KemI, Solna
20-22 May 1996
Click to download: Chairman's Report: UNEP Supported Expert Meeting to Review the Outcome of a Swedish Project on Alternatives to POPīs, UNEP, May 1996, 22K/18K, English
INTRODUCTION
1. In preparation for an IFCS Expert Meeting on Persistent Organic Pollutants that will take place in Manila, The Philippines, 17-19 June 1996, the Swedish National Chemicals Inspectorate (KemI) has established a project, in co-operation with the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, to investigate alternatives to the POPīs listed in UNEP Governing Council Decision 18/32. On May 20-22 an UNEP supported experts meeting, hosted by Sweden was held at KemI, Solna.
2. The purpose of the meeting was to review several draft reports from the Swedish project on various aspects pertaining to alternatives to the 12 listed POPīs, and to ensure that the knowledge, experiences, needs and views of different countries around the world were, to the extent possible, considered by Sweden in preparing its study for the IFCS POPīs meeting in June. The Agenda is enclosed(Annex 1).
3. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Bo Wahlström, from KemI, Sweden. Altogether 34 experts from twelve countries, two non-governmental organisations and two international organisations participated in the meeting. The Participant's list is enclosed (Annex 2). The experts provided useful advice and commentary on all parts of the project. The draft reports of the Swedish project will be revised and finalised taking into consideration the comments provided by the Solna meeting participants to the extent possible given the time constraints.
4. This Chairman's Report summarises the main issues concerning alternatives that were raised and discussed during the Solna meeting, and will be distributed to experts participating in the meeting in Manila together with the report of the Swedish project.
5. It is to be noted that throughout this Report, the concept of "viable" alternatives refers to alternatives that are workable, practical, cost-effective and less risky in the countries in which they are used, in accordance with commonly accepted usage practices in those countries.
6. A presentation on sources by UNEP will be further developed and presented at the expert meeting in Manila. One conclusion made was the difficulties in gathering this information and the lack of harmonised definitions and reporting methodologies making interpretation difficult. Even so background papers could provide valuable information regarding main remaining uses.
PESTICIDES
7. The presented reports identified a wide range of chemical and non-chemical alternatives that could be substituted for the listed pesticide POPīs. It was clearly borne out that for all nine pesticide POPīs there are viable alternatives for most uses. The report identified a few remaining uses for four of the nine listed pesticide POPīs;
In addition to these uses, several POPīs pesticides with no presently known production are still being used on a limited scale against a range of pests. These quantities might emanate from existing stockpiles.
8. For a number of the chemical and non-chemical alternatives presented there was information on hazard characteristics. It was stressed the these chemicals were only offered as examples. Several chemical alternatives could pose significant problems due to mainly acute human health and environmental effects. Some alternatives have chemical structures suggesting that they have properties similar to the listed pesticide POPīs. These should not be the first choice when looking for an alternative.
9. In response to a question on criteria for selecting substitutes, a draft document developed by the North American Task Force on DDT and Chlordane was provided to the experts. The document, entitled "Identification and Selection of Substitutes and Alternative Management Practices" lists the following factors as important for consideration in identifying appropriate alternatives:
a) efficacy
b) resistance
c) costs
d) feasibility of use in tropical climates
e) human health effects
f) environmental fate and effects
g) hazards associated with use
h) feasibility of production in developing countries
i) training and equipment needs
10. The use of DDT for human disease vector control remains controversial. The Swedish studies identified a wide range of alternative chemicals and techniques that are already available, many of which are comparable or superior to DDT in efficiency and cost. It was pointed out, however, that some of them might not be applicable in all UN regions. Sustainability and cost effectiveness of alternatives and alternative techniques taking into account the whole life-cycle of the alternatives compared to DDT was also considered crucial by the experts.
11. The World Health Organisation maintains that DDT still has a role in indoor human disease vector control (mainly malaria and leishmaniasis). Any international legally binding measures that ban production and use of DDT should consider very carefully the need for at least temporary exemptions or prolonged grace periods for regions where alternative health protective measures are not yet available. In such instances, according to WHO, DDT should only be used when the following conditions are met:
DDT is used only for indoor human disease vector control;
12. Any temporary or emergency exemption allowing for continued production and use of DDT for indoor disease vector control should also be subject to the following conditions:
13. Alternative vector control measures (as specified in the Global Malaria Control Strategy) should be promoted and alternative insecticides (several of which are comparable with DDT in terms of epidemiological impact, public acceptability and logistic suitability) should be considered.
14. Some members of the group stressed that several of the preconditions for the production and use of DDT, especially for manufacturing and safe use and disposal may be difficult to achieve in certain countries, and that illegal use remains a concern. A gap in data regarding global production figures and amounts needed world-wide for indoor spraying was noted.
Such information would provide valuable insight into the amount of DDT used for purposes other then indoor human disease vector control. In conclusion, the international community must continue to seek viable alternatives to DDT that are acceptable to National Governments and international organisations.
15. There are chemical and non-chemical alternatives available for termite control in buildings and constructions but the experts had difficulties in identifying sufficiently cost-effective alternatives and called for more research in this area.
16. The reasons why particularly the pesticide POPīs are still used in many countries must be clearly identified. For example, it was pointed out that where available viable alternatives are known, the information is often available to central government agencies while public awareness concerning these options is lacking. There is a need for large-scale education effort on appropriate pest control methods and the safe use of pesticides
17. It was suggested that information on the regulatory status of chemical alternatives would be useful. There is also a need for a clearing house to collect and disseminate information on local projects aimed at replacing traditional synthetic chemical pesticides. An appropriate international organisation should be identified to collect this information and distribute it in a useable format.
18. Introduction of alternatives may result in the stockpiling of obsolete pesticides. In any event stockpiles already pose major problem in many parts of the world. The meeting noted that immediate international action must be taken to address this problem. In this regard the newly established IFCS Task Group on Management of Obsolete Pesticides should be made aware of the potential need to deal with obsolete POPīs as alternatives are introduced. The meeting noted that techniques used to destroy other types of POPs, such as PCBs, would be applicable to the POPīs pesticides as well.
19. The need to develop cost-effective strategies for managing sites contaminated with POPīs, especially those older sites that manufactured or stored pesticides, should also be considered.
INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS; PCBs AND HCB
20. It was noted that the draft reports pertaining to PCBs related primarily to experiences in Sweden which in many ways do not adequately reflect the dimensions of the PCB problem in other countries, particularly in the developing world. For example many countries did not begin to ban and phase/out PCBs as early as Sweden. While the final reports on the PCB studies will endeavour to contain and analyse more information on PCBs from other countries, it may not be possible to do a comprehensive review prior to the Manila meetings in view of the limited time-frame. An interesting observation was made, however, that Sweden intentionally staggered its phase out policy in a way that minimised the accumulation of large stockpiles of PCB wastes. Further information on how this was achieved might be useful for countries considering phasing out or replacing PCBs.
21. The experts, and particularly those from developing countries and countries with economies in transition, agreed on the pressing need to develop comprehensive country and region specific guidelines and criteria to assist them in prioritising PCB problems for action. Some participants explained that they had very little or no information on the locations and amounts of various PCB sources in their countries, where or how they are imported, viable options for labelling, storage and disposal, and viable alternatives. Criteria and guidelines for priority assessments must recognise limited institutional and infrastructure capability and capacity for some countries. The guidelines should include information on how to identify sources (e.g. the brand names of PCB formulations used in transformers or capacitors) which could contain large amounts of PCBs as well as inexpensive, and simple testing methods to confirm their presence.
22. High temperature incineration is at present the primary option for PCB destruction in most developed countries. Incineration of PCBs and other hazardous wastes is controversial in some countries. Recently developed mobile technologies are reported to show that PCBs can be destroyed in a cost effective manner without incineration (e.g. molten metal, hydrogenation and electrochemical oxidation). The practicality of these technologies should be rigorously explored. In this regard, it was reported that Australia has developed a policy based on domestic destruction of PCBs and not using incineration as the preferred destruction method. A comprehensive Summary Report on Scheduled Waste Treatment Technologies in Australia outlines many of the newer technologies and was provided to the experts. This report will be made available through the UNEP Information Clearinghouse on POPīs.
23. It is clear that the regional availability of destruction facilities is a key component in the development of an acceptable strategy for dealing with PCBs. It was recommended that an inventory be made of destruction capacity available world-wide. It was noted that in the absence of local (national) facilities there are three possible barriers to safe destruction:
24. Information from the Swedish study seems to indicate very limited remaining industrial uses for HCB. However information from other groups gave contradictory indications. It was mentioned that HCB is released during incomplete combustion processes and could possibly be used as an easily available and cost-effective indicator for releases of PCDD/Fs.
REDUCTION OF PCDD/F EMISSIONS AND/OR ELIMINATION OF POTENTIAL PCDD/F SOURCES
25. Several appropriate ways to identify dioxin sources were identified. In many cases, the way the source is identified suggests the action to be taken. In some cases, an alternative materials policy is most appropriate. For example, eliminating the use of halogenated additives from gasoline or inputs of PVC plastic materials to crematoria may be the best course of action to control PCDD/F emissions from these sources. In such cases, the material itself may be considered the potential dioxin source, and the alternative to that material may be considered the alternative to the dioxin source.
26. Waste incineration and industrial sources are the major cause of dioxin emissions in developed countries. In these cases, process based emission controls may be the proposed method. Here, it may also be appropriate to identify the dioxin source as the source to be controlled, and to also establish good emission baseline data. Most developed countries utilise this approach for solid waste incineration. Some studies suggest that there is very little relationship between inputs of anthropogenic halogenated materials to incinerators and PCDD/F emissions; however, other studies suggest the contrary. Further investigation of the practicality of a materials based approach to reducing PCDD/F emissions from incinerators is needed. There may also be important regional differences in determining an appropriate approach.
27. The various ways to identify sources should be pursued in order to keep open the possibility of following either a materials based policy or process based emission controls with decisions to be taken based on the best available knowledge as well as possible regional differences.
28. A major problem in the dioxins/furans issue is the high costs of analysis. Emission factors present a possible approach to estimate the extent of the PCDD/Fs problem, although they can contain large uncertainties. New methodologies (immunoassays) may provide cheaper possibilities for identifying releases, although sampling methods will remain problematic.
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
29. Experts from developing countries expressed the need for assistance to implement measures to reduce /eliminate use and releases of POPīs and stressed the importance of technology co-operation and information transfer in a way that can be applied at the practical level in countries.
30. It was stressed that cost-benefit comparisons between listed POPīs and viable alternatives must take into consideration full life-cycle analysis including human health and environmental impacts. Such analysis are most effective within a local (national) context for specific uses.
31. In accordance with the principles of responsible care and product stewardship the full cradle to grave responsibility for hazardous chemicals must be assumed by producers of products entering the market place now and in the future. Responsibility for disposal of products containing POPīs currently in circulation must be shared with exporting countries and corporations. This concern was specifically brought up in discussions regarding management and disposal of products containing PCBs and other POPīs earlier exported to developing countries.
32. Pollution prevention practices must be promoted as a priority toxic chemical management strategy to reduce or eliminate the use and release of POPs. Pollution prevention is defined as any activity that avoids, reduces or eliminates the creation of pollution or the use of toxic substances, without creating or shifting new risks to individuals, communities or the environment.
FINAL REMARKS
33. The participants to the meeting expressed their gratitude for the tremendous effort and the results achieved by the Swedish Government and the UNEP in holding this meeting. The output of the Swedish project on alternatives to the listed POPs will provide a valuable contribution to the Manila Experts Meeting. The output was particularly impressive given the short time frame and the limited resources available.
34. The chairman expressed his confidence that the input going to the Manila meeting would be substantially enhanced by the constructive contribution of all participants to the Swedish project and closed the meeting.