Chapter 8: Waste
Responsibility for waste: in the loop
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Among Norway's variations on the theme is a professional body that actually calls itself "LOOP", representing a number of specialist companies operating under special trade agreements with the government to promote eco-friendly collection, disposal and recycling of the various categories of waste. All are organized as membership organizations for manu-facturers and importers in their respective fields.
These bodies are known as producer responsibility organizations (PROs). Strictly speaking, the principle under which they operate is "extended producer responsibility" - the principle that companies are obliged to ensure that any products and/or packaging in their field are taken back and recycled, re-used or utilized for energy production, the costs of the system being incorporated in the price of the product. A number of fully commercial companies are also involved in the rapidly expanding recycling industry.
The WEEE phenomenon
Thanks in large part to the PROs and their commercial partners, the volume of waste that is recycled has risen - and the proportion going to landfill has declined - dramatically in recent years. In this context, the take-back and recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is one of the great success stories. This category includes a wide variety of products and appliances, ranging from vacuum cleaners, cookers, televisions, computers and photocopiers to mobile phones, fluorescent lamps, cables and flexes. Most equipment of this kind contains hazardous substances in varying amounts.
According to the regulations, WEEE may be delivered free of charge to municipal waste treatment facilities or to distributors who sell similar products. Distributors are required to take back WEEE and to inform consumers that they do so. The costs of waste collection and treatment are covered by the importers and manufacturers of these products.
Proper management of WEEE is a prime example of producer responsibility, shouldered in this case by the businesses that manufacture electrical and electronic equipment or import it to Norway. The producers have set up take-back companies to manage WEEE in accordance with the regulations. In addition, an agreement has been concluded between the producers and the Ministry of the Environment under which the producers undertake to ensure that at least 80 per cent of WEEE is collected and to take steps to reduce the problems associated with WEEE.
Two take-back companies, Renas AS and Elretur AS, were set up to deal with non-consumer WEEE and with electronic equipment and household appliances, respectively. Other take-back companies have been established independently of the agreement with the authorities.
In 2002, the EU adopted a new WEEE Directive. Chapter 1 of Norway's Waste Regulations incorporates its provisions. The revised regulation entered into force 1 July 2006. From 1 July 2007, take-back companies are required to have approval from the Norwegian Climate and Pollution Agency based on a certification scheme described in an appendix to Chapter 1 of the Waste Regulations. Every importer and producer of EEE is required to be a member of an approved take-back company. Since 1999 when the take-back system started, the collection rate of WEEE in Norway has risen steadily, to the point where such collections are far exceeding EU targets.
After collection, waste equipment is dismantled manually at special facilities. Components that contain hazardous substances are treated as hazardous waste, but as much as possible is recovered. In all, 85 per cent or more of the WEEE collected is re-used, recycled or processed for energy recovery. The rest is landfilled or incinerated without energy recovery.
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Targets and policy
Producer responsibility - for packaging, cars, tyres, batteries, lubricant oil and PCB windows as well as waste electrical and electronic equipment - is seen as one of the most important aspects of Norwegian waste policy, together with tax on final disposal of waste (landfilling and incineration), regulation of landfilling and incineration according to EU legislation, and municipal responsibility for household waste. Another powerful weapon in the armoury is the Pollution Control Act, under which central government sets the general framework for waste management regulation, leaving local authorities and industry with a relatively free hand to design local collection and treatment solutions.
Each local authority is required to draw up and re-evaluate regularly a waste management plan. The plan must include "a review of sources of waste, quantities of waste, measures to limit the quantity of waste and measures for sorting, collecting, recycling and final treatment of waste", plus estimates of income and expenditure.
Waste categories, or "fractions", are most broadly defined as industrial waste, household waste or hazardous waste. Norwegians now generate about 11 million tonnes of waste per year, an increase of roughly a third since 1995. Household waste has shown the sharpest rise: over 70 per cent.
Not quite three-quarters of the industrial and household waste that can be traced is utilized; of this, two thirds goes to recycling and a third is delivered for final treatment as landfill or incineration without energy recovery. In principle, all hazardous waste should undergo approved treatment, and the total volume of hazardous waste generated should be no higher in 2020 than in 2005.
Rising and falling
The volume of waste recycled has now risen so much that the amount of waste used as landfill or incinerated is declining despite the rise in the total amount of household waste generated. Additionally, waste volumes from industry have fallen over the last few years, largely as a result of improved production processes and waste-minimizing technology.
Economic growth has clearly been a driving force behind escalating waste volumes. Larger homes, higher housing standards, frequent decoration and reconstruction, and increased spending on furniture and household appliances are typical examples of how affluence generates waste. Our lifestyle also dictates how much waste we produce: a hectic schedule makes disposable products attractive, and buying new products can be more appealing than repair.
Companies in the "loop" see waste as a resource, containing materials and energy that can be profitably recovered in the recycling process. Materials are used to produce new goods, while energy is saved by not using virgin materials: aluminium recycling is a good example of this process. Organic waste can be used for energy recovery or as compost. If the waste is not landfilled, but used to replace fossil fuels, greenhouse gas emissions are further reduced.
In July 2009, the government put into play a rather different approach: a near-total ban on the dumping of biodegradable waste. The measure far exceeded a requirement in the EU landfill directive for a 65 per cent reduction from 1995 volumes by 2016. An additional 900,000 tonnes of waste annually would be diverted to recycling or energy recovery facilities, and methane emissions could be cut by two-thirds by 2040, according to government calculations.
Waste and waste treatment , of course, associated with a number of environmental problems, from emissions of greenhouse gases to contamination by heavy metals and hazardous chemicals. Greater awareness of waste problems and public involvement in the waste debate can be important factors in controlling growth trends. Local interest can create political pressure that results in environmentally sound solutions and greater awareness of waste and environmental issues. Business and industry are showing a growing interest in using the environmental integrity of their products in their marketing strategies. Every little bit helps in the effort to reduce waste generation and the use of hazardous substances in products.
Toxic fractions
Hazardous waste - containing toxic, inflammable, corrosive or other harmful substances - clearly represents a more immediate danger to health and the environment than other fractions.
Such eco-toxins, as they are also known, may spread via seepage of contaminated water from landfills, or in the flue gases, ash or slag produced in the incineration process. Hazardous waste in sewage systems may cause increased pollution of the sea and seabed. Old industrial sites, abandoned mines and old landfills containing hazardous waste hold large amounts of hazardous chemicals that over the years have been dumped or have entered the environment as a result of leakages and accidents. Old industrial sites are often polluted, and there are polluted sediments in fjords, harbours and rivers. In some cases, the pollution may be a clear health hazard or cause irreversible environmental damage.
As we learn more about the dangerous properties of many chemicals, more hazardous chemicals that were once disposed of by landfill are now collected and treated properly. The systems for collecting and disposing of EE waste are just one example: not so long ago, remember, entire TV sets were simply dumped as household waste without removing the hazardous components. With more knowledge has come an increase in the volumes of other types of waste that are now classified as hazardous waste: for example, it is now known that old double-glazed windows and some older types of light fittings contain high levels of PCBs, and these are now subject to the appropriate regulations.
Norway has the capacity to treat most of its own waste, although there are a few types of hazardous waste which require specially adapted technology that is not available here, and which must therefore be exported. Norway's policy is that such waste should preferably be exported to neighbouring countries rather than further afield. Exports of other types of waste are generally destined for recovery abroad: industrial companies are often interested in buying waste across national borders.
Waste imports and exports open up a wider range of options for disposal and for utilizing the resources in waste. On the other hand, this solution requires more transport and uses more energy, while the manufacture of new products using waste materials can itself generate a residue of waste and with it a new risk of pollution.
Transport of waste across national borders is influenced by market conditions, e.g. differing taxation systems and cost levels. Specialist markets have developed in which a few companies compete for one type of waste from many different countries: Norway, for example, has several plants that recycle and reuse metal remnants from slag and ash.
Norsas (the Norwegian Resource Centre for Waste Management and Recycling) was established in 1988 with the principal aim of setting up a national network for the reception, collection and treatment of hazardous waste. Since 1994 the company has developed into a national resource centre for waste management, offering services in the areas of consultancy, information and training.
The company operates a national registration system for the flow of hazardous waste; a national register for all waste operators who collect, transport, store, sort, recycle, treat and carry out the final disposal of waste, and a national tax refund system for waste oil. One main task is to help companies reduce their waste to landfill, and promote recycling of hazardous, organic, construction and demolition waste.
Hazardous chemicals
Needless to say, man-made chemicals figure prominently in the hazardous waste category. But the problems associated with these substances do not end there. Although Norway has imposed tough legislation on many widely used hazardous chemicals, new compounds are constantly being developed and new applications discovered. Even as one class of hazardous chemical is brought under control, new pollution and safety concerns arise elsewhere.
Chemicals can increase mortality, inhibit growth or disrupt reproductive processes in plants, animals and micro-organisms. Many hazardous substances are persistent, meaning that they break down very slowly in the environment. Often they enter food chains, becoming more concentrated as they are transferred up each chain from one species to another.
Even before their effects are detected, some pollutants may reach levels of environmental concentrations that make it difficult to repair the damage. Nor does the damage stop here: in mammals, for example, hazardous chemicals are transferred from mother to offspring through the placenta, or to infants through the mother's milk. Successive generations may suffer if chemicals damage the genetic material in the gametes, sperm and egg cells. Hazardous chemicals enter our bodies via the air we breathe, through food and drinking water, or by direct contact with the skin. Chemicals are implicated in a range of problems from acute poisoning or burns to chronic ill health, cancer, foetal damage and reduced fertility.
Types of injury
The impact of chemicals on the environment and public health can be acute or accumulative and chronic, short- or long-term. Acute effects are generally recognized quickly, while long-term consequences can be much more difficult to detect.
Acute effects are also easier to quantify, as injury appears immediately after exposure. About 2500-3000 cases of acute poisoning are known to be caused by chemicals in Norway each year. Ordinary consumers are most likely to be poisoned or suffer chemical burns from household chemicals and pesticides.
In general, people are more likely to be gradually affected by small doses of chemicals than to suffer acute injury. It is seldom easy to prove the connection between exposure and effects when the latter may take years to appear. In fact, everyone is exposed to a number of different substances, and we know far too little about their combined effects. Heredity and lifestyle are additional complicating factors.
The increasing use of chemicals is closely related to production and consumption patterns: in other words, to lifestyles and spending patterns. We are surrounded by chemical products both at work and in our leisure hours.
A constant stream
Although releases and concentrations in the environment of many of the most dangerous chemicals have been considerably reduced since the mid-1980s - mainly through cuts in industrial emissions - the constant stream of new chemical substances and products has continued. There are now thousands of substances in tens of thousands of products in use in Norway.
New sources of pollution have been identified as hazardous chemicals are introduced into new areas of use, and some products have become important sources of pollution. Brominated flame retardants and perfluoro-octane sulphonate (PFOS) are among the "newer" substances causing concern.
A Product Register collects information on all hazardous chemical products, which are required to carry warning labels. Well over 20 million tonnes of chemicals are registered on the market. However, many of these are substances that ordinary consumers never come into direct contact with.
Of course, chemicals have been entering the environment for generations. We continue to face problems resulting from activities that took place many years ago in the form of seepage from dumps and landfills, polluted soil, and polluted sediments in rivers and fjords. One example of such inherited pollution is runoff and tailings from old mines. Here, as in many other cases, pollution was caused by operations or waste disposal methods that would not be considered acceptable today.
Creeping diffusion
There used to be little doubt that "point sources" such as factories and mines were the worst polluters: serious damage was often all too obvious in the immediate vicinity and beyond. Legislation and technological development have greatly reduced emissions from such point sources since the mid-1980s. In the meantime, however, "diffuse sources" of pollution have become more important. These sources include pollution from contaminated soils and sediments, landfills, sewage treatment plants - and, increasingly, products that contain harmful chemicals. Long-range transport from other European countries is an important source of several heavy metals deposited in the Norwegian environment - although such depositions, particularly of lead, have decreased over the past two decades.
On the other hand, growing numbers of new persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are now being carried to Norway by ocean currents and winds, along with their usual load of PCBs, DDT, mercury and cadmium.
Regulations controlling chemicals and their use are covered by the Pollution Control Act, under which industrial enterprises are licensed: activities that may cause pollution must have special permission. In addition, the Product Control Act provides legal authority to regulate specific substances or preparations.
Precautionary principle
The precautionary principle applies to government policy on chemicals, as to many other aspects of environmental legislation. This means that the authorities can introduce regulations or restrictions to deal with particular situations or substances if there is a strong suspicion that they might be hazardous, even if this has not yet been scientifically "proven".
A "priority list" of hazardous chemicals, and targets for substantially reducing or eliminating their use, is a valuable tool. An additional "observation list" contains examples of chemicals that are thought to represent special problems in Norway: if a chemical is included on the list, this is a signal to business and industry to consider whether its use is really necessary.
The authorities monitor trends in the use of chemicals on the observation list; if their use is not reduced over the long term, further measures may be required.
In order to promote the use of safer chemicals, legislation in force since 2000 requires that wherever possible, dangerous chemicals must be replaced with less dangerous substances: the "substitution principle". Another important aim is to ensure that releases of chemicals are kept as low as possible at all stages of a product's life cycle, from the raw materials used in manufacturing until the product is thrown away and ends as waste.
This approach, known as integrated product policy (IPP), requires the active support of the industrial and commercial sector. The policy, which is applicable to all types of potentially polluting products, has been a major topic of discussion in international organizations such as the EU and OECD. In Norway, it was identified as a target (in a White Paper) as early as 1997.
A wide variety of instruments can be incorporated as elements of IPP. Some may be based on voluntary action by manufacturers or consumers, others on tax penalties and incentives, new legislation, etc.
European regulation
As one of the EFTA countries that have signed the EFTA/EU Agreement on the European Economic Area (the EEA Agreement), Norway is generally obliged to regulate the use of chemicals in the same way as the EU countries. When the legislation has been approved by the EU, Norway implements it by drawing up its own national regulations, which must be in accordance with the EU rules.
Norway participates in the EU working groups that are involved in drawing up this legislation, and is therefore represented at the technical meetings where much of the work of drawing up important legislation takes place. Such meetings are also important in respect of clarifying questions on how to interpret current regulations.
In certain fields such as the development of test methods, global harmonization of the classification and labelling of dangerous chemicals, and routines for reporting environmental data and making them available, the work being done within the OECD is also of fundamental importance.
Of the numerous international agreements regulating the use and forbidding releases of dangerous chemicals, the most important are the North Sea Declarations, the Oslo-Paris Convention (OSPAR), the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Convention, the ECE protocols and the global Convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
REACH, an ambitious European regulation on chemicals and their safe use, entered into force on 1 June 2007. It deals with the "registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemical substances", requiring manufacturers and importers to gather information on the properties of their chemical substances, which will allow their safe handling, and to register the information in a central database run by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki.
Producer responsibility - for packaging, cars, tyres, batteries, lubricant oil and PCB windows as well as waste electrical and electronic equipment - is seen as one of the most important aspects of Norwegian waste policy, together with tax on final disposal of waste (landfilling and incineration), regulation of landfilling and incineration according to EU legislation, and municipal responsibility for household waste. Another powerful weapon in the armoury is the Pollution Control Act, under which central government sets the general framework for waste management regulation, leaving local authorities and industry with a relatively free hand to design local collection and treatment solutions.
Each local authority is required to draw up and re-evaluate regularly a waste management plan. The plan must include "a review of sources of waste, quantities of waste, measures to limit the quantity of waste and measures for sorting, collecting, recycling and final treatment of waste", plus estimates of income and expenditure.
Waste categories, or "fractions", are most broadly defined as industrial waste, household waste or hazardous waste. Norwegians now generate about 11 million tonnes of waste per year, an increase of roughly a third since 1995. Household waste has shown the sharpest rise: over 70 per cent.
Not quite three-quarters of the industrial and household waste that can be traced is utilized; of this, two thirds goes to recycling and a third is delivered for final treatment as landfill or incineration without energy recovery. In principle, all hazardous waste should undergo approved treatment, and the total volume of hazardous waste generated should be no higher in 2020 than in 2005.
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The volume of waste recycled has now risen so much that the amount of waste used as landfill or incinerated is declining despite the rise in the total amount of household waste generated. Additionally, waste volumes from industry have fallen over the last few years, largely as a result of improved production processes and waste-minimizing technology.
Economic growth has clearly been a driving force behind escalating waste volumes. Larger homes, higher housing standards, frequent decoration and reconstruction, and increased spending on furniture and household appliances are typical examples of how affluence generates waste. Our lifestyle also dictates how much waste we produce: a hectic schedule makes disposable products attractive, and buying new products can be more appealing than repair.
Companies in the "loop" see waste as a resource, containing materials and energy that can be profitably recovered in the recycling process. Materials are used to produce new goods, while energy is saved by not using virgin materials: aluminium recycling is a good example of this process. Organic waste can be used for energy recovery or as compost. If the waste is not landfilled, but used to replace fossil fuels, greenhouse gas emissions are further reduced.
In July 2009, the government put into play a rather different approach: a near-total ban on the dumping of biodegradable waste. The measure far exceeded a requirement in the EU landfill directive for a 65 per cent reduction from 1995 volumes by 2016. An additional 900,000 tonnes of waste annually would be diverted to recycling or energy recovery facilities, and methane emissions could be cut by two-thirds by 2040, according to government calculations.
Waste and waste treatment , of course, associated with a number of environmental problems, from emissions of greenhouse gases to contamination by heavy metals and hazardous chemicals. Greater awareness of waste problems and public involvement in the waste debate can be important factors in controlling growth trends. Local interest can create political pressure that results in environmentally sound solutions and greater awareness of waste and environmental issues. Business and industry are showing a growing interest in using the environmental integrity of their products in their marketing strategies. Every little bit helps in the effort to reduce waste generation and the use of hazardous substances in products.
Toxic fractions
Hazardous waste - containing toxic, inflammable, corrosive or other harmful substances - clearly represents a more immediate danger to health and the environment than other fractions.
Such eco-toxins, as they are also known, may spread via seepage of contaminated water from landfills, or in the flue gases, ash or slag produced in the incineration process. Hazardous waste in sewage systems may cause increased pollution of the sea and seabed. Old industrial sites, abandoned mines and old landfills containing hazardous waste hold large amounts of hazardous chemicals that over the years have been dumped or have entered the environment as a result of leakages and accidents. Old industrial sites are often polluted, and there are polluted sediments in fjords, harbours and rivers. In some cases, the pollution may be a clear health hazard or cause irreversible environmental damage.
 | ||
Norway has the capacity to treat most of its own waste, although there are a few types of hazardous waste which require specially adapted technology that is not available here, and which must therefore be exported. Norway's policy is that such waste should preferably be exported to neighbouring countries rather than further afield. Exports of other types of waste are generally destined for recovery abroad: industrial companies are often interested in buying waste across national borders.
Waste imports and exports open up a wider range of options for disposal and for utilizing the resources in waste. On the other hand, this solution requires more transport and uses more energy, while the manufacture of new products using waste materials can itself generate a residue of waste and with it a new risk of pollution.
Transport of waste across national borders is influenced by market conditions, e.g. differing taxation systems and cost levels. Specialist markets have developed in which a few companies compete for one type of waste from many different countries: Norway, for example, has several plants that recycle and reuse metal remnants from slag and ash.
Norsas (the Norwegian Resource Centre for Waste Management and Recycling) was established in 1988 with the principal aim of setting up a national network for the reception, collection and treatment of hazardous waste. Since 1994 the company has developed into a national resource centre for waste management, offering services in the areas of consultancy, information and training.
The company operates a national registration system for the flow of hazardous waste; a national register for all waste operators who collect, transport, store, sort, recycle, treat and carry out the final disposal of waste, and a national tax refund system for waste oil. One main task is to help companies reduce their waste to landfill, and promote recycling of hazardous, organic, construction and demolition waste.
Hazardous chemicals
Needless to say, man-made chemicals figure prominently in the hazardous waste category. But the problems associated with these substances do not end there. Although Norway has imposed tough legislation on many widely used hazardous chemicals, new compounds are constantly being developed and new applications discovered. Even as one class of hazardous chemical is brought under control, new pollution and safety concerns arise elsewhere.
Chemicals can increase mortality, inhibit growth or disrupt reproductive processes in plants, animals and micro-organisms. Many hazardous substances are persistent, meaning that they break down very slowly in the environment. Often they enter food chains, becoming more concentrated as they are transferred up each chain from one species to another.
Even before their effects are detected, some pollutants may reach levels of environmental concentrations that make it difficult to repair the damage. Nor does the damage stop here: in mammals, for example, hazardous chemicals are transferred from mother to offspring through the placenta, or to infants through the mother's milk. Successive generations may suffer if chemicals damage the genetic material in the gametes, sperm and egg cells. Hazardous chemicals enter our bodies via the air we breathe, through food and drinking water, or by direct contact with the skin. Chemicals are implicated in a range of problems from acute poisoning or burns to chronic ill health, cancer, foetal damage and reduced fertility.
Types of injury
The impact of chemicals on the environment and public health can be acute or accumulative and chronic, short- or long-term. Acute effects are generally recognized quickly, while long-term consequences can be much more difficult to detect.
Acute effects are also easier to quantify, as injury appears immediately after exposure. About 2500-3000 cases of acute poisoning are known to be caused by chemicals in Norway each year. Ordinary consumers are most likely to be poisoned or suffer chemical burns from household chemicals and pesticides.
In general, people are more likely to be gradually affected by small doses of chemicals than to suffer acute injury. It is seldom easy to prove the connection between exposure and effects when the latter may take years to appear. In fact, everyone is exposed to a number of different substances, and we know far too little about their combined effects. Heredity and lifestyle are additional complicating factors.
The increasing use of chemicals is closely related to production and consumption patterns: in other words, to lifestyles and spending patterns. We are surrounded by chemical products both at work and in our leisure hours.
A constant stream
 | ||
New sources of pollution have been identified as hazardous chemicals are introduced into new areas of use, and some products have become important sources of pollution. Brominated flame retardants and perfluoro-octane sulphonate (PFOS) are among the "newer" substances causing concern.
A Product Register collects information on all hazardous chemical products, which are required to carry warning labels. Well over 20 million tonnes of chemicals are registered on the market. However, many of these are substances that ordinary consumers never come into direct contact with.
Of course, chemicals have been entering the environment for generations. We continue to face problems resulting from activities that took place many years ago in the form of seepage from dumps and landfills, polluted soil, and polluted sediments in rivers and fjords. One example of such inherited pollution is runoff and tailings from old mines. Here, as in many other cases, pollution was caused by operations or waste disposal methods that would not be considered acceptable today.
Creeping diffusion
There used to be little doubt that "point sources" such as factories and mines were the worst polluters: serious damage was often all too obvious in the immediate vicinity and beyond. Legislation and technological development have greatly reduced emissions from such point sources since the mid-1980s. In the meantime, however, "diffuse sources" of pollution have become more important. These sources include pollution from contaminated soils and sediments, landfills, sewage treatment plants - and, increasingly, products that contain harmful chemicals. Long-range transport from other European countries is an important source of several heavy metals deposited in the Norwegian environment - although such depositions, particularly of lead, have decreased over the past two decades.
On the other hand, growing numbers of new persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are now being carried to Norway by ocean currents and winds, along with their usual load of PCBs, DDT, mercury and cadmium.
Regulations controlling chemicals and their use are covered by the Pollution Control Act, under which industrial enterprises are licensed: activities that may cause pollution must have special permission. In addition, the Product Control Act provides legal authority to regulate specific substances or preparations.
Precautionary principle
The precautionary principle applies to government policy on chemicals, as to many other aspects of environmental legislation. This means that the authorities can introduce regulations or restrictions to deal with particular situations or substances if there is a strong suspicion that they might be hazardous, even if this has not yet been scientifically "proven".
A "priority list" of hazardous chemicals, and targets for substantially reducing or eliminating their use, is a valuable tool. An additional "observation list" contains examples of chemicals that are thought to represent special problems in Norway: if a chemical is included on the list, this is a signal to business and industry to consider whether its use is really necessary.
The authorities monitor trends in the use of chemicals on the observation list; if their use is not reduced over the long term, further measures may be required.
In order to promote the use of safer chemicals, legislation in force since 2000 requires that wherever possible, dangerous chemicals must be replaced with less dangerous substances: the "substitution principle". Another important aim is to ensure that releases of chemicals are kept as low as possible at all stages of a product's life cycle, from the raw materials used in manufacturing until the product is thrown away and ends as waste.
 | ||
A wide variety of instruments can be incorporated as elements of IPP. Some may be based on voluntary action by manufacturers or consumers, others on tax penalties and incentives, new legislation, etc.
European regulation
As one of the EFTA countries that have signed the EFTA/EU Agreement on the European Economic Area (the EEA Agreement), Norway is generally obliged to regulate the use of chemicals in the same way as the EU countries. When the legislation has been approved by the EU, Norway implements it by drawing up its own national regulations, which must be in accordance with the EU rules.
Norway participates in the EU working groups that are involved in drawing up this legislation, and is therefore represented at the technical meetings where much of the work of drawing up important legislation takes place. Such meetings are also important in respect of clarifying questions on how to interpret current regulations.
In certain fields such as the development of test methods, global harmonization of the classification and labelling of dangerous chemicals, and routines for reporting environmental data and making them available, the work being done within the OECD is also of fundamental importance.
Of the numerous international agreements regulating the use and forbidding releases of dangerous chemicals, the most important are the North Sea Declarations, the Oslo-Paris Convention (OSPAR), the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Convention, the ECE protocols and the global Convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
REACH, an ambitious European regulation on chemicals and their safe use, entered into force on 1 June 2007. It deals with the "registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemical substances", requiring manufacturers and importers to gather information on the properties of their chemical substances, which will allow their safe handling, and to register the information in a central database run by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki.