Protocol on POPs comes into force The protocol on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) entered into force on 23 October 2003 after France ratified the treaty. Originally adopted on 24 June 1998 in Denmark, with 35 countries including the European Community signing the treaty, this is the sixth protocol to take effect under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. France joins Austria, Bulgaria, Canda, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Republic of Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland as party to the protocol. The POPs protocol focuses on 16 substances – eleven pesticides, two industrial chemicals and three by-products/contaminants – with the ultimate goal of eliminating any discharges, emissions and losses of these POPs. The initiative prohibits production and use of products such as aldrin, chlordane, chlordecone, dieldrin, endrin and others. Additional substances such as DDT, heptachlor and hexachlorobenzene are slated to be banned in the future. Signatory nations attended their first meeting during December in Geneva, where representatives of member countries were scheduled to discuss as well as initiate work on a review of some of the provisions of the protocol to see if they need to be updated. Website: www.cw.groupstone.net Pilot project on medical wastes kicks off in Bangladesh A UNDP report states that in Dhaka, Bangladesh, used injection needles and saline syringes are destroyed under a pilot project implemented by the Initiative for People’s Development (IPD), an NGO. The foremost objectives of this project are to create awareness among the concerned people, act as an eye opener for the policy-making fraternity and identify suitable technology to manage such wastes. Medical wastes are being collected from 11 hospitals/clinics in a hygienic manner and transported to the city’s Bhashantek area for safe disposal. Management of medical waste is still at the planning level in the country. Dhaka City Corporation and the Japan International Cooperation Agency recently signed a pact to prepare a solid waste management master plan. Website: www.thedailystar.net Treaty on trade to become law Armenia is the 50th country to ratify the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure for certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides in international trade, thus commencing the countdown to the treaty’s enactment on 24 February 2004. Mr. Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director of UNEP, expressed that the new regime offers its member governments, particularly in developing countries, the tools required to safeguard their citizens, clean up obsolete stockpiles of pesticides as well as strengthen their chemicals management. Jointly supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UNEP, the convention establishes a first line of defence against future tragedies that could be caused by hazardous chemicals. The convention facilitates importing nations to decide which potentially hazardous chemicals they want to receive and exclude those they are not able to manage safely. Though the convention starts off with 27 chemicals, five more pesticides have already been marked for inclusion and many more are likely to be added in the future. Website: www.ban.org Funds for developing nations to protect the environment The Global Environment Facility has pledged US$250 million for a three-year scheme to help countries in the developing world address problems relating to persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Island nations in the Pacific will receive support from the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) with regard to removal and disposal of POPs. GHD Pty. Limited, an engineering company, is slated to remove POPs from 13 Pacific island countries – including Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Tuvalu – under the ‘POPs in PICs’ project. Thereafter, the POPs will be transported to Australia for safe disposal. Important POPs present in Pacific island countries include those in agricultural pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls present in obsolete electrical equipment. The World Bank has also been active in environmental protection in the developing world. The Community Development Carbon Fund has been established by the Bank to support small-scale projects for greenhouse gas reduction. The US$35 million fund will assist schemes in areas such as waste-to-energy and renewables, provided they have measurable benefits. Furthermore, private sector investors participating in the funding will gain credits for carbon emission reductions. Website: www.jxj.com ADB aid for Pakistan The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has offered Pakistan US$100 million to establish effluent treatment plants and hazardous waste landfill sites. According to a working paper with the Ministry of Environment, ADB would finance industrial efficiency and environmental management programmes to facilitate industries to fulfil national as well as international environmental standards and enable exports to foreign markets within the WTO regime. The proposed credit will be used to set up six combined industrial effluent treatment plants in select high priority industrial estates and industrial clusters, and create two landfill sites for toxic wastes. Industrial associations in each of the industrial estates will join hands to put in place a “private entity” for procuring loans to build, own, operate and maintain the effluent treatment plants and landfill sites. Through the Ministry of Finance, the government would re-lend the amount received from ADB to a financial intermediary on the terms established at the time of appraisal. The intermediary would then furnish loans to the “private entity,” which would collect service fees from individual industries. Website: www.pakistantimes.net Electronic waste shipments into Hong Kong restricted Hong Kong’s Environmental Protection Department has issued a circular that makes it illegal under the local waste disposal ordinance to import toxic electronic wastes, such as TVs and computer monitors, into the country without a written permit from local authorities. Beginning 20 October 2003, carriers are to refrain from booking/accepting such cargo – particularly those that are declared as “Used TVs”, “Used computers” or “Used appliances” – either for discharge in or transhipment over Hong Kong. Other nations following Hong Kong include the Republic of Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. In the Republic of Korea, though used TVs and computer monitors are not prohibited commodities for importation, from 11 November 2003 discarded TVs, computer monitors, electronic wastes, etc. have been banned. Taiwan allows imports of used TVs and computer monitors but has forbidden waste TVs and computer monitors. All used TVs and monitors are restricted without exception in Thailand. Website: www.kline.com Solid waste treatment market in Korea A steadily expanding solid waste treatment market in the Republic of Korea is opening up new vistas for environmental companies. According to the Ministry of Environment (MOE), this market was worth US$3 billion in 2002, a 15 per cent increase over the previous year. Solid waste treatment accounted for 34 per cent of the overall environmental market, the second largest environmental sub-sector behind water pollution control at 47 per cent followed by air pollution control at 14.5 per cent. MOE predicts that this market will increase at double-digit growth rates annually reaching US$3.4 billion in 2003. The Korean Waste Management Act has classified solid waste into three categories – industrial waste, household waste and construction debris. Aggressive policy initiatives by the government, to reduce solid waste generation, resulted in lower production of household waste nationwide, from 75,000 t/d to 49,000 t/d over the last decade. However, the rapidly increasing economy over the past nine years has led to a 113 per cent raise in daily industrial waste generation, reaching 95,000 t. Additionally, generation of construction debris has risen by 282 per cent over the last five years, reaching 108,000 t/d. The typical solid waste treatment methods are landfill, sea dumping, incineration and reprocessing. Compared with open dumping type landfills used exclusively until a decade ago, recently developed landfill sites operate using technologies that reduce environmental pollution caused by landfill gas and leachate. Dumping human wastes and waste sludge into the sea is convenient as a low-cost treatment option. The amount of sea dumping has increased from 4,200 t/d to 7,800 t/d over the last four years. To dispose food wastes, many municipalities are turning to recycling methods like composting and refuse derived fuel. Incineration has emerged as the best available solution to deal with non-recyclable solid wastes given the limited landfill space in the country. In January 2003, MOE promulgated an Extended Producer Responsibility System (EPRS) that imposes waste recycling obligations on producers or importers of high waste-generating products such as home appliances and PCs. Product lists that fall under EPRS requirement are wrappings (paper, glass, steel, synthetic resins) and electric cells, electrical appliances, lubricants and tyres. The items covered under this regulation will soon be expanded to include other recyclables such as fluorescent bulbs, mobile phones, etc. The Korean Resource Recovery and Reutilization Corp. is a state-run organization, which reviews and approves producers’ recycling plans and sets the target recycling rate for each category of solid waste. Website: www.buyusa.gov Chinese guidelines to address e-waste China plans to formulate policies that will hold producers partly or wholly responsible for treating electronic waste products. According to the Deputy Director General of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), Mr. Pan Yue, SEPA would push for the promulgation of such programmes aimed at realizing harmony between economic growth and environmental protection. Mr. Pan called the new system under consideration an “extension of producers’ responsibilities”, a development of the “polluters pay for the pollution they cause” principle. He said the key to solving environmental pollution caused by electronic scrap lies in spurring production facilities to produce environmentally friendly products. This would cut or eliminate the use of harmful substances at the source. Website: www.recyclingtoday.com Curbs in Thailand for recycling facilities Thailand’s Ministry for Industry will revise regulations for waste recycling facilities and carriers of hazardous substances to ensure public safety. Requirements for factory types 105 and 106, which reprocess industrial wastes, are being overhauled. These factories would have to improve their environmental management, waste storage and transportation included. Owners who violate the regulations could have their permits suspended or revoked. The Department of Industrial Works (DIW) has been issuing two kinds of permits for type 105 and 106 recycling factories since 2001. So far, 41 factories have obtained permits to dispose industrial waste though not all services require an environmental impact assessment (EIA). Three sanitary landfills and seven gypsum plants incinerating industrial wastes need EIAs. Other services recycling electronic waste do not need them, states DIW. Among the proposed regulations, one is to fit hazardous substance carriers with a global positioning system (GPS) device and a black box for recording information about their routines. The draft also calls for the container/tank on hazardous substance carriers to be registered with DIW and facilitate regular inspection. Website: www.bangkokpost.net Waste treatment sector in Thailand According to the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), Thailand, the waste treatment business is burgeoning in response to growing concerns about the demand for improved hazardous waste treatment to fulfil the needs of international trade partners. Out of 120,000 factories operating presently nationwide, only half of them are reported to have adequate waste treatment facilities. The Industrial Works Department had instructed factory owners to specify, by the end of 2003, how they cope with both hazardous and normal trash. FTI’s 30-member waste treatment industrial group (WTIG) is encouraging factories to meet the local treatment regulations and international requirements, especially those set by the European Union, which insists upon proper treatment of electrical and electronic waste. The Pollution Control Department (PCD) reported that local industries generated 1.4 million tonnes of toxic waste in 2002, up from 1.3 million tonnes a year earlier. This volume is projected to reach 1.5 million tonnes in 2003. PCD states that only 10 per cent of toxic wastes is adequately treated since only a small number of factories have invested in proper facilities. WTIG is optimistic about the prospects for improvement, with 12 industrial waste firms receiving approval by the Industrial Works Department (IWD) in 2002 and 10 more seeking approval in 2003. It has requested the Science and Technology Ministry to reserve funds for establishing a waste treatment and research centre for electronic and electrical articles. This centre, anticipated to receive technical support from Germany, will also train manufacturers to deal with e- waste. WTIG is to join the IWD in categorizing the factories on their waste treatment capabilities. Website: www.bangkokpost.net Reduced vehicular emission levels in the Philippines The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of the Philippines has found the Clean Air Act’s anti-smoke belching provisions to be “unrealistic”. By means of the Administrative Order 51, DENR has relaxed emission standards set by the 1999 law for land vehicles. For vehicles with petroleum engines, the allowable emissions of carbon monoxide are now up to 4.5 per cent by volume and hydrocarbon emissions at 800 parts per million (ppm) when the vehicle is idling. Original limits under the 1999 law were a low of 0.5 per cent allowable carbon monoxide emissions and 100 ppm of hydrocarbon emissions. With regard to diesel fuelled vehicles, the original light absorption coefficient standard (that determines the amount of black carbon present) set at 1.2 has been raised to 2.5. Website: www.inq7.net Emission controls at coal-fired power plants in China Coal-fired power plants in Beijing and other main cities of China have been asked to install emission controls for reducing the release of harmful sulphur dioxide. New requirements introduced this week by the State Environmental Protection Administration will also apply to facilities in Shanghai, China’s business hub and largest city, in addition to 21 other metropolises. Together with Beijing, these cities account for 60 per cent of the nation’s total sulphur dioxide emissions from coal, vehicle exhaust and industrial pollution. By 2005, 137 “key plants” must be installed with emissions reduction equipment. Website: www.enn.com Indian policy on auto fuel unveiled India announced the launch of a new national policy on auto fuel to curb air pollution in cities and towns. The guidelines lay down a road map for achieving various vehicle emission norms by 2010 and has set April 2010 as the deadline to ban the sale of automobiles that do not conform to Euro-III emission norms stipulated by the European Union. However, 11 major cities, including New Delhi, have to fulfil the Euro-III benchmark by April 2005. By 2010, these metropolises will have to meet the higher Euro-IV norms. For the production of cleaner fuel, the mostly state-run domestic oil refineries are expected to invest up to US$6.7 billion while automobile makers will spend another US$5.5 billion to manufacture vehicles with better emission norms. Website: www.enn.com Environmental defaulters punished In China, 12,000 companies have been penalized for non-compliance with environmental laws during the first 10 months of 2003. At a seminar on China’s ecological environment and economy, the Deputy Director of the State Environmental Protection Administration reported that 33.5 per cent of the transgressors were using outdated production facilities banned by the government for inefficiency and pollution. About 13.6 per cent of the firms had violated environmental laws in construction projects. Website: www.english.peopledaily.com.cn China becomes dumping ground for electronic garbage According to China’s Xinhua news agency, nearly 90 per cent of the total electronic waste exported to Asia from around the world ends up in the country. Chinese authorities have listed Guangdong’s towns of Guiyu, Longtang and Dali as China’s major centres for the collection and distribution of electronic trash. Other areas identified include the Taizhou region of eastern China’s Zhejiang province, Huanghua city of northern China’s Hebei province as well as some areas in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces. China is slated to draft new laws for regulating electronic rubbish retrieval and reprocessing activities. Website: www.ban.org Loan for solid waste management In the Philippines, the government’s Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) has approved a special lending facility for solid waste management projects proposed by local government units (LGUs). The state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines will open this facility. A report by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), ICC’s lead agency, states that the Integrated Solid Waste Management Project is aimed at providing an improved and comprehensive solid waste management system in the country. This programme will provide financing to eligible borrowers who will employ modern management techniques, equipment and facilities to achieve cost effectivity as well as technical efficiency while augmenting the responsiveness of service providers and operators. It added that the project is expected to improve health and sanitation conditions, alleviate flood problems, especially in urbanized or densely populated areas, and promote the tourism industry and environment protection. The project also involves providing sub-loans to address the investment requirements of LGUs in the development and im- plementation of sustainable solid waste management programmes. Website: www.money.inq7.net Taiwan to recycle discarded CDs Taiwan, the largest manufacturer of compact discs (CDs) in the world, will start to reprocess this product by early July 2004, when required legislations have been established. CDs comprise plastic materials as well as metals, including aluminium, gold, silver and titanium. About 5.5 billion CDs are produced annually in Taiwan, including 4.7 billion CDs for the overseas market. Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration had entrusted the Industrial Technology Research Institute with conducting a feasibility study on CD recycling. According to a preliminary study by the institute, which estimates that CDs have a 4-year lifespan and a 2 per cent damage rate during the recording process, about 60 million CDs weighing 990 t are discarded every year in the country. This conservative appraisal does not take into account discs with defects thrown away by the manufacturing sector. Currently, only one environmental service company systematically recycles CDs. At present, it produces 400 t/month of plastic from discarded and recycled CDs. Website: www.taipeitimes.com