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South Asia Virtual Regional Meeting
The South Asia Virtual Regional Meeting was successfully held on February 25, with the participation of around 20 Partner Organizations (POs) from across the region. The meeting served as a platform for POs to share updates on their ongoing work, highlight key achievements, and discuss priorities for the coming months under the regional strategy.
The Regional Coordinator (RC) introduced the idea of creating an online donor database that would be accessible to all POs. The proposal was positively received, with many participants expressing interest in contributing to and utilizing the shared resource. Additionally, the RC shared plans to develop a template for a regional report that is planned to be developed. A constructive discussion followed, and inputs were gathered to help shape the template based on the needs and expectations of the group.
Overall, the meeting fostered meaningful exchange and reinforced the importance of collaboration within the region.
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Upcoming Events
- Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions (BRS)
28 April – 9 May 2025
Location: Geneva, Switzerland - Open-ended Working Group of the Global Framework on Chemicals (OEWG 1.0)
24 June – 27 June
Location: Punta del Este, Uruguay - Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Review Committee (POPRC-21)
29 September – 3 October
Location: Rome, Italy - Minamata Convention on Mercury COP-6
3 November – 7 November
Location: Geneva, Switzerland - United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7)
8 December – 12 December
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Recent Reports
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Bangladesh: Bangladesh: COVID-19 Chemicals and Waste
Bangladesh: oxic Plastic Waste: Situation of Disposal, Management and Trade of Bangladesh
India: Situation Report on Highly Hazardous Pesticides in Dausa, Rajasthan
India: COVID-19 Chemicals and Waste in Bhubaneswar
India: A report on COVID-19 impacts on Chemicals and Wastes
India: Issue and Concerns of Talcum Powder in India: Time to Act
India: COVID-19 Industry Rollbacks
Nepal: Effective implementation of the asbestos ban in Nepal
Sri Lanka: Plastic Waste Management in Sri Lanka – Country Situation Report
Newest IPEN Reports
Hazardous Chemicals in Plastic Products
Both the environment in Africa and the Arabic region and the human health of Africans and people from Arabic countries suffer from toxic chemicals and imported wastes, including illegal wastes, more than in developed countries.
This study shows that toxic chemicals are present in toys, kitchen utensils, and other consumer products purchased from African and Arabic region markets in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Jordan, Kenya, Morocco, Syria, Tanzania, and Tunisia.
Plastic Waste Fuels
IPEN studies show how policy is driving massive investment in plastic waste-to-fuel processing, and that exports are threatening waste management in ASEAN countries and undermining the Basel Convention and climate change commitments.
Plastic Poisons the Circular Economy
IPEN published a number of studies showing significant obstacles for countries seeking to implement safe plastic circular economies. The studies reveal that countries are unable to handle large volumes of diverse plastics waste streams safely, and the reality that, without regulations requiring plastic ingredients to be labeled, countries are blindly allowing known toxic chemicals onto their markets in plastic products.
Plastic pellets found on beaches all over the world contain toxic chemicals
Preproduction plastics as pellets, or "nurdles", can carry many different chemicals, both those added to the plastics and pollutants that attach (sorb) to them in the environment. Often lost during production, transportation, and storage, pellets have been found on beaches all over the world since the 1970s. This study of plastic pellets gathered from beaches in 23 different countries contained many chemicals of concern, some in very high concentrations.
Widespread chemical contamination of recycled plastic pellets globally
Because almost all plastics contain toxic chemicals, recycling processes can perserve and can even generate toxic chemicals, such as dioxins. In this study, pellets made from recycled HDPE, intended for use in new products, were purchased from 24 recyclers in 23 countries and analyzed for 18 substances. The large number of toxic chemicals in many of the samples highlights the need to rethink recycling to ensure it does not perpetuate harms..
Plastic’s Toxic Chemical Problem: A Growing public health crisis
This summary of our two plastic pellets reports encapsulate the broad issues related to toxic chemicals in plastics and the concerns with recycling processes that can perserve or generate toxic chemicals.
Plastic Waste Management Hazards
Plastic waste has become an unprecedented pollution issue, blanketing our planet in the petrochemical remnants of plastic production. This report examines current and emerging methods by which plastic waste is managed globally and questions whether any of them present a solution to the rapidly accelerating generation of plastic waste. In short, they don't and the only long-term answer is to produce less plastic.
Regional Hub
Toxics Link
Based in India
Regional Coordinator: Tripti Arora
Contact: sahub@ipen.org
Toxics Link is an environmental NGO, dedicated to bring toxics-related information into the public domain, both relating to struggles and problems at the grassroots level as well as global information to the local levels. We work with other groups around the country as well as internationally in an understanding that this will help bring the experience of the ground to the fore, and lead to a more meaningful articulation of issues.
Read more about Toxics Link
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