Reduction of hazardous substances

The introduction of EU directives on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Reduction of Hazardous Substances has highlighted the need for precise and repeatable elemental analysis of heavy metals in the plastics production process. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy has emerged as the most economical and effective analytical tool for achieving this. A set of certified standards, known as TOXEL, is now available to facilitate XRF analyses in PE. Calibration with TOXEL standards is simplified by the fact that XRF is a multi-element technique. Therefore a single set of the new standards can be used to calibrate several heavy elements, covering concentrations from trace level to several hundred ppm. This case study is the analysis of heavy metals in PE using an Epsilon 5 XRF spectrometer. 

The environmental impact of waste disposal and of chemical use in Europe has led to three legislative actions that, in today s global economy, greatly affect flame-retardant use and research. These actions go by the acronyms of RoHS (Reduction of Hazardous Substances), WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), and REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemical substances). These actions are discussed in detail in Chapter 22, but need to be mentioned here as they are clear examples of how changing regulations affect flame-retardant use, selection, and new fire-safety developments. The first one, RoHS, refers to how new items are manufactured, and specifically bans chemicals and elements of environmental and toxicological concern in Europe. One fall-out item of RoHS is the move from a lead-based solder on circuit... 

The analysis of plastics for hazardous metals e.g. Cd, Pb, Cr(total) and Hg is now essential on all products including plastics used in electric and electronic equipment sold within the European states. Directives for these products have been issued under Packaging Directive , End of Life Vehicle (ELV), Reduction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), and have been introduced to control the risk to health and waste disposal in the environment. The listed metals have been used extensively in the past as pigments, stabilisers and catalysts, especially PVC, and these toxic elements can be released over time into the environment. Therefore, polymer producers are advised that future products be lower than EU values or free of these metals. 

As another major contribution to the reduction of hazardous substances, the European battery manufacturers had already decided in mid-1999 to cease sales of mercury oxide round cell batteries, which are mainly used in hearing aids. As an alternative, zinc/air batteries with a low mercury content (far less than 1 percent of weight in Hg) are used. Advances made in hearing aids and battery technology now make it possible to use these batteries even in hearing aids for the extremely hard of hearing. Zinc/air batteries have been on offer for ordinary hearing aids for more than a decade now. 

The primary objective is to develop an appropriate range of waste management options to be analyzed more fully in the detailed analysis phase of the FS.12 Appropriate waste management ensures the protection of human health and the environment. It may involve, depending on site-specific circumstances, complete elimination or destruction of hazardous substances at the site, significant reduction of concentrations of hazardous substances to acceptable health-based levels, and prevention of exposure to hazardous substances via engineering or institutional controls, or some combination of the above. 

The objectives for disposal of electronic waste appliances are (a) stripping of hazardous substances (b) reduction of pollutant and metal contents in the plastic fraction, thus permitting recycling or incineration in waste incineration plants or cement works (c) recovery of nonferrous metals and (d) attainment of commercially recyclable scrap quality. 

The research project Options for viable iimovation systems for successful substitution of hazardous substances (or SubChem, for short) was concerned with the problem of the ability to be innovative and of the direction of iimovation with regard to risk reduction by hazardous substance substitution as part of the programme Framework conditions for innovation towards sustainability funded by... 

Substitution of hazardous substances is an element of risk management. In this context it is among the more demanding options of risk reduction. It is important to develop as rational strategies as possible for dealing with the lack of knowledge (cf Sections 1.5.9 and 1.5.10). 

Substitution generally means that one substance or process is substituted for another, for whatever reason (availability, costs, technical requirements). Substitution of a hazardous substance or product signifies its replacement by less a hazardous substance, product or process. In this context the scope ranges from simple substitution (i.e. exchanging substances) to risk management as a whole (i.e. prevention of hazardous substances, reduction or prevention of exposure, etc.). 

Economic and safety considerations have led to reductions in stockpiles of chemicals and decreasing transportation of hazardous substances. Industrially, reactor size is now... 

Waste would be classified as exempt if the concentrations of hazardous substances are sufficiently low that it poses no more than a negligible risk to a hypothetical inadvertent intruder at a municipal/industrial landfill for nonhazardous waste. A negligible risk, or the associated dose, is a value so low that further efforts at risk reduction generally are unwarranted (e.g., an excess lifetime cancer risk less than about 10 4 or doses of noncarcinogenic hazardous substances substantially less than nominal thresholds for induction of health effects in the general population). 

The Swedish expression of the principle is that actors should replace chemicals with less harmful ones when the costs are not unreasonable. While this may appear to be a little more than common sense, the principle and its application are quite controversial. The principle is not mentioned in the Rio Declaration and is not considered to be an established principle in international environmental law, although Agenda 21 (19.41) refer to the substitution of hazardous substances for less hazardous substances as the classical example of risk reduction. So why is the principle not established in international environmental law Several reasons exist. The application of the principle has several limitations. Apart from the cost issue, it can of course be difficult to evaluate whether a chemical is a better option than another one if none of them are properly tested, or if only one of them have been properly tested. 

In the year 2000, the EU also instituted a broader approach of requiring that packaging adhere to what are referred to as essential requirements related to source reduction, minimal presence of hazardous substances, and the design and production to facilitate recovery, reuse, and recycling. Adoption of standards necessary to enforce the requirements is up to individual member states. Some countries have issued detailed standards (UK, Erance, Czech Republic) but the others have only much more general language [7]. In much of the developing world, open dumps are still a common method of waste disposal, even in major urban areas. The appreciable... 

The daughter directive(s) Priority Substances, 2008/105/EC and 2013/39/EC, provide the key building blocks for the further development of a regional policy for the reduction of hazardous materials. These directives introduce new substances and revised standards (on environmental quality), and put a new emphasis on monitoring. The environmental quality standards are the basis for the establishment of emission standards for individual companies by means of permits. 

Hospital decontamination zone—This zone includes any areas where the type and the quantity of hazardous substance are unknown and where contaminated victims, contaminated equipment, or contaminated waste may be present. It can be anticipated that employees in this zone might have exposure to contaminated victims, their belongings, equipment, or waste. This zone includes, but is not limited to, places where initial triage and/or medical stabilization of possibly contaminated victims occur, predecontamination waiting (staging) areas for victims, the actual decontamination area, and the postdecontamination victim s inspection area. This area will typically end at the emergency department door. In other documents, this zone is sometimes called the warm zone, contamination reduction zone, yellow zone, or limited access zone. 

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