A container full of imported plastic waste is inspected by the local environment office at the Batu Ampar port in Indonesia on June 15, 2019. Photo: Andaru/AFP via Getty Images
The European Union plans to go further than an international treaty in restricting exports of plastic waste, potentially spelling problems for the bloc in dealing with hard-to-recycle material.
Environmental Health Groups Celebrate the End to EU Allowance for Banned Flame Retardant Chemicals to Enter Recycling Streams & New Products
Gothenburg, Sweden The European Union (EU) has taken an important step towards cleaning up its recycling; it will no longer allow materials containing a class of toxic, globally banned flame retardants known as PBDEs to be recycled. Researchers had revealed that across Europe, alarming levels of toxic banned flame retardants and related chemicals, which originated largely from discarded electronics equipment, were contaminating the recycling stream and new consumer goods made from recycled plastics. Environmental health advocates applaud the EU’s decision and encourage the six remaining countries with PBDE recycling exemptions to follow suit.
IPEN has joined 15 public interest NGOs and networks in providing critical comments on the draft European Union (EU) law on PFOA and PFOA-related compounds. In a letter dated 4 December 2019, NGOs noted that the proposed limit for PFOA in consumer products is not protective and not consistent with updated scientific information on the extreme toxicity of PFOA.
Brussels Representatives from the European Member States in the EU Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCOPAFF) today voted to ban the neurotoxic pesticides chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl from the EU market, a historic move that has been applauded by health and environment groups [1].
Urgent action needed on highly persistent PFAS chemicals
A new CHEM Trust briefing highlights the threats posed to the environment and human health by a family of over 4,000 highly persistent chemicals: PFAS (Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances), also known as the ‘forever chemicals’.
Ratification by Croatia Seals Entry into Force of Basel Ban Amendment
Seattle, Washington, USA. Croatia's 6th of September deposit of ratification of the 1995 Basel Ban Amendment has allowed this global waste dumping prohibition to finally enter into the force of international law. The Ban Amendment, adopted by the parties to the Basel Convention in 1995, prohibits the export of hazardous wastes from member states of the European Union, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and Liechtenstein to all other countries.
ZENICA/PRAGUE – Despite the highly toxic air in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), only limited data on levels of pollution is accessible to the public. The government is failing to meet its international obligations, as well as those under domestic law, and publish a transparent register of major polluters. People thus do not know who is really poisoning them and to what extent and cannot effectively enforce the necessary improvements.