Sources :  http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialcartoon/article/836967--waste-diversion-makes-for-a-greener-cleaner-ontario

Waste diversion makes for a greener, cleaner Ontario

‘Eco fees’ are a small price to pay for a less toxic environment

Green incentives help to deter the practice of putting out hazardous materials with our trash.

Jim Rankin/Toronto Star

Peter Hume President, Association of Municipalities of Ontario

Whether you buy detergent, fertilize your lawn, or just open the newspaper these days, so-alled “eco fees” are likely to get your attention. Looking beyond the consumer angst, the very real question of how to safely and affordably manage hazardous materials found in a myriad of household chemicals, cleaners, corrosives and batteries that we use every day. At best, these materials generate high waste management costs that are buried in our property tax bills. At worst, they creep into our water, air and soil; or even into our bodies. In 2007 an environmental group tested the blood of four federal politicians — then environment minister Rona Ambrose, NDP Leader Jack Layton, health minister Tony Clement and Liberal environment critic John Godfrey. On average, each had 53 toxins in their blood, including 54 carcinogens, 37 hormone disrupters, 16 respiratory toxins, 54 reproductive or developmental toxins and 33 neurotoxins. So if you are wondering why we need to dispose of your flashlight carefully, there is a good chance the answer is already in your blood. It makes perfect sense to divert as much hazardous waste from landfills as we can. Everything from prescription medications to corrosive chemicals has the potential to cause significant harm to human and environmental health. But if that isn’t an incentive for you, we can always fall back on the astronomical savings. Thanks to a massive oil spill, residents in the Gulf of Mexico are waking up to realities that Ontario municipalities have known for years. First, it costs far less to prevent pollution than it does to clean it up (if you even can). Second, governments are usually left holding the bill. And third, cleanup costs are usually measured in millions of tax dollars. That’s why municipalities are such huge fans of waste diversion and the safe disposal of hazardous materials. It’s not cheap, but it’s much, much cheaper (and healthier) for taxpayers if we prevent pollution in the first place. That’s why municipalities have quietly and conveniently handled these materials behind the scenes for years and added the cost to your property tax bill. People rarely see that cost, of course. Out of sight is out of mind in a waste management regime that prefers the convenience of putting hazardous waste in garbage bags and sending them off to a landfill. The system isn’t innovative or inexpensive, but it’s ours. Not too surprisingly, other jurisdictions do much better, particularly in Europe. They wisely lifted the responsibility and cost of waste management from the shoulders of property taxpayers and shifted it over to the industries that make hazardous wastes in the first place. Under this system, industry is accountable for the things they produce and they have clear incentives to innovate, create less toxic products and use better packaging. Consumers are better informed and better able to make decisions about what they want to bring into their homes and send to their local landfill. Those who want to save a few cents by avoiding products with disposal fees do just that. As a result, smarter, greener products become more competitive products. To their credit, Ontario businesses, manufacturers and retailers have begun to take on more responsibility for their products. Through Stewardship Ontario,
a non-profit, industry-funded body, producers of hazardous household
materials have been using disposal fees to fund waste-diversion
programs.
The move actually began two years ago with nine
categories of materials that included items such as solvents and paint.
It is worth noting that this first phase was introduced without a hitch.
Confusion
began on July 1, when 13 new material categories were targeted for
waste diversion. The new list includes many more products that people
use every day — from pharmaceuticals to aerosols. This fact, combined
with the misleading use of terms such as “eco tax” and “eco fee” by
some retailers, resulted in public confusion and an outcry from critics.
Not
1 cent of these disposal fees goes to government coffers. It is the
retailer or producer who decides whether to pass on these costs to
consumers as a separate fee. Some do. Some don’t. Consumers can respond
accordingly, if they wish, provided that retail pricing is as
transparent as it should be.
Stewardship Ontario’s program
is currently diverting more than 20,000 tonnes of hazardous waste
annually from Ontario landfills, according to the Ministry of the
Environment. That is expected to increase to over 54,000 tonnes with
the new product categories that came into effect on July 1.
For
its part, Stewardship Ontario only charges producers what it costs to
recover, recycle or safely dispose of these hazardous products. They
collect fees from manufacturers based on the amount of product they
manufacture and sell in a year. For example, they collect 12 cents for
every 1,000 prescription pills manufactured and 23 cents per litre of
insect repellent.
In the face of these facts, cost concerns
are literally penny-wise and pound-foolish. It makes more sense to
manage these costs openly where they start than it does to bury them in
property taxes. And it makes more sense to create green incentives than
it does to bury hazardous materials in our trash for now, and deal with
more costly consequences later.
Shining a bright light on disposal costs and shifting them away from property taxpayers is a practical way to promote greater producer responsibility and greener consumer choices.

Keputusan aktiviti ekonomi ambil kira kesan alam sekitar

Source : Berita Harian Online 18/05/10

PERDANA Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, berkata setiap keputusan dan aktiviti ekonomi yang akan dibuat pada masa depan harus mengambil kira kesannya ke atas alam sekitar.

Berikutan itu, katanya, Dasar Teknologi Hijau Malaysia telah dibentuk dengan matlamat menggunakan teknologi secara lebih baik dan cekap, bagi menyokong pemeliharaan alam sekitar.

“Kita menyedari keperluan di samping memacu pertumbuhan ekonomi, kita juga perlu ‘menghijaukan’ ekonomi,” katanya ketika berucap pada mesyuarat sulung Forum Institusi Kewangan dan Monetari (OMFIF) di Kuala Lumpur, Semalam.

Perdana Menteri menambah, kerajaan melihat teknologi hijau memiliki kesan berkembar dalam memacu pertumbuhan ekonomi, selain menangani isu alam sekitar.
Katanya, teknologi hijau boleh dilaksanakan secara menyeluruh di segenap sektor.

“Model Baru Ekonomi (MBE) mengenal pasti pemeliharaan sumber asli sebagai prinsip penting, selain pembiayaan bagi ‘pelaburan hijau’ dapat diperoleh,” katanya.

Teknologi hijau juga, kata Najib, selain mampu merangsang ekonomi, ia juga menawarkan peluang dalam inovasi dan mencipta kemewahan.
Sementara itu, pada peringkat Asean, Perdana Menteri berkata, usaha sedang dilaksanakan untuk mengurangkan perbezaan dalam mencapai matlamat kemajuan dan pembangunan bersama.

“Sepuluh negara anggota Asean mencari jalan untuk membentuk Komuniti Ekonomi Asean iaitu bagi rantau ini sebagai rantau ekonomi yang berdaya saing, stabil dan makmur.

“Dalam usaha mewujudkan ekonomi yang lebih terangkum, kita menjangka pelaksanaan sepenuhnya Kawasan Perdagangan Bebas Asean (Afta) pada tahun ini akan meningkatkan kelebihan daya saing Asean sebagai rantau pengeluaran tunggal,” katanya.

Use of recycled water

ACCORDING to experts, crisis of drinking water can be mitigated through recycling of water. Alongside this, proper treatment of domestic and industrial waste water should be ensured before discharging the same into water bodies to keep surface water clean. They have suggested that the authorities concerned should take immediate measures to stop misuse of water and protect natural resources for sustainable supply. On an average, 160 litres of water is used by each person a day. At least 2,000 litres of water is required to produce each kilogram of rice while plants absorb millions of litres of water every day. People are paying a very small fraction of the cost of water as actual cost of treatment and supply is much higher.

Source :  http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2010/02/24/news0597.htm

So, water should be carefully used as without this natural resource existence of life is impossible. Though total resources of water of the Earth are inexhaustible, scarcity of fresh water exists in many parts of the world including Bangladesh. Dhaka city with roughly over 12 million population needs at least 200 crore litres of fresh water per day. Moreover, a huge quantity of water is used in industries, mills, factories. Shortage of water in different areas is becoming a serious problem though Bangladesh is termed as rich in fresh water resources.

The shortage is not for growing demand of water for irrigation as well as domestic or industrial uses, but for pollution and fall of ground water tables, destruction of fresh water reservoirs and withdrawal of water from upstream of the country's river system. Due to disturbance of natural flows, most of the rivers are drying up during the lean season and salinity is increasing at downstream. In view of the overall situation, experts have come up with the suggestion of recycling of water to minimise the crisis.

Effective e-waste management needed

Rocketing sales of cell phones, gadgets, appliances forecast in China, India, elsewhere

Sales of electronic products in countries like China and India and across continents such as Africa and Latin America are set to rise sharply in the next 10 years.

And, unless action is stepped up to properly collect and recycle materials, many developing countries face the spectre of hazardous e-waste mountains with serious consequences for the environment and public health, according to UN experts in a landmark report released today by UNEP.

Issued at a meeting of Basel Convention and other world chemical authorities prior to UNEP's Governing Council meeting in Bali, Indonesia, the report, "Recycling - from E-Waste to Resources," used data from 11 representative developing countries to estimate current and future e-waste generation - which includes old and dilapidated desk and laptop computers, printers, mobile phones, pagers, digital photo and music devices, refrigerators, toys and televisions.

In South Africa and China for example, the report predicts that by 2020 e-waste from old computers will have jumped by 200 to 400 percent from 2007 levels, and by 500% in India

By that same year in China, e-waste from discarded mobile phones will be about 7 times higher than 2007 levels and, in India, 18 times higher.

By 2020, e-waste from televisions will be 1.5 to 2 times higher in China and India while in India e-waste from discarded refrigerators will double or triple.

China already produces about 2.3 million tonnes (2010 estimate) domestically, second only to the United States with about 3 million tonnes. And, despite having banned e-waste imports, China remains a major e-waste dumping ground for developed countries.

Moreover, most e-waste in China is improperly handled, much of it incinerated by backyard recyclers to recover valuable metals like gold -- practices that release steady plumes of far-reaching toxic pollution and yield very low metal recovery rates compared to state-of-the-art industrial facilities.

"This report gives new urgency to establishing ambitious, formal and regulated processes for collecting and managing e-waste via the setting up of large, efficient facilities in China," says UN Under-Secretary-General Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP. "China is not alone in facing a serious challenge. India, Brazil, Mexico and others may also face rising environmental damage and health problems if e-waste recycling is left to the vagaries of the informal sector.

"In addition to curbing health problems, boosting developing country e-waste recycling rates can have the potential to generate decent employment, cut greenhouse gas emissions and recover a wide range of valuable metals including silver, gold, palladium, copper and indium -- by acting now and planning forward many countries can turn an e-challenge into an e-opportunity," he added.

The report was issued at the Simultaneous Extraordinary Meetings of the Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions on enhancing their cooperation and coordination (ExCOP).

It was co-authored by the Swiss EMPA, Umicore and United Nations University (UNU), part of the global think tank StEP (Solving the E-waste Problem), which includes UNEP and Basel Convention Secretariat among its 50+ members. Hosted by UNU in Bonn, Germany, the think tank convenes experts from industry, government, international organizations, NGOs and science. A grant from the European Commission, Directorate-General for the Environment, funded the report's preparation.

The report cites a variety of sources to illustrate growth of the e-waste problem:

• Global e-waste generation is growing by about 40 million tons a year
• Manufacturing mobile phones and personal computers consumes 3 per cent of the gold and silver mined worldwide each year; 13 per cent of the palladium and 15 per cent of cobalt
• Modern electronics contain up to 60 different elements -- many valuable, some hazardous, and some both
• Carbon dioxide emissions from the mining and production of copper and precious and rare metals used in electrical and electronic equipment are estimated at over 23 million tonnes - 0.1 percent of global emissions (not including emissions linked to steel, nickel or aluminum, nor those linked to manufacturing the devices)
• In the US, more than 150 million mobiles and pagers were sold in 2008, up from 90 million five years before
• Globally, more than 1 billion mobile phones were sold in 2007, up from 896 million in 2006
• Countries like Senegal and Uganda can expect e-waste flows from PCs alone to increase 4 to 8-fold by 2020.
• Given the infrastructure expense and technology skills required to create proper facilities for efficient and environmentally sound metal recovery, the report suggests facilitating exports of critical e-scrap fractions like circuit boards or btteries from smaller countries to OECD-level, certified end-processors.

Says Konrad Osterwalder, UN Under-Secretary General and Rector of UNU: "One person's waste can be another's raw material. The challenge of dealing with e-waste represents an important step in the transition to a green economy. This report outlines smart new technologies and mechanisms which, combined with national and international policies, can transform waste into assets, creating new businesses with decent green jobs. In the process, countries can help cut pollution linked with mining and manufacturing, and with the disposal of old devices."

Country Situations

The report assesses current policies, skills, waste collection networks and informal recycling in 11 representative developing economies in Asia, Africa and the Americas:

• China, India
• South Africa, Uganda, Senegal, Kenya, Morocco
• Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, Peru

It also outlines options for sustainable e-waste management in those countries.

The data includes equipment generated nationally but does not include waste imports, both legal and illegal, which are substantial in India, China and other emerging economies.

Broken down by type, the report estimates e-waste generation today as follows:

• China: 500,000 tonnes from refrigerators, 1.3 million tonnes from TVs, 300,000 tonnes from personal computers
• India: over 100,000 tonnes from refrigerators, 275,000 tonnes from TVs, 56,300 tonnes from personal computers, 4,700 tonnes from printers and 1,700 tonnes from mobile phones
• Colombia: about 9,000 tonnes from refrigerators, over 18,000 tonnes from TVs, 6,500 tonnes from personal computers, 1,300 tonnes from printers, 1,200 tonnes from mobile phones
• Kenya: 11,400 tonnes from refrigerators, 2,800 tonnes from TVs, 2,500 tonnes from personal computers, 500 tonnes from printers, 150 tonnes from mobile phones The report also includes data on per capita sales of electrical and electronic goods. For example South Africa and Mexico lead in personal computer sales with the equivalent of 24 sold per 1,000 people. Brazil, Mexico and Senegal generate more e-waste per capita from personal computers than the other countries surveyed.

Way Forward

Developing vibrant national recycling schemes is complex and simply financing and transferring high tech equipment from developed countries is unlikely to work, according to the report.

It says China's lack of a comprehensive e-waste collection network, combined with competition from the lower-cost informal sector, has held back state-of-the art e-waste recycling plants.

It also notes a successful pilot in Bangalore, India, to transform the operations of informal e-waste collection and management.

Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Morocco and South Africa are cited as places with great potential to introduce state of the art e-waste recycling technologies because the informal e-waste sector is relatively small.

Kenya, Peru, Senegal and Uganda have relatively low e-waste volumes today but likely to grow. All four would benefit from capacity building in so-called pre-processing technologies such as manual dismantling of e-waste.

The report recommends countries establish e-waste management centers of excellence, building on existing organizations working in the area of recycling and waste management.

Existing bodies include those supported by the United Nations including the more than 40 National Cleaner Production Centers established by the UN Industrial and Development Organization and the regional centers established under the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.

Source: United Nations University

Cleanup resumes at illicit toxic dump in Sweden

Source : http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20100222/ROCEARTH04/302220009

More than a decade after a prolonged and costly cleanup at the biggest illicit toxic dump site ever found in the Rochester region, workers have returned to the site in the town of Sweden this month to do still more work.

Now a grass-covered field about three miles south of Brockport, the site was an unauthorized burial ground from which more than 2,500 drums and bottles of industrial waste were removed in the 1990s. More than 2,000 tons of contaminated soil was treated on-site to remove toxic chemical residue.

Cleanup of the site, known as Sweden 3-Chapman, cost at least $8.5 million — all of it coming from state coffers. Though dozens of companies were believed to have furnished the wastes that were buried on the property by a former owner, the owner denied any knowledge of the mess and none of the companies accepted responsibility. State officials decided a decade ago they were unlikely to prevail in court.

A Department of Environmental Conservation lawyer told the Democrat and Chronicle several years ago that he could not remember a toxic dump site in this part of New York where the state had spent so much money and recovered nothing from potentially responsible parties.

The DEC now will spend an additional $700,000 in taxpayer money to remove 1,200 cubic yards of soil that remains contaminated with volatile organic chemicals such as tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethene.

The burial site was so large, officials said, that their sampling at the time couldn't find everything.

"The contamination being removed now is located in a small concentrated area of the site that was not detected in the original sampling," said DEC spokeswoman Maureen Wren. Cleanup was needed because on-going monitoring showed groundwater still contains unacceptable levels of those chemicals. To address that, the DEC will inject the groundwater with a relatively harmless chemical compound, potassium permanganate, which will promote degradation of the organic industrial chemicals.

The agency also will install two more monitoring wells to track the contaminated plume of groundwater.

Underground water flows northeastward from the original dump site, located north of Beadle Road and east of Redman Road. Wren noted there are no drinking-water wells in that direction.

"DEC conducts periodic testing of well water from the residents outside the plume area and has not detected any chemicals in the water samples above state standards," she said.

The cleanup plan is a scaled back version of one that was put forth four years ago; after more exploration at the site, DEC officials now believe the scope of the problem is smaller.

Site preparation is already under way at the location, with cleanup work to be done by late spring. Groundwater monitoring will continue and should show whether this second cleanup was adequate.

"If additional work is needed to address the contamination, DEC is committed to performing it," Wren said.

SORR@DemocratandChronicle.com

French Broad gets healthier, but much work remains

Source : http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100222/OPINION01/302220004/1006

The French Broad River is one of the earth’s oldest, flowing before our mountains were even born millions of years ago. But for generations, we’ve not always treated those waters well. Wilma Dykeman, the pioneering writer who first championed the French Broad, wrote in 1955 of a muddy polluted waterway that was “too thick to drink and too thin to plow.”

More than a half century later, stepped-up enforcement has stopped the straight-piping of industrial waste into the waters. Countless volunteers have helped pick up litter and debris, making the French Broad River a destination for paddlers, fishermen or the folks who enjoy a stroll among the many green spaces and parks that have sprung up along its banks.

So there’s good news and bad in the North Carolina Division of Water Quality’s draft report last week that shows 224.5 miles of impaired streams in the French Broad River basin. That’s 69 fewer miles from the year before, showing a promising trend of improvements.

Most of those streams won reprieve from the impaired list submitted regularly to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency because their waters were clearer, says Hartwell Carson, a water quality specialist with the Western North Carolina Alliance.

Just as it took years of pollution to turn the once-pristine French Broad into a sewer, cleaner waters don’t happen overnight or by accident. It has taken hard work by many.

For all you Asheville residents, if you paid your annual storm water bill earlier this month, you did your share to improve the river. That $28 per single family residence, on top of the monthly water and sewer bills, comes out of already pinched pocketbooks for most residents, but the funds help the city of Asheville hire erosion inspectors and take other measures to keep sediment from fouling the French Broad.

Others contribute their time to guard the river. In his previous job as the French Broad Riverkeeper, Carson trained 100 citizens to monitor construction sites for problems with runoff. Riverlink, the nonprofit group, brings in volunteers regularly to pick up trash along the stream banks and champions green spaces along the flood plain.

There may even be good news for the river in the Great Recession that brought most development to a screeching halt last year. Carson says that slowdown may have meant less erosion and sediment across the French Broad River basin.

Everyone hopes for recovery and new growth with homes and new businesses, but the economic downturn offers some breathing room for the river and for our landscape.

But what about the bad news?

Those miles of streams that were dropped from the impaired list could be quickly added again if development takes off again at the same pace without any erosion oversight, Carson warned. Before we see developments taking shape on fragile mountain slopes, where heavy rains can send sediment straight into the river, we may want to ask what kind of growth do we need, and how do we protect our river and natural resources.

Understand that a clean river isn’t just a tourist attraction, a feel-good luxury. It’s the lifeblood of our communities.

The city’s water treatment plant is situated at the confluence of the Mills River and French Broad, with intake pipes into both currents. At times of low flow, that plant is pulling water from the French Broad.

What was unthinkable in Dykeman’s day, when people blanched at the thought, is an unspoken fact today. Many residents in southern Buncombe and Henderson counties are getting their drinking water from the French Broad.

And far downstream, our neighbors in Knoxville, Tenn., rely on drinking water drawn from the Tennessee River, just below the confluence of the French Broad, which winds over the mountain to join the Holstein River.

Asheville has been here on the banks on the French Broad for only a blink of time, but poor stewardship nearly killed the river once in our own lifetime. We’ll have to work at it if we want those living waters to roll on for generations to come.

WHY IS NUCLEAR WASTE STORED ON NATIVE AMERICAN RESERVATIONS?

Source : http://www.culturekiosque.com/nouveau/news/nuclearwastes_nativeamericans_stored469.html

LOS ANGELES, 22 FEBRUARY 2010 Dear EarthTalk: Some time ago there were issues with Native American tribes storing nuclear waste on their land, something that was both unhealthy to the communities and caused considerable controversy among tribal leaders. Where is this issue today? M. Spenser, via e-mail Native tribes across the American West have been and continue to be subjected to significant amounts of radioactive and otherwise hazardous waste as a result of living near nuclear test sites, uranium mines, power plants and toxic waste dumps. And in some cases tribes are actually hosting hazardous waste on their sovereign reservations — which are not subject to the same environmental and health standards as U.S. land — in order to generate revenues. Native American advocates argue that siting such waste on or near reservations is an "environmental justice" problem, given that twice as many Native families live below the poverty line than other sectors of U.S. society and often have few if any options for generating income. "In the quest to dispose of nuclear waste, the government and private companies have disregarded and broken treaties, blurred the definition of Native American sovereignty, and directly engaged in a form of economic racism akin to bribery," says Bayley Lopez of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. He cites example after example of the government and private companies taking advantage of the "overwhelming poverty on native reservations by offering them millions of dollars to host nuclear waste storage sites." Photo: U.S. Department of Energy The issue came to a head — and Native advocates hope a turning point —  in 2007 when public pressure forced the Skull Valley band of Utah’s Goshute tribe to forego plans to offer their land, which is already tucked between a military test site, a chemical weapons depot and a toxic magnesium production facility, for storing spent nuclear fuel above ground. The facility would have been a key link in the chain of getting nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, the U.S. government’s proposed permanent storage facility. In February 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced intentions to scale back efforts to make Yucca Mountain the nation’s sole repository of radioactive nuclear waste and to look into alternative long-term strategies for dealing with its spent nuclear fuel. The National Congress of American Indians, in representing the various tribes around the region, no doubt breathed a sigh of relief. The issue essentially goes much deeper: As long as we continue to make use of nuclear energy — and many in Congress are looking to expand its role to get away from fossil fuels—the waste and spent nuclear fuel will keep coming and need to be stored somewhere. Groups like Honor the Earth, founded by author and activist Winona LaDuke to promote cooperation between Native Americans and environmentalists, are trying to persuade tribes that availing their land to nuclear power and other toxic industries isn’t worth the potential long-term damage to the health of their citizens. Honor the Earth helped convince the Goshutes to turn down a lucrative deal to store waste on their land, and is working with dozens of other tribes to try to do the same.

E-waste flooding developing countries, UNEP warns

Source : http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/02/22/ewaste-flooding-developing-countries-unep-warns.html

Desy Nurhayati ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Nusa Dua, Bali   |  Mon, 02/22/2010 9:00 PM  |  World

Developing countries face serious environmental and health problems from the alarming increase in hazardous waste from electronic devices, a report launched Monday by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) warned.

The report, “Recycling — From E-waste to Resources”, listed old and dilapidated desktop and laptop computers, printers, mobile phones, pagers, digital photo and music devices, refrigerators, toys and televisions as main sources of waste.

It used data from 11 representative developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America to estimate current and future e-waste generation.

“Developing countries will face rising environmental damage and health problems if e-waste recycling is left to the vagaries of the informal sector, unless action is stepped up to properly collect and recycle materials,” said UNEP executive director Achim Steiner.

“It is urgent to establish an ambitious, formal and regulated process for collecting and managing e-waste by setting up large and efficient facilities.

“By acting now and planning forward, many countries can turn an e-challenge into an e-opportunity.”
The report was revealed at the newly opened three-day meeting of the Basel Convention and other world chemical authorities prior to the UNEP Governing Council meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali, later this week.

World ministers to ‘sync’ on waste

Source : http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/02/22/world-ministers-%E2%80%98sync%E2%80%99-waste.html

Officials from three international treaties on hazardous chemicals will meet in simultaneous conferences on Monday in Bali to seek joint action addressing chemical and waste management issues.

The three-day conference of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions are to be attended by officials from 140 countries.

As of Sunday, about 90 environment ministers had confirmed their attendance for Tuesday.

“Nations should build better synergy and act more coherently to ensure effective and successful measures on the ground, since hazardous chemical substances and waste are real threats to health,” UNEP executive director Achim Steiner told reporters on Sunday.

The Bali meeting will focus on six issues, including joint action, joint managerial functions, joint services, synchronization of budget cycles and a joint audit account.

Executive secretary of the Basel Convention, Katharina Kummer Peiry, said that working groups from the three conventions would discuss different issues in chemical and waste management before presenting their recommendations.

“This meeting will give everyone a chance to step back and look at how we can deliver on the promise of the conventions more effectively by working ‘in-sync’ for a coherent and comprehensive life cycle approach to chemicals and waste,” Peiry said.

Peter Kenmore, co-executive secretary of the Rotterdam Convention for FAO, called on the conventions to reach out to the public affected by the impact of chemicals on health and the environment and deliver to local, national and regional actors to make a difference on the ground.

“More effective management is needed to protect farmers, workers and citizens on the ground [from hazardous substances],” Peter said.

The Basel Convention on the control of trans-boundary movements of hazardous waste and its disposal has been ratified by 172 countries.

The Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent (PIC) promotes the open exchange of information on the trade of certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides.

The Stockholm convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) obliges each party to take measures to curb the release of pollutants into the environment.

Indonesia is party to the Basel and Stockholm.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was slated to close the meeting on Wednesday and at the same time open a two-day ministerial forum that would discuss ocean, biodiversity and green economy issues.

Landfills falling out of favour with BMA

Source : http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/33190/landfills-falling-out-of-favour-with-bma

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration expects to move from burying its garbage in landfills to burning it in incinerators in the next 10 years.

CITY GARBAGE Bangkok accounts for 24% of the total rubbish produced in Thailand. The amount of garbage in the capital is expected to increase by 80% over the next decade to more than 15,000 tonnes per day. Facts about Bangkok's garbage:

Under the leadership of MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra, it is gearing up for what could be an expensive, but environmentally friendly change.

The project is costly but necessary because local people oppose conventional landfills.

Bangkok metropolis is the country's biggest source of garbage. Last year, it generated as much as 8,700 tonnes of garbage a day, which accounts for 24% of the total amount of garbage generated by the country.

Although the amount of garbage in Bangkok fell by 1.52% annually between 2003 and 2007, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation predicts that Bangkok will be producing as much as 13,835 tonnes of garbage a day by 2015, and 15,607 tonnes a day by 2019.

Iravat Patamasucon, the director of the BMA's environment department, says most of the 8,700 tonnes of garbage produced daily in Bangkok (or 0.9 kilogramme of garbage per person per day) is so-called "community garbage", drawn from sources like houses, markets, companies and government offices.

Community garbage is transported to three BMA garbage transit yards, in Nong Khaem (which handles 3,500 tonnes a day), Onnuj (2,200 tonnes a day) and Sai Mai (2,000 tonnes a day). The three yards receive 88% of all the garbage of Bangkok.

Garbage is sorted and transported to Kamphaeng Saen district of Nakhon Pathom and Phanom Sarakham district of Chachoengsao where it is buried in a landfill. The rest is turned into compost. Bangkok also produces about 20 tonnes of potentially infectious garbage a day.

This garbage comes from hospitals and clinics and includes used cotton, syringes and bandages.
It is incinerated at the Onnuj yard which is operated by Krungthep Thanakom Co, an enterprise of the BMA.

Another category is hazardous garbage from houses. It includes used batteries, light bulbs, and pesticide bottles and amounts to about five tonnes a day. A private company is hired to neutralise this kind of garbage before burying it in Sa Kaeo.

The fourth category of Bangkok's garbage is industrial waste, the disposal of which is the responsibility of factory owners under the Industrial Factory Act of 1992.

The other category of garbage in the capital comprises waste from construction such as concrete bars and poles, steel rods, bricks, gravel and sand.

Mr Iravat said that the BMA disposes of almost 100% of its garbage every day. A small amount is left over because residents forget to leave garbage in front of their homes in time for city workers to collect it.

Replacing landfills with incinerators is not a new idea.

In Thailand, Phuket and Samui islands have depended on incineration for years. BMA officials are studying an incineration project, too, in line with the garbage disposal policy of its governor, who favours incineration.

"We may try with an incinerator that can handle only 300-500 tonnes of garbage a day. Incineration will cost about 4 million baht per tonne.

"It is up to management. Landfilling will become a problem in the future as land in Bangkok is expensive.
"People in the provinces do not want landfills in their areas. We are likely to have our own incinerator in the next 10 years," said the director of the BMA's environment department.

Body to save (river) Ravi from pollution

 Source : http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=225135

Saturday, February 20, 2010
By Ali Raza

LAHORE

The Punjab government has constituted a committee for an action plan for saving aquatic life in the River Ravi, which is facing serious threats due to decreased oxygen levels and turned into an open drain.

The Lahore division commissioner heads the committee which comprises provincial secretaries of Environment, Housing, Irrigation and Industries departments, the Wasa managing director, Professor Wazir Ali of UET and Hammad Naqi of WWF-Pakistan.

The committee was formed on the directions of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, officials said, adding that the main task given to the committee was to analyse all technical and environmental studies on the Ravi. Officials said the committee was directed to finalise its recommendations in six weeks. Sources said the first meeting of the committee was held on Thursday in which the Environment Secretary gave a detailed briefing on the deteriorating Ravi. He said oxygen level required for aquatic life had alarmingly reduced in the river endangering native fish species besides posing a grave threat to underground water.

The briefing revealed that about 10 drains and pumping stations and five industrial wastewater drains were throwing over 2,000 cusec municipal sewage and toxic industrial effluents into the river.

It revealed that according to international standards, the level of biological official demand (BOD) in the river water should be 80 mg/l whereas the level of BOD in the water of 10 drains and pumping stations ranged between 129 mg/l and 430 mg/l. Likewise, BOD in the water of five drains throwing toxic industrial waste into the river ranged between 24 mg/l and 360 mg/l.

The Ravi enters Pakistan at Kot Nainan and joins the Chenab at Sardarpur, Khanewal, which is some 422 miles. In winter, average water discharge of the river is around 0.54 maf and in summer it is around 0.94 maf. During last years, it has been turned into a dumping ground for municipal as well as industrial sewage, resulting in an end to several native fish species besides posing a serious threat to the remaining aquatic life and underground water level.

The drains throwing municipal waste are Mehmood Booti drain (1 cusecs in which BOD level is 250 mg/l), Sukh Naher (80 cusecs in which BOD level is 120 mg/l), Shadbagh drain (200 cusecs in which BOD level is 192 mg/l), Shahdara Town pumping station (35 cusecs in which BOD level is 140 mg/l), Forest Colony pumping station (25 cusecs in which BOD level is 200 mg/l), Furakhabad drain (40 cusecs in which BOD level is 382 mg/l), Budha Ravi (56 cusecs in which BOD level is 430 mg/l), Main Outfall drain (102 cusecs in which BOD level is 412 mg/l), Gulshan-e-Ravi drain (89 cusecs in which BOD level is 395 mg/l) and Babu Sabu drain (72 cusecs in which BOD level is 312 mg/l).

The drains releasing toxic waste water in the Ravi are Hudiyara drain (512 cusecs in which BOD level is 120 mg/l), Deg Nullah, Faisalabad (100 cusecs in which BOD level is 360 mg/l), Samundry drain, Faisalabad (400 cusecs in which BOD level is 66 mg/l), Sukhrawa drain, Sahiwal (53 cusecs in which BOD level is 36 mg/l) and Gojra drain, TT Singh (45 cusecs in which BOD level is 24 mg/l).

Besides the drains, five irrigation canals also release water into the Ravi. The canals are Marala Ravi Link Canal (BOD level is 3.6mg/l), Upper Chenab Canal (5,570 cusecs in which BOD level is 168 mg/l), QB Link Canal (14,500 cusecs in which BOD level is 2.4 mg/l), Trimu Sidhnai Link Canal (2,000 cusecs in which BOD level is 6.8 mg/l) and Haveli Main Line Canal (3,600 cusecs in which BOD level is 3.4 mg/l). It was pointed out in the meeting that in Lahore, Main Outfall and Shadbagh drains are the most polluted and throwing municipal waste into the river while Hudiyara drain is diposing industrial waste.

EPD sources said near the new bridge in Lahore, oxygen level in the river is too low to support aquatic life and in Sharakpur and More Khunda, dissolved oxygen level depleted significantly rendering it unfit for aquatic life. They said the department had already filed a complaint in the Environmental Protection Tribunal (EPT), Lahore, against Wasa for discharging untreated sewage into the river, causing water pollution. The Wasa had submitted an undertaking in the court to set up wastewater/sewage treatment plants for which they have acquired land and PC-1 has been forwarded to the P&D Department for approval.

A senior official of LDA said the authority had also proposed six sewage treatment plants in the Lahore Master Plan for which funding is being awaited. The treatment plants included Mian Mir drain (Rs 4,116 million), Hadiyara drain (Rs 2,058 million), Shadbagh drain (Rs 2,744 million), Suckh Nahar (Rs 2,766 million), Sattokatla drain (Rs 1,070 million) and Farukhabad drain, Shahdara (Rs 1,194 million).

An EPD spokesman said the committee had started its work and under the directions of the Lahore commissioner, SWM staff removed all solid waste from the unofficial landfill site at the Sagian bridge. ìThe Industries Secretary has said the department will be installing two combined waste water treatment plants at the Sundar Industrial Estate and Kot Lakhpat Industrial Estate in weeks,î he added.

On the other hand, environmentalists expressed concern over diposal of sewage into the river. They said the committee made by the government should also identify industrial units which were the biggest polluters of the river. They said a regular qualitative and quantitative monitoring of fresh water resources should be planned besides construction of scientific landfill sites.

Top 5 Environmental Issues in Australia

Source : http://www.life-in-antarctica.info/?p=33

Deforestation

Of all of the environmental issues facing Australia, the loss of our nation’s old growth forests are by far the most troubling. At the same time, the issue of unchecked deforestation is probably the one issue that we as Australian citizens can most easily impact by pressuring our government to take the necessary steps to stop the destruction of our nation’s natural resources in its tracks. The Rainforest Alliance intends to stand firmly in defiance to the continued depletion of Australia’s old growth forests. In keeping with this aim, Lipton has taken considerable steps toward bringing the tea industry into the 21st century’s environmental standards through the Rainforest Alliance.

Coal Energy

In Australia, coal mining continues to be one of the most controversial environmental issues in our country. While many environmentalists point out the contributions that coal burning make to global warming, it is difficult to ignore the fact that coal based energy is currently a major part of Australia’s energy infrastructure. However, allies of the Rainforest Alliance are quick to point out that modern energy technology has reached the point that the nation can now begin making the switch from coal energy to a more environmentally responsible energy infrastructure.

Air Quality

Like most of the modern world, our nation’s cities have developed some serious air quality issues. Air quality in urban areas is affected by a variety of influences to include automobile exhaust, industrial waste and byproducts of the production of herbicides and pesticides.

Climate Change

Recent studies have shown that our planet’s environment is warming at a much more alarming rate than scientists had initially predicted, and the dangers that rising sea levels pose to the Australian coast could prove to be devastating if current global warming trends continue.

Water Security

The continent of Australia is second only to Antartica in terms of scarcity of water, and irrigation and other water conservation issues have plagued our nation since it was founded. Politicians, environmentalists and farmers have been hashing out water security issues for decades, but increased pressures on our water supply by population growth and potential climate change have tipped the scales to critical mass. It is time for the nation to recognise the drastic effects that the diversion of natural water flows have wreaked on our nations environment and to recognise that unchecked irrigation expansion simply is not a viable option for an environmentally stable Australia. Thankfully, corporations such as Unilever’s Lipton and fast food joint McDonalds, have waken up to the necessity of finding lasting solutions to Australia’s water security concerns.

Water treatment by-products linked with cancer

Source : http://www.eht-forum.org/news.html?fileId=news100210074010&from=home&id=0
Increased risk of colon cancer possible for people drinking chlorine-treated water, suggests meta-analysis
Source: SXC/fragallo	Disinfecting drinking water keeps people safe from pathogens but evidence suggests that exposure to the by-products of chemicals used to treat water could increase the risk of colon and rectal cancer, according to public health researchers writing this month online in the International Journal of Epidemiology. But they caution the findings are based on “limited evidence”.   “This meta-analysis points to an association between exposure to disinfection by-products and an increase in the risk of colorectal cancer,” write Bayzidur Rahman, from The University of Sydney, Australia, and colleagues.   Water is usually treated with chlorine, a cheap and easy-to-use disinfectant, to remove pathogens before it becomes suitable for drinking. During the process several by-products are produced as the chlorine breaks down and reacts with organic matter in the water. These chemicals, the most common of which is trihalomethane, have been shown to cause liver, kidney and intestinal tumours in mice.   Several studies have also looked at the risk of cancer in humans exposed to chlorinated water. A previous meta-analysis, which considered the evidence published up to 1992, suggested the risk of developing bladder, colon or rectal cancer was 10–40% higher for people exposed to disinfection by-products in their drinking water compared with those that were not. More research has been published since then, but with inconsistent findings.   To get a clearer picture of any risk of colorectal cancer, Rahman and colleagues analysed the results of 13 studies published up to 2009, including some of the research included in the previous analysis. They looked for research that gave an indication of quantified cancer risks associated with treated water, and ones that gave specific details of the exposure levels that people experienced. Pulling together all the data from these pieces of research, and taking into consideration the quality of each study, they used statistical tests to analyse the findings.   They found that the odds of getting colon cancer were slightly but significantly  higher for people exposed to chlorination by-products in their water than those who were not. The same was true for rectal cancer, but this result was less reliable and may have been swayed by poor-quality research, according to the authors.   They explain that although the possible increased risk of colon cancer is small, it could lead to huge numbers of cancer cases because a large number of people drink water containing disinfection by-products. “Therefore, the association requires further investigation.”   The evidence used to come to this conclusion is “limited”, as the researchers followed strict criteria when selecting the research included in the analysis. By doing this they hoped to weed out poor-quality studies, making their results more precise.
Reference and link
1. Rahman M B, Driscoll T, Cowie C, Armstrong BK. Disinfection by-products in drinking water and colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis. Int J Epidemiol 2010. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyp371 US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention information about disinfection by-products

Mycelium Mushrooms Provide Detoxification for the Earth

 Source : http://www.naturalnews.com/028132_detoxification_mycelium.html

(NaturalNews) Much of the land, air and water around the world have been contaminated by industrial waste and pollution. Many people are affected by the filth as it`s unfortunate but true that what`s in the air and water around our homes regularly ends up inside of our bodies. The problems are serious, but fortunately, nature has provided us with an environmental solution in an unlikely package: mushrooms. Mycelium from mushrooms has the unique ability to breakdown and detoxify a great deal of toxic industrial waste and pollution.

Mycelium is actually the fruit of a mushroom. In forests, the mycelia breakdown and recycle nitrogen, carbon and plant and animal debris; they turn the forests` waste products into rich soil.

However, Paul Stemets, a longtime mushroom researcher, discovered that mushroom mycelium also has the unique ability to break down hydrocarbons - and hydrocarbons are at the base of many industrial pollutants. Everything from pesticides to dioxins have a hydrocarbon base.

According to Stemets, mycelium can break down and detoxify biological warfare agents and heavy metals, including lead and mercury. In addition, he`s found that mycelium can remove industrial toxins from the soil, including pesticides, chlorine, dioxin, and PCBs. Since many of these poisons are showing up in the umbilical cord blood of infants, it`s about time we got serious about getting them out of the environment. Using mushroom mycelium is an environmentally friendly way to do it, and it`s far less expensive than conventional methods of environmental cleanup.

Conventional methods of removing industrial contamination include treating the waste with chemicals or capturing the waste and burning it. Of course, the burning of industrial waste just releases those chemicals right back into the air we all breathe. And this time, it contains new and unknown chemical combinations - ones that might be more dangerous than the original ones.

To cleanse the soil of contaminants, mycelium absorbs the compounds of the soil and water around it. It acts as a filter to remove any usable materials, and then it releases enzymes to break down any remaining contaminants. As an example of its effectiveness: when soil contaminated with diesel fuel is inoculated with mycelia from oyster mushrooms, it was found to lose its toxicity in just 8 weeks.

Many plants benefit from a relationship with mycelium, and mycelium makes up about 10 percent of many healthy soils. Trees often become more drought and disease resistant with mycelium. Mycelium can also kill many agricultural pests; it even kills problems including Staphylococcus sp. and E. coli.

Stemets tells us that mycelium can also be used to cleanse groundwater of contaminants and pollutants. Yet, as with many natural healing techniques, what we really need are more people using them.

Study on industrial waste management

Source : http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Business_News&subsection=Local+Business&month=February2010&file=Business_News2010021084535.xml

DOHA: The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has signed an agreement with a Malaysian Company to conduct a study on the management of industrial waste in the Industrial area.

Nasser Ali Al Mowlawi, General Manager, Ashghal signed he agreement with the Malaysian company Quality’s Director Asman Adin Haq Ahmed on Monday.

The study, which is expected to be completed within eight months, includes field survey and creating data base regarding the types of wastes being dumped in the area. The study would also suggest the cutting-edge technology that could be used for managing the industrial waste in eco-friendly way.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Environment has announced its decision to set up a national working group to implement the national plans for natural waste management in the oil and gas industries.

The panel includes all concerned government agencies and companies, including the representatives from the Ministry of Environment, Qatar Petroleum, Qatar Steel Company, Occidental Petroleum of Qatar, Qatar Shell Company, Maersk Oil Qatar, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger Companies.

The national plan aims at counting all the companies that generate radioactive materials and considering the alternatives for disposing of waste in the future as well as adopting an implementation regulation of the national radioactive waste from law No.31 of 2002 on the prevention of radiation.

The natural radioactive waste is a throw away resulting from the process of extracting and refining oil and gas and some industries of the radioactive materials from underground, which may endanger the human beings and the environment to radiation of low activity in most cases.

Our beloved rivers of waste

Source : http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/02/09/our-beloved-rivers-waste.html

 

Home by the river: Residents perform various house chores in their homes located along the Ciliwung River in Jakarta. Millions of people rely on the river for their daily water needs. JP/Ricky Yudhistira

Standing on the bank on one of Jakarta’s many rivers, the experience is much the same across the board. Nothing you would hope for in a river is present in the city’s 13 main canals.

Clear water, the peaceful babble, trees and native flora lining the bed, native wildlife in and around the water and children paddling amongst the leaves have all been replaced by rubbish, disease-causing bacteria and pollution.

Standing on the edge of any of Jakarta’s canals is saddening; what once would have been a beautiful and serene place, is now a bed of pollution and the cause of illnesses such as typhoid, dysentery, cholera, E.coli-poisoning and amoebiasis. 

So what has caused the rivers to become so polluted, and the water so unusable?

We have.

Many factors lead to water pollution of this extent, one of the main ones being sewage.

The water canals in Jakarta are largely used to flush human sewage, increasing the level of E.coli in the water, thus making it unfit for human consumption.

The nitrates and phosphates found in sewage, and in fertilizers, also lead to an over-stimulation in the growth of aquatic plants such as algae. An excess of algae clogs up the waterways, uses up dissolved oxygen as it decomposes, and blocks light to deeper waters. This in turn is very harmful to aquatic organisms such as fish, as it inhibits their respiratory ability.

Another factor contributing to water pollution is the large amount of rubbish and waste deposited into the river by inhabitants of the riverside.

All of the above are known as municipal pollution, pollution caused by homes and commercial establishments.

Add to those factors industrial pollution. Large amounts of industrial waste are deposited into the river system every day, allowing hazardous substances to flow freely in our precious water. 

 

Garbage river: Two workers comb through garbage in the Ciliwung River. The piles of garbage found in the river contribute to the city’s annual flood problem. JP/P.J. Leo

Last, but not least, agriculture plays a significant role in polluting rivers. The erosion caused by crops devastates the river systems, and is the leading cause of water pollution in countries such as the US.

Chandra Samekto, a project officer for the Citarum River, says the problems are widespread and caused by many different factors.

“For the Citarum River especially, the problem is quite serious. This river is integral to Jakarta’s water supply and is a very strategic source to all of West Java.”

One of the main tasks of the Citarum project is to identify why the condition of the river is degrading, and what can be done to improve the situation.

“We have spent a lot of time researching and identifying the problems in the Citarum River, and have discovered that each segment has a different problem. For example, upstream, the problems are caused by industry. Adjacent to the river is a coal treatment plant, and the waste from materials used to treat the coal is dumped into the river. In the middle section of the river however, the main problem has to do with people’s sanitation habits. They dump waste and garbage, which is detrimental to the water quality.”

When asked whether the situation has improved recently, Samekto says the results are not promising.

“We definitely think the situation is getting worse.”

He adds it is very important we address the problem, and put more effort into improving the quality of the rivers, and in turn, the water quality in Indonesia, as the quality of the water could be a limiting factor to Indonesia’s economic development.

 

Double work: A woman washes clothes while taking care of her child on a wooden pontoon along the Ciliwung River. JP/P.J. Leo

“It is important that we as a society recognize the problem, and realize it is worsening, as perhaps this way people will make an effort to improve it.”

The Citarum River project has up to 80 plans in motion to improve the river, with an estimated cost of Rp 45 trillion (US$4.8 billion).

Plans include new water treatment facilities, water site management strategies, upstream conditioning and septic tanks.

Also included in their plans is System Rice Intensification (SRI), a program aimed at using less water when cultivating rice crops, for the same or better yield of crop.

In conjunction with these plans, it is important people do their bit in caring for their rivers and water canals.

“People do care,” says Samekto.

“But they need to collaborate with us, and replicate our actions. We hope to get support from everyone, and become a movement of sorts. If everyone knows the issues involved, if people realize the problem, we can help them change their behavior, and change [the behavior of] companies.

“The only way to do this is by creating awareness, by educating people. For example, a simple step to take is to stop littering in the rivers, dispose of your rubbish carefully,” he says.

The message is simple, and is known the world over, yet it seems somehow more difficult in practice.

“Yes, it is easy to see, but it will take more time to change people’s behavior.”

Disposal sites for industrial waste

Source : http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=14683

Disposal sites for industrial waste

And not a moment too soon for the environment’s sake

Buried Under Waste Besides the obvious air pollution, the water and land around have also been adversely affected

9 February, 2010 - The department of trade and industry has identified two disposal sites for hazardous and non-hazardous waste in Pasakha, Phuentsholing, which could come to the rescue of the mounting industrial waste produced by factories in Pasakha.

“The geo-feasibility of the sites were carried out and now we’re moving on to the environmental impact assessment (EIA). after which designs and drawings will be done,” said the senior environment officer of the department of trade and industry, Sangay Dorji.

These formalities will be completed by this June, said environmental officials, after which construction would begin by July. The non-hazardous waste disposal site, a sanitary landfill, will be reclaimed as a recreational area once it’s filled, while the hazardous site is expected to last for about 25 years. “By next year, the waste disposal sites will be ready,” said Sangay Dorji.

Apart from the smoke billowing from roofs of industries, heaps of slags and other waste are stockpiled in and around the industries in Pasakha, owing to a lack of proper waste disposal area. According to environment officials, the biggest polluters, so far, were chemical factories like ferro silicon or carbide, given their sheer size and with waste like micro silica, a pollutant that causes respiratory diseases. Steel industries are second, which, besides generating sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and SPM, also pollute water with slag.

Other major sources of pollution are coal, wood and oil-fired boilers used in food processing, the wood industry and cement plants, especially those which used old technology, like the vertical shaft technology, according to environment officials.

“Environmental norms were flouted, causing air and river pollution, and improper disposal of industrial waste was leading to adverse environmental impacts,” states the environment audit of the industries in Pasakha and Gomtu, carried out by the royal audit authority (RAA) in October last year.

The RAA report also pointed out that quarterly emission reports submitted by industries show that emission standards set by the government are not met by most industries.

Over the years, the lack of disposal sites saw dumping of industrial waste along the roadside and riverbeds, which drew a lot of criticisms of people and objections by NEC, said environmental officials.

According to the NEC director general, Sonam Yanglay, the problem of industrial waste was bound to appear. “It was known to us even before the industries came up,” he said, adding, “We issued clearances only after industrialists submitted a written commitment to handle their own waste.”

The issue today, according to NEC, was that these industrialists had earlier submitted in writing that the waste would be sold to buyers in India, but that didn’t happen.

“Even stockpiling waste within their own premises is hazardous but it’s better than dumping it everywhere,” he said.

Meanwhile, industrialists say that disposal sites for industrial waste have become the need of the hour. “If it’s going to take that long, it’s going to be very difficult, especially for the steel industry, as the stockpiling of slag has occupied space for storing raw material and finished products as well,” said the secretary general of the association of Bhutanese industries, Letho. There are more than 20 industries at the Pasakha industrial estate.

By Kinga Dema

Five children burnt by industrial waste in Mansehra Colony

 Source : http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=223072

By By Shahid Husain
Karachi

As if the tragedy at the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) was not enough where dumping of toxic waste by a factory owner played havoc with the lives of innocent children a few years ago, at least five children have been burnt in Mansehra Colony, F-Area, Landhi where industrial units dump their waste every day without any fear.

Amongst the children who have been burnt severely are: Omer, son of Sabir; Mazhar, son of Ashiq; Abid Ali, son of Khalid; Niaz Mohammad, son of Faqir Mohammad; and Zulfiqar, son of Faiz Mohammad; according to Noor-ur-Rehman, general secretary, Society for Safe and Healthier Environment, a small, grass root non-governmental organisation (NGO) that came into being after local activists of SITE area campaigned against dumping of toxic waste in SITE area.

“These children were burnt on January 18 while playing at the dump,” Mohammad Javed, a resident of Mansehra Colony who works in a denim factory in Landhi told The News.

“The mill area is situated near the dumping site where factories and Landhi Town employees dump their waste,” he said. “We tried to lodge a First Information Report (FIR) in Sharifi Goth police station but the officials refused to register it. We have been witnessing such incidents for the last one and a half year,” Javed said.

Amazingly, factory waste is dumped at the site by vehicles that have no number plates, he said.

A divisional bench of the Sindh High Court comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Nadeem Azher Siddiqi on July 26, 2006, ordered that industrial waste should not be dumped on plot numbers F-620 and F-621 in SITE — Pakistan’s largest industrial estate.

The dumping of toxic chemical waste on these industrial plots had led to a tragedy of great magnitude in February 2006, when as many as 20 people — mostly children — received burns due to deadly chemicals.

Though industrialists tried to hush the case, inhabitants formed an “action committee” and filed a petition in the Sindh High Court.

Though a child died of severe burns while the other suffered from auto amputation, the struggle of the “action committee” that later transformed into the Society for Safe and Healthier Environment won the case and the unscrupulous factory owner was forced to compensate the victims.

Apparently the court verdict should have stopped dumping of hazardous waste in open plots in residential colonies but the tragedy in Mansehra Colony in Landhi’s F-Area amply demonstrates that the practice continues without any let or hindrance.

Pollution Control in Recycling Industry is most essential

Source : http://saferenvironment.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/pollution-control-in-recycling-industry-is-most-essential/

Pollution Control in Recycling Industry:

1. Introduction - Recycling industry frequently causes pollution to the environment. It is either the same or more than any other industrial activities. For example, paper recycling causes water pollution, which affect agricultural and fishery production. Refineries of metal scrap industry cause air and water pollution. Lead acid batteries recycling is a typical industry causing environmental pollution in developing countries.

When hazardous heavy metals are discharged to the environment, causes health damages. In fact, many small scale recycling industries without any pollution control mechanism exist in developing countries. Large production capacity recycling plants can afford to invest in pollution control equipment and hire technological experts to control pollution. It is easy for government to enforce pollution control regulation on big companies, which have financial and technological capacity to deal with the problem. It has been observed both in developed and developing countries that if the government strengthens the enforcement in small scale industries, it is possible that small scale industry migrate to remote areas, and carry out same business behind the wall.

It has also been observed that informal recyclers dominate the market of collected recyclable waste, because their cost of recycling is cheaper than that of formal recyclers. The competitiveness of informal recycler comes from non payment of taxes and no investment in pollution control. As a result, formal recycler with pollution control equipment and systems faces lack of recyclable waste, which becomes obstacle for the growth of formal recycler. This situation makes recycling industry as one of the most polluting industries in developing countries.

2. Pollution from Small and Medium Recycling Industries – The scrap recycling industry is growing at an exponential pace, specially in developing countries. The major source of raw material for this industry is recyclable scrap generated from municipal solid waste and domestic industry. The majority of recycling industry operates in medium to small scale unorganized sector without any pollution control. This results in uncontrolled emissions leading to environmental pollution. Therefore, it is pertinent to assess the structure of small to medium scale recycling industry, their recycling technologies used, and their pollution potential. At sector level, the recycling industry is generally, organized into paper, plastic, ferrous and non-ferrous sectors. In the non-ferrous sector, the majority of recycling industry is involved in zinc, copper and lead production. E-waste is a new waste stream, which provides raw material to the ferrous and non-ferrous recycling sector.

3. Processes and Technologies for Recycling and their pollution potential – Processes and technologies used in recycling sector ranges from advanced to very crude in nature.

a. Waste paper pulp is produced from two types of plants. The low quality of paper is produced by mechanically pulping the waste paper without chemical use. This pulp is used to produce brown paper and paper board. The good quality paper is produced by mechanical pulping followed by removal of inks/ pigments and bleaching. Most de- inking is done by ‘washing’ or floatation, or a combination of both the techniques. Washing is used to remove small particles of ink while flotation is used to remove ink particles which are too small to be removed by screens and cleaners but too big to be removed by washing. Both the processes involve the use of chemicals. The washing technique uses chemicals known as wetting agents and surfactants to detach ink particles from wastepaper. The particles are then removed through repeated washing. The floatation process is based on ink agglomeration chemistry. After the ink is detached from the wastepaper, the ink particles are made to stick together by using suitable collectors like fatty acid soap. The resulting slurry is then taken to a flotation cell where lime is added to make them hydrophobic (so that they do not dissolve in water). The ink particles then get attached to air bubbles passed through the slurry and are finally discharged as foam sludge. This process can handle both old newspapers as well as coated paper, which is used to print magazines. Starch and calcium carbonate are added to strengthen the pulp followed by blending with water to achieve proper pulp to water ratio. Alum, rosin, talc and acid are added to condition the paper before it is sent to paper machine, where steam is used for drying.

The major pollutants emitted from waste paper pulping are effluents and solid waste. Effluents are generated during pulping especially during de-inking, blending, conditioning and drying. Processing wastepaper generates sludge. In case the wastepaper is de-inked, the sludge contains heavy metals. Industrialized countries usually incinerate de-inking sludge. But in most of developing countries, most of it is disposed of in landfill or sold out.

b. Both consumer and industrial plastic waste generated is recycled. After sorting and cleaning, the plastic waste is grinded, cleaned and dried. After drying, it is agglomerated and further grinded. After grinding it is granulated and packaged.

Plastic recycling process generates fugitive dust, waste water on account of cleaning and solid waste. Since no chemical process/ burning is involved in plastic grinding and granulation, effluents have high suspended solids.

c. Small scale steel producers mostly use scrap-sponge iron-pig iron combination to produce steel ingots (for long products) using Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) or Induction Arc Furnace (IAF) route.

Though the units in steel sector are in small scale sector but quantity of pollutants generated by them is significant. The number of units in different clusters produces huge quantity of obnoxious fumes and discharge effluents without any pollution control devices, causing severe pollution in surrounding areas.

d. The majority of the secondary zinc units use both mechanical and electrolytic method while some units recover zinc from zinc ash by mechanical methods and sell fines (mainly 50-60percent zinc oxide) to zinc chemical manufacturers. Mostly, the raw material used for secondary zinc production by zinc recyclers is zinc ash/ skimming/ dross and steam blowing, which arises as a waste from domestic and imported galvanizing industry. Two types of dross namely top dross that floats on the top of the bath and the bottom dross that sinks to the bottom of the galvanizing bath based on the specific gravity of the material are obtained as raw material from the galvanizing industry. Zinc content in dross’s lies in the range 90–96%. The technology followed to extract zinc is hydrometallurgical based involving leaching, metal purification, separation, precipitation and electrolysis. In some of the units, ZnO is manufactured from the secondary zinc following pyro-metallurgical processes, which involves carbon reduction and vaporization of zinc followed by controlled oxidation to produce ZnO. The process of zinc extraction from zinc ash consists of material preparation, leaching, purification, electrolysis/melting and bleeds off. Zinc ash is generally available in the form of lumps and chips. It is therefore, first crushed and then pulverized to separate out metallic zinc from fine ash. On melting and casting, metallic zinc is obtained. Fine ash is subjected to calcinations in oil fired rotary kiln at 9000C. Calcined ash lumps are pulverized again to get particle size of 100 mesh. The calcined fine ash is then treated with sulphuric acid and/or spent electrolyte generated during electrolysis for leaching operation. During this operation, compressed air and pyrolusite (MnO2) are added to oxidize ferrous ions to ferric ions. Leaching of zinc is continued till pH 4.5 to 5 where oxidized impurity of iron is hydrolyzed to ferric hydroxide precipitate. The clear solution of zinc sulphate is then sent for purification. In the first stage, copper is cemented out with addition of zinc dust/powder. The resultant pulp is filtered to remove copper as copper cement and filtrate to taken to second stage purification. In the second stage, solution is treated with Di-methyl Glycol (DMG) to remove impurity of nickel. In the third stage purification, activated charcoal is added to remove organic impurities. The purified solution mixed with spent electrolyte is electrolyzed using lead anodes and aluminum cathodes. Zinc metal deposits on cathode and oxygen is given off at anode and sulphuric acid is regenerated in the process. Deposited zinc is stripped off manually after every 24 hours and is melted in oil fired crucible furnace. Molten zinc metal is cast as zinc ingots. Spent acid is reused in the process. Bleed off, to lower down the impurities in the system some zinc sulphate is bled off time to time. This is used to manufacture zinc sulphate crystals.

Air and water pollution and solid waste management are the major issues in secondary zinc recovery units. Pollutant emissions take place from rotary kiln. Effluent discharge occurs during leaching, electrolysis and bleeds off. Waste is mostly in the form of residues, which are often disposed off in unsystematic landfills, though some industries follow the safe handling and disposal procedure laid down officially by monitoring agencies.

e. Copper recycling sector uses copper based industrial waste suitable for copper recovery through pyro-metallurgical and hydro-metallurgical processes. The choice of the process can be made on the basis of physical form, copper content, chemical nature, chemical composition and possible recovery process. These wastes include converter slag, anode slag, ETP (effluent treatment plants) sludge, anode slime etc. Wastes like dross, reverts etc. are best recycled by pyro-metallurgical process including melting, fire refining and electro-refining. The converter slag is also recycled using smelting furnace and precious metals like Ag and Au are recovered from the anode slime by using electrolysis. Other waste except for high grade mill scale can be recycled by hydrometallurgical processing, e.g., slag is subjected to copper recovery by flotation and the residual slag can be smelted in an electric arc furnace.

Most of the secondary copper units do not follow the proper processing technologies and discharge effluents in the surrounding environment, causing air, water and soil contamination. Pollutant emissions, which take place from the secondary copper recovery processes, are particulate matter, fugitive emissions, volatile organic compounds, hydrogen chloride gas, dioxins and chlorinated furans. Acidic effluents are discharged during electrolysis and bleed off. Solid wastes from secondary copper units in the form of residues, metal oxides, un-burnt insulation, products of incomplete combustion are often disposed off in unsystematic landfills, though some industries follow the safe handling and disposal procedure laid down officially by monitoring agencies.

f. Recycling of Lead Acid Battery is one of the most hazardous jobs. Since it became difficult to process lead in the plant due to public opposition, some informal operators used drums in stead of smelting furnace to heat batteries by propane to melt electrolyte lead to recover lead without any pollution control. They conducted such operations underground, in a most clandestine manner. Secondary lead refining process is a batch process based on traditional pyro- metallurgical methods. Batch refining is carried out in hemispherical vessel usually stirred to mix the reactants. The metal is held molten while reaction products float out and recovered from the surface. These systems typically have no pollution control system. However, lead of purity of 99.99percent is recovered in these units.

Some of the pollution related issues include air and water pollution and solid waste management. During the processing of spent lead-acid battery in backyard units, operations like breaking, crushing, screening, dry mixing etc. generate airborne lead dust which directly or indirectly enter into the human system and the surroundings of the working area. Effluent discharge occurs during battery treatment. Since lead is a very toxic material, disposal of the solid wastes from secondary lead production in the secured landfill is essential and mandatory.

g. Most of the waste/used oil re-refining units in the small scale sector use the acid-clay process. This process has the disadvantage of resulting in the generation of large quantities of hazardous and toxic acid sludge and clay contaminated with oil and heavy metals.

Since the informal waste/ used oil recycling occurs in small scale sector, they are a major source of environmental pollution. A large number of roadside garages drain used oils from automobile engines without any record of the next destination of such oils. Used motor oil is also burned, generally in inadequate equipped installations. Such operations produce large quantities of heavy metal emission particles, toxic gases (SO2, NOx, HCl) and residue products, which are ranked among the most toxic in comparison with other environmental particles.

h. There are more than twenty three processes, which generally are used for E-waste recycling. The outputs from these processes are electronic components, plastics, glass, ferrous and non ferrous metals including precious metals.

The processes used by unorganized sector are manual dismantling, chemical treatment to extract non ferrous and precious metals and open burning. These processes produce air emissions, which may include dioxins due to open burning of plastics, highly acidic liquid effluents containing heavy metals due to chemical treatment to extract non ferrous metals and hazardous solid waste left after burning and chemical treatment of E-waste.

4. Measures to Control Pollution – Experience in developed countries regarding policy measures in controlling pollution from recycling industry showed the importance of enforcement of the regulations. In developing countries recyclers should follow strict regulations including air and water pollution control along with enforcement of the regulation should be strong enough to implement them effectively. In general, adoption of regulations and rigorous enforcement thereof are to be carried out in a manner prompted by individual pollution disputes.

If the intention to comply with the regulation is ensured by enforcement of regulations then the awareness of recyclers, information of pollution control technology including end-of-pipe technology and cleaner production technology should be provided by public authority or experts. Otherwise, they can not choose environmentally sound technology. Since such technology is expensive, recyclers may not afford installing pollution control equipment. If possible, low interest loan should be provided to small scale recyclers through industry associations, which can act as financial intermediary and a vehicle to disseminate information on the risks of pollution, the technologies and the financial options.

5. Conclusion – Recycling is considered to be good for the environment. But some material recycling processes cause environmental pollution, if proper pollution control measures are not applied. Relocation of the factory without any pollution control does not provide solution to the problem. If recycling plant is willing to invest in pollution control, information of pollution control technologies should be provided. If possible, financial support such as low interest loan can promote such investment.

References:

* Agrawal, A.; K.K. Sahu; and B.D. Pandey. 2004. “Solid Waste Management in Non- Ferrous Industries in India.” Resources, Conservation and Recycling 42: 99-120.

* Hishida, Kazuo. 1969. “Namari sai seiren sagyo ni tomonau haien no seijou to taisaku” (in Japanese) [Characteristics and control measures of emission from the process of recycling lead]. Taiki osen kenkyu [Journal of Japan society of Air Pollution] 4, no. 1, p. 81.

* Lal, Banwari, and M.R.V.P. Reddy, eds. 2005. Wealth from Waste. 2nd ed. The Energy Research Institute.

* Matsuda, Shozo; Masamichi Hara; Daihachiro Koyama; Hiroyuki Kitamura; Yoshihiro Nakagawa; Wataaki Takada. 1970. “Namari saisei kojo hansharo no baien chosa” (in Japanese) [Study on soot and dust from reverberatory furnace of lead recycling plant]. Excerpt from Report No. 1 of the Hyogo Prefectural Institute of Environmental Science.

* Milind, Wangikar. 2007. Presentation on “Copper Recycling Program