct Union Carbide plant here has once again hit a road block with several groups protesting the dumping of this poisonous material at Nagpur in Maharashtra.

The decision to dispose of the toxic waste at a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) facility near Nagpur was taken after the unit evinced interest in it, as stated by former Union Environment Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh, here on May 26.

Following this, the Madhya Pradesh High Court had also issued directives to the State Government as well as the DRDO to make arrangements for the transport and disposal of the toxic waste lying in the defunct factory for almost 27 years.

But opposition towards disposing of such a huge quantity of hazardous waste has irked some NGOs and activists here.

According to Ms Rachna Dhingra from ‘Bhopal Group for Information and Action’, an NGO, though the matter is sub-judice and will come up for hearing on July 28, the facility near Nagpur does not have mandatory clearances from Maharashtra Pollution Control Board for operating it.

Speaking to PTI, Ms Dhingra claimed that no facility in India is capable of disposing of such a toxic waste safely and demanded that it should be disposed of in any of the OECD (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development) countries as they have a capacity to deal with such hazardous waste.

She also suggested that the cost of shipment of toxic material should be charged to Dow Chemicals, the current owner of the defunct plant at Bhopal.

Keywords: Bhopal, Union Carbide, toxic waste disposal, DRDO, NGO

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