ChemRegs Newsletter – January 2018
Stone found in the running shoe of fabled circular economy
The ‘Circular Economy’ seems to be running into some technical challenges.
We are informed that the circular economy will make our businesses very sustainable by re-using our old rubbish, not producing any new rubbish and making us all feel better by buying into ‘natural capitalism’ i.e. the economy being dependent on natural resources and the ecosystem services that nature provides.
The idea of a circular economy cannot be faulted and is indeed a core of good sense.
Who could argue against a burger chain repurposing its fat and grease into usable vehicle fuel? Or, instead of using vast amounts of water and fuel and causing huge environmental damage in the pursuit of copper ore (with each tonne yielding a pathetic 1.0% copper), just buy an old UK landfill site and re-mine the site and get the refined old copper out at a rate of approximately 10+ %?
There is great public support for the circular economy, as many people are finding out that repurposing and re-using is a great money saver and, if that benefits the environment as well, double bubble.
However, as more companies turn their business models to sustainability, an ugly fact has come along to spoil a beautiful theory.
Much of the waste industry feed stock (our waste) is segregated into waste streams. The European Waste Catalogue provides taxonomy for most wastes and provides hours of Kafkaesque entertainment.
These waste streams are then either processed into something new e.g. an old fizzy drink can into a new airplane widget, or used as fuel e.g. old engine oil used as ship fuel, or, if the waste is very hazardous, buried in a big cave or underground storage and forgotten about so future generations can deal with it instead.
When waste is reprocessed or recovered, any hazardous substances it contains are also reprocessed. This is causing a problem, because many new products need materials that are free from hazardous substances. This means that recycling and re-use can be hindered by the presence of certain chemicals. Even a benign substance, which for example has a really bad smell, could in some cases prevent use of the recycled material. Other chemicals are hazardous to humans or the environment. More and more of these are being identified and becoming subject to restrictions or prohibitions.
If, for example, a piece of plastic is needed for a new product, the manufacturer will not want anything that contains substances of concern (SVHCs). These substances may be present in products sold before the restrictions applied, some of which have a long lifetime, and therefore prohibited chemicals can sometimes be found in recycling streams. A lot of old materials contain substances of concern and this may be a barrier to the circular economy.
When waste materials are finally recycled or recovered they cease to become waste and become a new substance (using the EU end-of-waste criteria), meaning if they contained hazardous waste they then become a new hazardous substance.
The beady eyed amongst you will immediately realize that substances of concern are a creation of REACH, and REACH does not apply to waste (which has its own set of regulations). However, REACH does apply to substances recovered from waste once they cease to be waste
REACH necessitates that hazardous substances must comply with a detailed prescribed list of rules and has gradually been tightening up on the chemicals it manages, meaning that some chemicals that were freely available and used in materials ten years ago, are now not permitted to be used in the supply chain. This will be problematic when the now banned substance turns up in a waste stream in a few years time.
At the moment, the REACH rules and the hazardous waste rules can be contradictory, as they come from two different sets of regulations. The European Commission has now grasped the nettle and published a series of planned actions and proposed options to combat the problem of substances of concern in products and waste. These plans include ideas to address the loopholes, overcome barriers to higher recycling rates, and increase communication between chemical, product and waste legislation and its operatives. They explore the four most critical issues identified in the way the legislation on chemicals, products and waste work together and how these are hampering a circular economy development.
The ‘COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the implementation of the circular economy package: options to address the interface between chemical, product and waste legislation’, along with other documents on the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, can be found here:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/index_en.htm
Other News
ECHA publishes new substitution strategy
The European Chemical Agency (ECHA) has published a new substitution strategy with the aim of encouraging the replacement of harmful chemicals by boosting the availability and adoption of safer alternatives and technologies.
Leading on from the previous article, substitution forms part of the overarching EU objectives for a non-toxic environment and a circular economy, with key elements being innovation and sustainable production and consumption.
The strategy details how to promote substitution as a measure towards safer chemicals and products, supporting and complementing the stimuli provided by the EU chemicals legislation comprising REACH, CLP and the Biocidal Products regulations. The progressive substitution of substances of very high concern by suitable alternatives is one of the key aims of REACH authorisation.
The ‘Strategy to promote substitution to safer chemicals through innovation’ highlights networking, capacity building, and improving access to data, funding and technical support as key areas for action.
It can be downloaded from here:
IATA 59th Edition DGR Addendum
IATA has published its first Addendum to the Dangerous Goods Regulations (59th Edition, 2018).
The amendments and corrections include:
- New or amended State Variations;
- New or amended Operator Variations;
- An amendment to TABLE 2.3.A Provisions for Dangerous Goods Carried by Passengers or Crew, concerning portable electronic devices containing lithium metal or lithium ion cells or batteries;
- An amendment to paragraph 2.3.5.9 Portable Electronic Devices (Including Medical Devices) Containing Batteries;
- An amendment to paragraph 2.6.8.2 for documentation for dangerous goods in excepted quantities;
- An amendment to section 4, for Special Provision A75;
- An amendment to section 5, for Packing Instruction 114;
- Amendments to the various labels in section 7;
- An amendment to Note 2 under Table 9.3.A segregation of packages;
- An amendment in section 10 on radioactive material;
- Amended contact details in Appendix D.1.
The Addendum can be downloaded from here:
http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/cargo/dgr/Documents/dgr59-addendum1-en.pdf
Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 (IRR17)
On the 1 January 2018 the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 (IRR17) replaced IRR99.
Depending on the ionising radiation work being carried out, employers may need to apply to HSE to:
- Notify HSE of the work;
- Register the work;
- Get consent for the work
Whether employers notify, register or get consent depends on the level of risk of the work being done. This is known as the ‘graded approach’ as what is applied for depends on the size and likelihood of exposure.
Employers must apply, either:
- Before they start new work
- By 5 February 2018, if they have previously notified HSE of the work
For more information on anything in this Newsletter, please contact us at info@chemregs.co.uk