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RISKCYCLE (#226552)

Proceedings of the 4th RISKCYCLE workshop

(Deliverable 2.1.)

Proceedings of the 4th RISKCYCLE workshop New Delhi 11th – 14th Oct. 2011

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Workshop proceedings

Sustainable Waste Management of

additives in products: A global challenge Report on the 4th workshop of the RISKCYCLE Coordination Action New Delhi, India, 11th – 14th October 2011

Bilitewski, B.; Barceló, D.; Johri, R.; Ginebreda, A.; Darbra, R.M.; Grundmann, V.

“The project RISKCYCLE receives funding from the European Community's

Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement n° FP7–226552”


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Table of Contents 1 RISKCYCLE workshop presentations .................................................. 4

1.1 RISKCYCLE – A new paradigm in waste assessment and management ............. 4

1.2 CiP - The Chemicals in Products project – Activities and outcomes to date ....... 10

1.3 Proposed Master Plan for disposal of used mercury based lamps in India ......... 16

1.4 Fate and global risk of nanomaterials in the environment and recycling

wastes ....................................................................................................................... 22

1.5 Chemical Management in the Leather Industry – A case study from

Europe ....................................................................................................................... 24

1.6 Living in a cleaner environment in India: A strategic analysis and

assessment ............................................................................................................... 29

1.7 Risk assessment of chemical additives, ending up in waste water

treatment plants ......................................................................................................... 31

1.8 South of China e-waste recycling processes - Health Risk assessment of

Lead released, by using 2FUN Tool .......................................................................... 37

1.9 Development of a multi-compartmental pharmacokinetic model for human

health risk assessment. Application for PFOS and PFOA ......................................... 44

1.10 LCA case study Cushion Vinyl Floor Covering and DEHP ............................. 51

1.11 LCA case studies - Textile and printed matter (paper) ................................... 58

2 Contact ................................................................................................. 69


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1 RISKCYCLE workshop presentations

1.1 RISKCYCLE – A new paradigm in waste assessment and management

Bilitewski, B.(1); Grundmann, V. (1) (1) Institute of Waste Management and Contaminated Site Treatment,

Technische Universität Dresden, Germany

1.1.1 Introduction

The global trade of chemicals and products containing chemical additives such as

paint, cosmetics, household cleaners, paper and cardboard, plastic toys, textiles,

electronic appliances, petrol, lubricants etc. has resulted in a substantial release of

harmful substances to the environment with risk to man and nature on a worldwide

scale.

The discussion of the assessment and management of chemicals and products at

the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro led to the creation of the OECD

programme Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of

Chemicals (GHS). The World Summit on Sustainable Development in

Johannesburg 2002 encouraged countries to implement the GHS, adopted by UN

ECOSOC in July 2003, as soon as possible, with a view of having the system

operating by 2008.

1.1.2 Assessment and Management of Additives in Products

In spite of some common efforts to harmonize the safety assessment of chemicals

and products a new problem with recovered material additionally appeared by the

material flow in a circular economy at global scale with its risks for health and the

environment in consequence of the worldwide trade of chemicals and products.

Circular Economy is a concept that is transforming traditional patterns of economic

growth and production. The conventional perception of economic systems is that

they are linear. The linear system is converted to a circular system when the

relationship between resource use and waste residuals is taken into consideration.


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In 1996 the German parliament passed worldwide first the law on Kreislauf-

wirtschaft (Circular Economy) and since then a number of comments demand a

revision of the law. The law on Circular Economy should be changed to a law on

“Material Flow”. But so far this approach seemed to be too complex to follow and

describe every substance and material and their flow throw the economy and the

consuming society.

Therefore the German government was guided by the following points:

• The waste and pollution prevention are the foremost aim of the development

of a circular economy. The prevention could be reached by a change of

technology of production to cleaner production.

• The better reuse and recycling of waste. Better and more recycling friendly

construction of goods are demanded to fulfil higher recycling rates.

• Step by step a new economic pattern of production, reuse and recycling

have to be established. Economic tools like producer responsibility, tax and

fee polices, tax deduction etc. are established.

• Mobilization of the whole society to establish a new pattern of consumption,

reuse, recycling and avoidance of waste.

• Development of legal system to promote circular economy.

Extended producer responsibility, as an example, is fixed in Article 22 of the

German legislation by the following provision:

§ 22 Producer responsibility

(1) In accomplishing the goals of a closed loop economy producer responsibility is

carried by those who produce, process and distribute goods. To fulfil the

requirements associated to this responsibility, product design has to take care of

that waste is avoided in the manufacture and use, and that an environmentally

sound recycling and disposal of the obtained waste is ensured after the use of

this product.


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The main applicable instruments stated in paragraph 2 of the same article can be

summarised as follows:

Ensuring the functionality, long-life and safety of

products

Ensuring repair and the secondary use or utilisation of

products after their original use

Using of secondary materials during production

Take-back and subsequent utilisation or recycling of the

product and the waste arising from it

Extended Producer Responsibility

Avoiding and minimising the generation of

production-specific wastes

Indicating the possibility for return, re-use and

utilisation at the product and set up deposit-refund

schemes

Giving products which contain components with a hazardous potential a clear specification

and marking

Avoiding and utilising components with a hazardous potential

Figure 1: Elements for the realisation of producer responsibility according to the Recycling Management and Waste Act

Subordinate legal documents containing specific regulations for the realisation of

the producer responsibility in Germany are especially found in the

• Ordinance on packaging (VerpackV)

• Ordinance on batteries (BattV)

• Ordinance on end-of-life vehicles and

• Law on used vehicles (AltfahrzeugG)

• Ordinance on electric and electronic goods

On June 12, 1991, the Ordinance on the avoidance and utilisation of packaging

waste in Germany, abbreviated as Packaging Ordinance came into force. The

ordinance obligates the industry and traders of its products to take back or collect

separately the packaging used for the packing, transportation and sale of goods,

and to forward it to recycling and/or reuse. This ordinance set the first example for

the transposition of extended producer responsibility in a legal document.


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An integrated part of the Packaging Ordinance is important to note for the

RISKCYCLE project are stipulations towards the limitation of heavy metal

concentrations (lead, cadmium, mercury and chromium VI) in packaging items. As

the limiting values were fixed:

• 600 ppm after 30 June 1998,

• 250 ppm after 30 June1999 and

• 100 ppm after 30 June 2001.

Although there are good examples on the national level the new threat is coming

from closing the loop in a global scale with products of unknown specification.

Unsafe consumer and industrial products get onto the global market. One is of

compound with estrogenic activity that has been studied extensively as an

intermediate in the production of polycarbonate and epoxy resin is Bisphenol A

(BPA).

Toxic substances present in e-waste among them we can list heavy metals like

lead, mercury and cadmium and persistent organ halogen compounds like

polychlorinated biphenyl’s (PCBs) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs). It is

estimated that up to 80% of e-waste from industrialized countries is exported to

Asian and African developing countries for recycling and exploiting the inexpensive

labour costs and weak enforcement of environmental laws.A deeper analysis of the

successful recycling of paper and cardboard show, as it is done in Europe,

especially graphical paper undergo a recycling process and make their ways into

recovered material with unpredictable and not foreseen health and safety problems.

BPA is introduced into the paper cycle through the recovery of used thermal paper.

BPA is found in the wastewater and detected in the next paper product. Toilet paper

has a high concentration of BPA, which can be found in the wastewater after use.

Printing ink used in newspaper is contaminating the cardboard for packaging and

entering the packed food exceeding the threshold values for Polycyclic Aromatics in

the food by up to more than 10 times [1].

All these examples show that in a circular economy the trade in a global dimension

is not acceptable without a globally agreed risk assessment for existing and newly

developed chemicals and products without using additional test animals.


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Against this background, the overall objective of the introduced coordination action

RISKCYCLE aims to establish and co-ordinate a global network of European and

international experts and stakeholders from different programmes and countries of

the EU, USA, Japan, China, India, Brazil, Vietnam etc. to explore the synergies of

the research carried out within different programmes and countries, and to facilitate

the communication with researchers, institutions and industries and make the

information about the risks of hazardous chemicals and additives in products and

the risk reduction measures for substances widely available. As a result of this we

have to define together future needs of R+D contributions for innovations in the field

of risk-based management of chemicals and products of a circular economy in a

global perspective making use of alternative strategies to animals test. In

addressing how this objective will be achieved it is relevant to consider what

information on present activities in this area are available and what is still unknown.

The specific objectives of RISKCYCLE are:

• To exploit complementary elements needed with regard to the research

objectives, methodologies and data of on-going as well as recently

completed EU and international projects.

• To specify demands for tools for ecological design of consumer products,

production, use and reuse of products and waste recycled to secondary

material and products. Methods such as LCA, risk assessment and risk

reduction strategies, environmental impact analysis, material flow analysis

and economics related tools are considered to achieve socio-eco-efficient

solutions.

• To create a powerful platform enabling discussion among all stakeholders on

usage, risks, chemical properties of consumer products, labelling and the

fate of certain chemicals in products traded, used and recycled in a global

scale, identify problems and solutions.

• To contribute to the UN Globally Harmonized System (GHS) for chemical

substances and mixtures.

• To start with a conceptual development of a global strategy for a risk-based

management of chemicals and additives in recycling and trade products.


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• To identify alternative testing strategies and methods to avoid the

enlargement and the outsource of animal tests to East and Southeast Asia

• To identify knowledge and research gaps for future research activities

• To consider the most effective way of ensuring continuing progress in this

field involving EU and other partners at global scale including also

international organisations.

The RISKCYCLE network closely collaborates with related projects, EU and

international bodies and authorities to communicate and agree on standards and to

avoid duplication and redundant work.

The RISKCYCLE project will influence policy issues at a global scale, not only in

developing countries but also in developed ones and will create awareness and

enhance state of the art on risk-based management of chemicals and products

among stakeholders.

References [1] A.Kersten, U.Hamm, H.-J.Putz, S.Schnabel, Wochenblatt für

Papierfabrikation 1(2011), p.14-21


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1.2 CiP - The Chemicals in Products project – Activities and outcomes to date

Munn, K. (1) (1) United Nations Environment Programme, Chemicals Branch - Division of

Technology, Industry and Economics, Châtelaine, Switzerland

1.2.1 Abstract

The presence of chemicals in manufactured products is ubiquitous. Chemicals are

typically present for performance or appearance of the product containing them,

although some may be left over as impurities or from the manufacturing process.

Most of these chemicals are benign, but some may present risks to human health

and/or the environment. A key to protecting human health and the environment

through informed decisions in chemicals management is thus to share adequate

and relevant information on the chemicals present in manufactured products.

Project activities at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) -

mandated by the governing body of the Strategic Approach to International

Chemicals Management - have since 2009 aimed to advance in addressing this

issue. Recommendations for further cooperative actions have been developed,

which will be considered at the third meeting of the International Conference on

Chemicals Management in 2012.

1.2.2 Activities and outcomes to date

Chemicals are an essential part of our everyday life. They are present in practically

all products manufactured by mankind. A key to protecting human health and the

environment is to share adequate and relevant information on chemicals in

manufactured products throughout the production chain and further down the value

chain and to ensure that the necessary information for safe handling and use,

recycling and disposal of products is available, accessible and transferred to the

relevant stakeholders in a timely and understandable manner throughout the

product life cycle. Sustainable use of resources is important in a world where

consumption is steadily increasing and this can be achieved through an increase in

appropriate and safe recycling of materials from discarded products. In order to do


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so it is important to know what is in the products to be recycled such that they are

handled safely and recycled in an optimum way.

The Overarching Policy Strategy of the Strategic Approach to International

Chemicals Management (SAICM) in its provisions on knowledge and information

state, among other things, the objective of ensuring that information on chemicals

throughout their life cycle, including, where appropriate, chemicals in products, is

available, accessible, user-friendly, adequate and appropriate to the needs of all

stakeholders.

In May 2009, the second session of the International Conference on Chemicals

Management adopted a resolution agreeing to implement a project on chemicals in

products with the overall objective of promoting the implementation of

paragraph 15(b) of the SAICM Overarching Policy Strategy1. The project would

include the development of specific recommendations for further international

cooperative action for consideration at the third session of the Conference in 2012.

The Conference invited UNEP to lead and facilitate the project. The Conference

agreed that the following tasks be undertaken:

• collect and review existing information on information systems pertaining to

chemicals in products including but not limited to regulations, standards and

industry practices;

• assess that information in relation to the needs of all relevant stakeholders

and identify gaps;

• develop specific recommendations for actions to promote implementation of

the SAICM with regard to such information, incorporating identified priorities

and access and delivery mechanisms.

A primary scoping phase of the Chemicals in Products project involved a survey

sent to SAICM focal points and a meeting designed to identify good examples

1 SAICM Overarching Policy Strategy Paragraph 15 (b) “To ensure, for all stakeholders: i. That information on chemicals throughout their life cycle, including, where appropriate, chemicals in products, is available, ac-cessible, user friendly, adequate and appropriate to the needs of all stakeholders. Appropriate types of infor-mation include their effects on human health and the environment, their protective measures and regulation; ii. That such information is disseminated in appropriate languages by making full use of, among other things, the media, hazard communication mechanisms such as the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals and relevant provisions of international agreements;”


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provided through existing information systems, to collect views from SAICM

stakeholders on the focus and priorities for the upcoming assessment of

stakeholder information needs and to determine which priority product sectors

should receive first attention. The product sectors of highest priority were: children's

products/toys, electronics, clothing, construction materials, food packaging and

personal care products from which the former four were selected for more in-depth

examination.

Following the Scoping phase the project undertook analytical activities, including an

overview of existing systems [1] providing a global screening of systems for

information on chemicals in products and describing needs of stakeholders for such

information. The overview report suggested a two-tier approach to information flow

on chemicals in products. The two tiers aim to address a) the challenges of knowing

and transmitting information on what substances are present in the product and b)

the challenge to interpret and evaluate that information to serve differentiated

stakeholders’ needs.

Towards the completion of the case studies a small Sector-expert Consultation for

the Chemicals in Products Project was held in December 2010 convening the

individual institutes and sector-experts in order to:

• share the collective research results of the institutes as the case studies

neared completion;

• exchange experts’ experiences and knowledge from the different sectors on

product chemical information;

• identify critical issues with regard to exchange of information on chemicals in

products, especially on the data provider’s side; and

• discuss possible measures or options that could help overcome obstacles for

providing information.

The Consultation concluded that there is a push by chemicals manufacturers to

provide information on chemicals they supply further down the production chain. At

the other end of the production chain, producers / brand owners are trying to pull

down information on the chemical content in materials and components from actors

higher up in the chain. However, between these two ends in the production chain

there is usually an interruption of information exchange that needs to be overcome.


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Considering this, and the information needs among stakeholders further down the

value chain, the Consultation suggested that the flow of information could be

handled in a two-tier manner with the first tier addressing the need to ensure that

information is provided throughout the production chain and the second tier

addressing the needs further down the value chain by tailoring of information to

stakeholders’ needs, including for consumers and end-of-life treatment actors.

A synthesis report of the principal outcomes of the project overview report [1], the

four sector case studies and the Consultation meeting was prepared to identify

major and common findings including suggestions made for taking the project

forward. The commonalities identified included information needs within all the

studied sectors for decisions by product designers, for actors within the production

chain concerning the chemicals they use, for governments and distributors to

oversee the safe composition/content of products, for consumers for informed

purchasing, for recyclers to be able to properly direct materials back into production

processes and for waste handlers to exercise proper disposal. Certain sectors also

identified specific segments of the life cycle where information needs were

particularly high. Other major common issues included that there were market

leaders in all sectors, legal regulation was a driver to the provision of information

and that significant gaps currently exists in information exchange.

A Workshop of the Chemicals in Products Project was held from 16 to 18 March

2011 to discuss the outcomes of the previous meetings, the four case studies and

the synthesis report. The Workshop included presentations from industry

representatives and other stakeholders on current efforts to increase availability

and access to information on chemicals in products. In addition, the Workshop

served to raise awareness and understanding of the project and its outcomes

among a wider audience of SAICM stakeholders and provided an extended role to

those present to inform other stakeholders about the project. The main goal of the

Workshop was to identify elements to be addressed in the recommendations for

cooperative actions to be presented at the current meeting and thereafter finalized

for consideration by the International Conference on Chemicals Management at its

third session in 2012.


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1.2.3 Draft recommendations of the CiP project

The current status of the CiP project is that draft recommendations are to be

discussed at the Open-ended Working Group on Belgrade, 15-19 November, 2011

before being finalized for consideration at ICCM3 in late-2012. The current

recommendations include the following key elements:

• That a multi-stakeholder process should be established, subject to available

resources, with a mandate to develop a proposal for an international non-

legally binding framework (hereinafter called the Framework) with the overall

goal to facilitate and guide the provision, availability and access to

information on chemicals in products among all stakeholder groups. The

main objective of the Framework would be to facilitate the development,

expansion and implementation of information systems on chemicals in

products throughout the entire life cycle, including by building on experiences

and work undertaken to identify and address the gaps and obstacles faced

by stakeholders to access or provide information on chemicals in products;

• The Framework should identify roles and responsibilities of the major

stakeholder groups while providing for flexible and differentiated approaches

to meet the needs of individual sectors and individual stakeholder groups,

including through flexible and adaptable guidance, both general and sector

specific, on what information could be transferred and how the information

access and exchange can take place by considering best practices and

taking successful experiences, progress and developments into account;

• A multi-stakeholder process could be initiated that would include the

establishment of a Technical Working Group charged with the task to

develop the proposal for the Framework, and to which representatives from

major stakeholder groups from throughout the product life cycle be invited;

• That during the development of the Framework cooperative action be

undertaken to implement pilot projects, taking into account chemical

information needs throughout a product’s entire life cycle and situations in

developing countries, to demonstrate the applicability of the Framework in

one or more product sectors; and


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• When developing the framework the following could be taken into

consideration:

(a) Establishment of principles that determine what information could be provided to

address stakeholders needs for example which chemical substances, types of

information to address etc.

(b) Provision and communication of information between different stakeholders,

including: development of technical requirements for new information exchange

methods including best practices of existing methods, and; strengthening of existing

information exchange methods to broaden the acceptance and implement their use

(c) Encouraging partnerships across all the stakeholders, including public-private

partnerships

(d) Implementing actions to gain buy-in by industry and other stakeholders and ensure

success; one possible activity could be “business cases” highlighting the benefits and

added value of improved flow of information for key players in the value chain

(e) Building on existing and on-going work on cost of inaction, capacity building, and

technical and financial assistance for developing countries and countries with

economies in transition that would assist governments to assess the costs and benefits

related to information systems

(f) Awareness-raising of existing systems, in particular to governments, the informal

economy, small and medium size enterprises and the public, and strengthening

capabilities to implement those systems

(g) Addressing how to define and treat confidential business information

(h) Development of guidance documents and could consider the above-mentioned

issues and focus on, for example:

(i) Best practices including lessons learned and successful systems

(ii) Using standardized languages

(iii) Transfer of knowledge

(iv) Policy guidelines consistent with paragraph 16 of the SAICM Overarching Policy Strategy

(v) Proposals for regulatory tools

References [1] Kogg & Thidell Chemicals in Products - An overview of existing systems for providing

information regarding chemicals in products and of stakeholders needs for such

information http://www.chem.unep.ch/unepsaicm/cip/default.htm


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1.3 Proposed Master Plan for disposal of used mercury based lamps in India

Pandey, S. (1); Hooda, R. K. (1); Mishra, A. (1) (1) Earth Science and Climate Change Division, TERI - The Energy and Resources

Institute, New Delhi, India

1.3.1 Introduction

Energy-efficient fluorescent lamps (FLs) are a popular choice for lighting, with rising

energy costs and concerns about global warming. The lighting industry in India was

valued at INR 79.5 billion in 2010 and has witnessed an annual growth of about

12% per annum in the last four years since 2008. Amongst the various products,

the consumption of CFLs has increased at growth rate as high as 50%, in the year

2006 as compare to 2005. Similarly, the fluorescent tube lights (FTLs) market has

recorded a growth of 10% in 2006.

The release of mercury into the environment, its introduction into the

biogeochemical cycle, and its concentrated propagation along the food chain due to

changes in climate are a worldwide concern. This problem of mercury in the society

is not new, it has long been considered as toxic owing to its mobility, volatility,

persistence and potential for bioaccumulation, and also as a global pollutant due to

a number of environmental incidents related to it (Holmes et al., 2009; Mukherjee et

al., 2004). The release of mercury into the environment due to poorly regulated

disposal methods of mercury-containing products has been noted in India during

past few years only.

The mercury-bearing lamps, towards the end-of-life, pose significant hazard

potential due to the likely release of mercury. As use of fluorescent lamps (FLs),

including Fluorescent Tube Lights (FTLs) and Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs),

is increasing due to its energy efficiency over the conventional incandescent lamps,

the quantity of FLs that have to be treated is also growing. Though, these FLs

release relatively less quantity of mercury when disposed as compared to other

mercury-based products, they remain of major concern due to the large and further

growing number of FLs in service, particularly, in the domestic sector and their

fragile nature.


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Realising the gravity of the problem, the task force constituted for this inferred that

in order to achieve a successful system it was necessary to understand the full

impact of the problem in depth and evolve a Master Plan study to cover collection,

recycling and safe disposal of end of life mercury bearing lamps and associated

electronics. The task force appointed TERI to undertake this Master Plan Study.

1.3.2 Objective of the study

The study aims to develop a master plan for the safe management of end-of-life

mercury containing lamps for the entire country. It encompasses detailed analysis

of the complete system of logistics (collection, transportation and safe disposal of

end-of-life CFLs/FTLs), financing models, institutional mechanisms, policy

framework and public awareness.

1.3.3 Approach and Methodology

TERI adopted the following approach for designing a self-propelling closed-loop

system to generate an effective environmentally sound mercury management in

FLs sector in India. To address the serious issues of end-of-life mercury containing

lamps, TERI undertook this study keeping in mind all the actors in the fluorescent

lamp production-consumption-disposal chain.

• A bottom-up approach with stakeholders consultations at all the stages and

assessing key gaps in creating a self-sustained system in an effective master plan

at National level.

• Analysis of market trends and regional variations based on the secondary data

compilation and establishment of the base line data on production and consumption

patterns.

• Expert assessment of the extent of informal sector involvement in production, trade

and recycling.

• Assessment of basic data gaps, need for a primary survey and selection of study

areas to carry out the questionnaire based collection of data from consumers,

retailers, manufacturers and actors in informal sector.

• Application of appropriate methods to determine the significant positive predictors

that might influence the recycling behaviour of consumers in India.


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• Review of policy options, best practices in developing and developed countries and

evaluations of effective technologies for safe disposal of Hg containing end-of-life

FLs.

• Consultation with various stakeholders (manufacturers, consumers, regulatory

agencies, retailers, informal sectors, NGO’s, academicians, manufacturers, etc.) for

validating the administratively feasible models in India.

• Suggesting a self-propelling closed-loop system to generate an effective

environmentally sound mercury management in FLs sector in India.

1.3.4 Review of literature

The review of international practices has brought out several aspects that are

important for designing a collection and recycling program for mercury bearing

waste lamps:

• In developed economy, the product flow chain involves a range of actors -

manufacturers, distributors, retailers, household and bulk consumers – all or some

of whom could potentially play a role in the return flow of waste lamps to recycling

facilities. In Europe the preferred system for collection and recycling is based in

EPR. The used lamps are either collected by a representative of manufacturer or

municipal waste collection infrastructure is used for the purpose. Thus in Indian

context, a variety of institutional models are possible for a C&R program and an

appropriate model may be selected based on local conditions and preferences,

including stakeholder perceptions and willingness to participate.

• Incentives may be built into the system to enhance the participation of various

actors.

• Other than the few voluntary initiatives, C&R programmes in various countries are

supported by laws specifically mandating recycling of fluorescent lamps. Legislative

back up is therefore preferable for an effective programme.

• The most successful waste lamp recycling efforts employ a variety of approaches.

Countries that offer a variety of recycling opportunities for consumers appear to be

able to collect and recycle the greatest numbers of waste fluorescent lamps.


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1.3.5 Present situation in India

The CFL/FTL manufactures in the country like most other household items passes

through network of distributors and retailers before ending with users (industrial,

commercial or residential). At the end of life, these products are either disposed in

bulk (often sold in auction) or disposed individually along with municipal waste.

Proper and safe collection of these end-of-life products would mean its intact

collection, transportation and recovery of different components including mercury.

Currently, the safe disposal is not practiced in any part of India. In India, at present

a fraction of the generated end of life FLs are being collected by the informal sector

(junk dealers or kabadiwalas), largely from the large scale consumers (industries

and corporate). The lamps are then disassembled by crude methods into useful

components such as glass tubes (glass and phosphor powder), aluminium end

caps, polypropylene caps and electronic ballasts (electronic components which

contain metal).

TERI has conducted an all India primary survey as one of the key component of the

study to collate the baseline information on awareness level, disposal practices and

their key determining factors. Salient insights from the survey are to raise the

awareness among all actors involves, collection cycle needs to be actively designed

as per the volume generated and as per the choice and efficacy of the collection

system. Majority of consumers are not willing for taking the direct responsibility in

funding system, therefore, a decentralised system of collection should work in

Indian conditions. The recovery chain has to be clearly established with incentive-

based roles identified for household consumers, retailers and kabadiwalas, etc.

Based on the primary surveys outcome, it is also revealed that the challenge in

setting up a country-wide collection and recycling mechanism for spent FLs lies in

the highly fragile and dispersed nature of the waste stream. The primary survey

conducted by TERI has brought out that the average replacement rate per

household per year for CFLs and FTLs is about 1.26 and 1.05, respectively. Thus,

the small amount of waste generated by a large number of households needs to be

collected intact to minimize the risks of mercury pollution. Further, the onward

linkages must be assured so that the collected wastes are recycled and residues

adequately disposed of.


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1.3.6 Suggested approach

TERI has proposed an institutional framework with its three sub-systems – the

producer responsibility organization, the producer responsibility fund, and the

system’s integrator. In keeping with the principles of Extended Producer

Responsibility (EPR), the institutional framework allocates financial responsibility to

the producers, and physical responsibility to the range of actors including the

PROs, the collection agents, recyclers, ULBs, central and state agencies, and

finally the consumers. The system integrator works to furnish the information at all

levels to achieve the system transparency. The detailed collection and recycling

mechanism would be as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Proposed collection and recycling mechanism

The cost of implementing the master plan across the country is presented in Table

1 below.

Rural Remote Deployment of Drum Top Crushers

Urban

Rural Developed

Bulk

Households

Weekly markets

Retailers

Kabadiwalas

Mobile Van

RWA

Dedicated Collec-

Local Post Office

Electricity Bill

Malls

Hospitals

CONSUMER COLLECTION AGENTS AGGREGATION

& TRANSPORT

PROs responsibility to decide based on scale & pattern of consumption in an area

Based on bidding can be any exist-ing or new agen-cy

If any, Residues disposal to nearest disposal sites

Recycling

& Recovery

MARKET LINKAGE

PLANT

: Area covered will be responsibility of PRO


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Table 1: Indicative cost estimates for the C&R system

System component Indicative Cost2 @ recycling target (Rs. in 10 million)

Suggested source of funding

Collection rate 35% 45% 60%

Size of the Producer Responsibility Fund (PRF)3

138 138 138 Producers

Collection system (DTC) Capital cost4 42.5 54.6 72.8 PRF O&M per year5 31.0 39.9 53.2 PRF Lamp Recycling Units Capital cost6 64.4 82.8 110.4 PRF/Government O&M per year7 0.8 1.0 1.3 PRF Cost recovery (from glass and metal) 19.2 24.6 32.8 Flow back into the system

1 USD = 47 Rupees

It is suggested that after fine tuning and further elaboration of the proposed

institutional framework, a pilot run of the model may be carried out in one or two

selected cities, and the model may then be rolled out in phases over the rest of the

country.

A comprehensive public awareness campaign is needed to sensitize the range of

actors to their roles and responsibilities. The awareness program should in fact be

started even before undertaking the pilot so that potential recyclers and technology

providers, NGOs, ULBs, private firms, as well as the manufacturers, sellers and

consumers of the FLs are aware of the elements of proposed Master Plan, its

implementation, and the need for safe disposal of spent FLs.

References [1] Holmes, P., James, K.A.F., and Levy, L.S. Is low-level environmental mercury

exposure of concern to human health?, Science of the Total Environment, 408

(2009) 171–182.

[2] Mukherjee, A.B., Zevenhoven, R., Brodersen, J., Hylander, L.D., and

Bhattacharya, P., Mercury in waste in the European Union: sources, disposal

methods and risks, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 42 (2004) 155–182.

2 excluding logistics and incentives 3 At Rs. 4 per CFL and Rs. 2 per FTL sold and total sales 255 million CFLs and 179 million FTL in 2009 4 For DTC at Rs 5 lakh per unit [For example, 1458 bulb eaters estimated for crushing 266 million waste FLs

(CFLs and FTLs) generated (at 60% recycling; 1.26 replacement rate for CFLs and 1.05 for FTLs per household per year, and total 191963035 households as per 2001 census]

5 At Rs. 2 per waste lamp O&M cost provided by manufacturer/ supplier 6 For recycling/ recovery technology plants at Rs. 4.15 crore per plant provided by supplier 7 O&M at Rs. 0.05 per waste lamp provided by manufacturer/ supplier


22

1.4 Fate and global risk of nanomaterials in the environment and recycling wastes

Barceló, D. (1,2); Farre, M. (1); Sanchís, J. (1) (1) IDAEA-CSIC, Department of Environmental Chemistry, Barcelona, Spain

(2) ICRA - Catalan Institute for Water Research, Girona, Spain

Natural sources of nanoparticles (NPs) in the atmosphere include natural event

such as volcanic eruptions, forest fires, hydrothermal vent systems and biological

processes. However, the natural background of NPs in the atmosphere is low in

comparison to those caused by antrhopogenic process like diesel and gasoline

fueled vehicles and stationary combustion sources which for many years have

contributed to the particulate material in the atmosphere in a wide size range,

including NPs. Carbon based nanomaterials (NMs) of different kinds have also

been reported to occur in ordinary hydrocarbon flames and, emitted from common

heat sources. It has been assessed that the amount of incidental NPs in the

atmosphere due to human activity is more than 36% of the total particulate number

concentrations, and the forecast for the next coming years is that there will be a

strong increase due to emissions from nanotechnology industry. Fullerenes have

attracted considerable interest in many fields of research and have found numerous

applications which will be dramatically increased during the following years.

Therefore, it is essential to determine the risk that these materials may pose to

human health and the environmental.

Most of current environmental research on the impact of carbon based NMs have

been directed to elucidate ecotoxicological aspects and only few quantitative

analytical methods for measuring NPs in natural systems are available, which

results in a serious lack of information about their occurrence in the environment.

To date, no information has been reported to assess the presence of carbon based

NMs in the environment.

In this presentation will be presented the development and the application of

different analytical methods for the analysis of fullerenes including C60 and C70

fullerene, N-methylfulleropyrrolidine, C60 pyrrolidine tris-acid ethyl ester, [6,6]-

Phenyl-C61 butyric acid butyl ester and [6,6]-Thienyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester


23

by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry in environmental

samples including wastewater, surface water and aiborne particles.

The results of the analysis 42 effluents from 22 wastewater treatments plants in

Spain, 62 surface samples from the Llobregat River also in Spain, and 40 samples

marine airborne particulate will be also presented and discussed. These results will

be compared with some ecotoxicological data. The problem associated to the

occurrence of nanomaterials in wastestreams will be discusssed and the required

information about nanomaterials disposal and recycling exposed, with specific

examples of the information currently needed.


24

1.5 Chemical Management in the Leather Industry – A case study from Europe

Rydin, S. (1) (1) NORDECONSULT SWEDEN AB, Lund, Sweden

1.5.1 Introduction

The leather industry is a traditional industrial sector. The industry uses both a high

variety and high amount of chemicals during the production of leather from raw

hides and skins. The chemicals used will end up in the product, in the environment

(wastewater, solid waste, air) and in by-products. The presentation describes how a

modern tannery in Sweden is working with the risk management of chemicals in

order to reduce the health and safety risks at the company and also to reduce the

environmental impact of the company and avoiding hazardous chemicals in the

product. The tannery is Elmo Leather Sweden AB. Their production capacity is

2500 hides/day and the tannery produces high quality upholstery leather for mainly

the automotive industry and furniture industry.

Elmo Sweden AB has for many years been active in reducing the environmental

impact from the leather production and is a very good example of what is possible

to do in the leather industry.

Figure 1: Massbalance at Elmo Leather 2009


25

1.5.2 Assessment of new chemicals

Elmo like many other tanneries is using approximately 350 chemicals in their pro-

duction processes. The number of new chemicals that is introduced by the compa-

ny every year varies substantially from year to year. As an average during the last

10 years it could be estimated that approximately 25-30 new chemicals/year have

been introduced in the company (at the same time around the same number of

chemicals have been withdrawn from the company). However, every year between

50-150 new chemicals are assessed and evaluated. There are many reasons for

introducing new chemicals in the production and examples are: improvement of

leather properties, new colours, lower cost, more environmentally friendly or already

existing chemicals are withdrawn from the market (e.g. in connection with the close

down of a chemical supplier).

When the company decides to test and assess new chemicals for the production, a

health and safety assessment will be carried out by the company. The chemical or

chemicals if it is a preparation will be assessed and information about the chemical,

toxicological and environmental properties will be gathered from several databases.

One important tool in the assessment of new chemical substances is the PRIO tool

developed by the Swedish Chemical Agency. PRIO is a web-based tool and pro-

vides a guide for decision-making that can be used in setting risk reduction priori-

ties. The recommendations on which chemicals are prioritised for risk reduction

measures are based Swedish environmental objectives and are also in line with the

objectives in the EU chemicals legislation, REACH.

Furthermore, any new chemical will be assessed with reference to the so called

Candidate list. The candidate list is part of the European Chemical legislation on

Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals REACH (Regu-

lation No 1907/2006). Substances that are included in the Candidate List have been identified as Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) and may have very serious

and often irreversible effects on humans and the environment. The list is continu-

ously updated with new chemicals by the European Commission. Furthermore, all

new chemicals to be introduced by Elmo are also checked according to the chemi-

cals included in article 16 in the EU Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC). New

chemical preparations should not contain any of the listed chemicals. In addition,

information will be checked in other databases.


26

The chemical will also be checked according to requirements from the customers of

the company. In particular, the automotive industry present detailed specifications

on many different chemicals and substrates. The automotive industry has devel-

oped the so called GADSL-document (Global Automotive Substance List).

1.5.3 Substitution/reduction of chemicals

Elmo Sweden AB has during the last years been working with the reduction and/or

substitution of certain chemicals.

As examples of chemicals that had been completely substituted by Elmo Sweden

during the last years are:

• Nonylphenol ethoxylate

• Acrylamide

• Selected azo-dyes

Examples of some chemicals where the use and discharge to the environment have

been substantially reduced during the last years by Elmo Sweden are:

• Nitrogen-containing chemicals

• Phosphorous

• Organic solvents

Detailed information on the substitution and reduction of the use of these chemicals

were given during the presentation.

1.5.4 Reduction of chemicals released to the environment

Elmo Sweden has made substantial work to reduce the emissions from the compa-

ny. The company has implemented a number of innovative techniques to reduce

the environmental impact form the company. A number of measures to reduce the

environmental impact of the discharged water have been taken by the company

and examples were given in the presentation. The company is often referred to and

used as a good example in the EU BAT Reference Document which is produced as

part of the EU Industrial Emissions Directive.

The first priority of Elmo Leather AB is to prevent the pollution at source by using

BAT (Best Available Technologies) or even technologies better than BAT (as de-


27

fined in the BREF-Document for tanneries). However, there will always be an envi-

ronmental impact from tanning of hides and therefore it is necessary to also use

end-of-pipe-solutions to minimise the environmental impact from the industrial activ-

ities.

The tannery Elmo Leather AB in Sweden finalised in 2005 the construction of a new

wastewater treatment plant using an innovative system for nitrogen removal. The

tannery had in the past discharged their wastewater to the municipal treatment

plant. The innovation of the new plant is the implementation of a nitrification and

denitrification step in the treatment of tannery waste water. The technology had not

before been considered feasible in wastewater treatment plants for the leather in-

dustry, due to the composition of the tannery wastewater. Table 1 shows the per-

formance for the wastewater treatment plant for some key parameters.

Incoming 2009-2010 (mg/l)

Outgoing 2009 (mg/l)

Outgoing 2010 (mg/l)

Reduction 2009

Reduction 2010

BOD 4300 5.8 7.7 99.9% 99.8% COD 9000 357 443 96.0% 95.1% Nitrogen 630 23 16 96.3% 97.5% Chromium 7 0.072 0.037 99.0% 99.5% Phosphorous 21 0.28 0.25 98.7% 98.8% Table 1: Environmental performance of wastewater treatment plant

1.5.5 Control of chemicals in the product

Besides monitoring the amount of chemicals released to the environment, the con-

tent of some chemicals in the final products are also measured. Some of the cus-

tomers make requirements on some specific compounds that have to be declared

or not present into the finished leather product. The European automotive industry

has set up a database to record each component used in cars and has established

the Global Automotive Declarable Substance List (GADSL). The list contains 2732

substances in 2011 and the GADSL list is normally updated each year.

There are an increasing number of eco-labels for leather products available on the

market. Elmo has part of their production approved according to ÖKO-TEX 100 (the

production to one major customer which is made without chromium as tanning

agent). This Eco-Label controls a number of substances and has developed limit

values for the chemical substances.


28

1.5.6 Conclusions

The leather industry is using a high number of chemicals in the production and it is

not uncommon that tanneries use 300-400 different chemicals in their production. A

careful and accurate management of chemicals is therefore necessary for the in-

dustry to minimise the health and safety aspects by being a chemically intensive

industry

The chapter has described the chemical management of a modern and well-

developed tannery in Sweden. Elmo Leather AB could be seen as one example of

what is possible to do and therefore act as an example for other tanneries.

The main incentives for the tannery to implement this chemical management are

the environmental policies of the company, environmental legislation and customer

demands. Their main customer is the automotive industry which very often put strict

demands on the use of chemicals by their suppliers.

One barrier for tanneries to get information about the chemicals they are using is

the lack of sufficient information given by chemical suppliers in e.g. safety data

sheets. However, due to the chemical legislation in Europe (REACH), it can be ex-

pected that more information about the chemical composition of different mixtures

will be available in the future.

Another barrier is that tanneries very often are small and medium-sized enterprises

and therefore do not have the resources to carry out an efficient chemical man-

agement at the company nor have the capacity to assess new or existing chemi-

cals. Elmo Sweden has one Environmental Manager who is responsible for the en-

vironmental issues at the company, while in many small tanneries, the responsibility

is taken by the Managing Director or the Head of the Production and these issues

sometimes will have a quite low priority in many tanneries.

However, in the future it can be expected that more tanneries will implement a more

effective management of the chemical use in the tannery. The main drivers for this

development can be predicted to be customer demands and also future legislation.

It is not only the automotive industry that restricts the use of certain chemicals but

also many of the global brands publish their own lists of restricted substances and

update them at regular intervals. In most cases the global brands base their specifi-

cation of limit values for different chemicals on the regulations that already exist.


29

1.6 Living in a cleaner environment in India: A strategic analysis and assessment

Sehgal, M. (1) (1) TERI - The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi, India

This executive summary is the outcome of a research study on water quality in ur-

ban environment carried out by TERI during 2008–11. The study was carried out

with financial support from UNICEF-Delhi. This research study focuses on the pres-

ence of heavy metals in different environmental compartments as a source of con-

cern because of their persistent, toxic and bio-accumulative nature. The findings

are based on extensive primary and secondary research that included literature re-

views, interviews, and field studies of agricultural community in Delhi working along

the Yamuna bank and select villages of Haryana.

The study assesses the extent of heavy metal contamination in Yamuna river water,

agricultural soil, vegetables, and in people living in the adjacent areas. It also exam-

ines select health effects arising from the contamination of surface water and soil,

which arise from the manner in which river system is being currently managed. In

summary, it portrays our preparedness in confronting rapid urbanization.

Based on the evidence gathered in the study, the levels of nickel (Ni), manganese

(Mn), and lead (Pb) in Yamuna river’s water from the Delhi segment were found to

be higher than the commonly used international aquatic water quality criteria.

Levels of Ni, Mn, Pb, and mercury (Hg) were above the permissible international

standards in agricultural soil along the river. While, moderately high levels of con-

tamination were recorded in urban areas, the rural areas showed negligible levels.

High level of these pollutants in the flood plains can be associated with treated and

untreated effluents or with sewage flowing into the river.

Two hotspots for soil contamination were identified - one around Wazirabad and

another at Okhla barrage - as they showed higher levels of analyzed heavy metals.

Industrial activities involving metal alloys, coal, and oil combustion contribute to

these metals into our environment. Wastes from electroplating industries, metal


30

coatings, and pigments for paints also add to the heavy metal concentrations in the

wastewater. The mixing of waste with river initiates the contamination of not just

water but also the flood plains.

Vegetables grown in the flood plain of Yamuna area show higher levels of heavy

metals contamination than those cultivated in rural areas, thus acting as the entry

point for toxic metals into human food chain.

Bio-monitoring of vulnerable population-women and children in the study area- was

undertaken. Significantly higher levels of heavy metals (Hg, Cr, Pb) in urine and

blood samples were measured than rural unexposed participants—a reflection of

the environment each group lives in.

In the Yamuna bank area, 23% of children of the participating children had blood

lead levels above the 10μg/dl level—the limit above which adverse health effects

are noted widely acceptable Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

guideline.

Effective implementation of regulations for waste disposal, regular monitoring of hot

spots and raising awareness about health effects would ensure the new beginning

that is sought by both environmental scientists and public health interest groups.

The research raises the issues involved and asks the disturbing question: Are we

ready to pay the price or face the consequences of poor management of river wa-

ter? It also urges all stakeholders—the government, funding agencies, industry, and

farming community—to work together in a concerted manner to facilitate the pro-

gress towards a cleaner environment and a healthier community.


31

1.7 Risk assessment of chemical additives, ending up in waste water treatment plants

Cabanillas, J.(1); Ginebreda, A.(2); Guillén, D.(2); Martínez, E.(2); Barceló, D.(2,3); Moragas, L.(4); Robusté, J.(4); Darbra, R.M.(1) (1) Dept.Chemical Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona,

Spain

(2) IDAEA-CSIC, Department of Environmental Chemistry, Barcelona, Spain

(3) ICRA - Catalan Institute for Water Research, Girona, Spain (4) Catalan Water Agency, Barcelona, Spain

1.7.1 Introduction

An additive is a substance that improves the final characteristics of a product. Once

the life of this product is finished, these chemicals can be released to the environ-

ment. In this study, additives that can be found in the effluents from waste water

treatment plants (WWTPs) are analysed and their risk for the environment and for

the human health is assessed.

This work is done under the framework of the Regulation 166/2006 [1] concerning

the establishment of a European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (amend-

ing Council Directives 91/689/EEC and 96/61/EC). This regulation aims at estab-

lishing a Community level register of integrated pollutant release and transfer

(known as ‘the European PRTR’ or ‘E-PRTR’). Its application domain affects certain

types of manufacturing and production facilities, among them waste-water treat-

ment plants (WWTPs) with a capacity of more than 100,000 equivalent inhabitants.

Data gathered under the E-PRTR regulation provide a valuable source of infor-

mation regarding the emission of chemical additives to water. The risk of these

substances has been assessed in a concrete scenario located in Catalonia (NE

Spain). The present study covered the 22 WWTP’s affected by the E-PRTR regula-

tion. 41 micropollutants belonging to different families (heavy metals, anions, vola-

tile organochlorine compounds (VOX), semivolatile organochlorine compounds,

volatile aromatic hydrocarbons, policyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, herbicides, endo-


32

crine disruptors, phenols and organotins) were determined on the water effluent.

The sampling and analytical work was done in a collaboration project between the

Catalan Water Agency and the Spanish Research Council (CSIC).

The concentrations were subsequently evaluated by the Polytechnic University of

Catalonia (UPC) using two different risk assessment methods, namely, the

COMMPs procedure developed by the Fraunhofer Institut [2] and a method based

on fuzzy logic. From the results gathered it has been possible:

(a) To characterize and compare the different sites (WWTPs) according to the

associated risk.

(b) To prioritize the compounds studied according to their relative contribution to the

total risk.

(c) To compare the two risk-assessment methods tested

1.7.2 Data recollection

24 h integrated water effluent samples were collected in the 22 WWTP under con-

cern, along the years 2008-2010 (one per year for every WWTP). Samples were

kept below 4ºC until analysis, and analyzed using appropriate referenced analytical

methods.

1.7.3 Risk assessment methodologies

1.7.3.1 COMMPS (Combined Modeling Based and Monitoring Based Priority Setting Procedure)

The COMMPS procedure establishes a ranking of chemical substances according

to a risk priority index. For a particular substance i it is obtained as the product of a

substance’s exposure index I_exp, and its corresponding effect index I_eff (Equa-

tion 1).

i i iI_prio I_exp I_eff= ∗ Equation 1

The exposure index of a chemical substance i, I_expi, is calculated using all their

measured concentration values in every sampling site, whereas in the effect index

I_effi calculation, direct and indirect effects on aquatic organisms are considered

(toxicity and potential bioaccumulation) as well as indirect effects on humans (car-


33

cinogenicity, mutagenicity, adverse effects on reproduction and chronic effects) [2].

Furthermore, a site pollution risk index based on the COMMPS procedure [3] has

been used to evaluate the potential risk associated to every specific sampling site

(WWTP) studied. It is computed on the basis of the different substances present,

according to the following equation (Equation 2):

n

i,j ii=1

j

I_exp I_effI_site =

n

∑ Equation 2

Where I_sitej is the site pollution risk index assigned to site j, I_expij the exposure

index of substance i in sampling site j, and I_effi the effect index (direct and indi-

rect effects) of substance i; n being the number of substances (organic com-

pounds) included in the calculation.

1.7.3.2 Fuzzy logic

Fuzzy logic represents a significant change in both the approach to and the out-

come of environmental evaluations. The key advantage of fuzzy logic methods is

how they reflect the human mind in its remarkable ability to store and to process

information that is consistently imprecise, uncertain, and resistant to classification

[4]. Whereas for the classic logic one fact is true or not true, for the fuzzy logic an

affirmation is not never totally true or false, instead of that it will be true or false with

a certain degree of membership. Fuzzy logic has successfully been used in the en-

viromental field to model non-linear functions, to establish inference systems on top

of the experience of experts and to deal with imprecise data [5].

A methodology based on fuzzy logic has been developed to assess the risk of the

WWTP’s. The experimental data on the concentrations of pollutants have been

used to test the method. The main steps to implement a fuzzy model are:

• Identification of the variables/inputs of the system (e.g. concentration of the pollu-

tant, toxicity, persistence)

• Establishment of fuzzy sets (e.g. high, medium, low) and ranges for each variable

• Establishment of the fuzzy propositions used to connect the inputs of the problem

with the output

• Obtaining a final output: Risk assessment of the WWTP’s


34

As shown in the Figure1, first the inputs or numerical values are transformed into

fuzzy values or numbers (Fuzzification process), then this fuzzy numbers are treat-

ed with fuzzy rules to generate a fuzzy output. Finally, a numerical output is ob-

tained through a defuzzification process.

InputsNumericalvalues

Fuzzification

Linguistic variables or fuzzy sets

Memebershipfunctions

Fuzzy numbers

Fuzzy rules

Fuzzy outputDefuzzificationFinal output

Figure1: A general scheme of a fuzzy inference system [6]

1.7.4 Results and Discusion

The results obtained with the two methodologies show that the fuzzy logic method

provides results more conservative than the COMMPS methodology as it can be

seen in Figure2. This can be explained due to different reasons. First, the fuzzy

model takes into account a parameter that COMMPS does not consider such as the

persistence of the chemical compounds. In second place, the fuzzy model includes

the weights provided by a group of experts inquired in previous works [6]. These

weights showed that toxicity has a very important role in the risk assessment.

Therefore, if this parameter is high, then risk increases very easily. In third place,

fuzzy logic also considers the uncertainty and ambiguity of the environmental data,

avoiding the crisps values and offering a range of overlapping between the different

fuzzy sets. In this case, where only information on three campaigns is available, the

scarcity of data can be amended through the use of these wide ranges that fuzzy

logic offers. In third place, the structure of the model differs a little bit from the one

used by COMMPS. The latter has the direct and indirect effects at the same level,

whereas fuzzy logic structures them in separate levels.


35

Figure 2: Risk assessment of the waste water effluents through COMMPS and fuzzy models.

1.7.5 Conclusions

There exist different risk assessment methodologies for the water pollution, espe-

cially to assess the additives that at the end of the products life end up in the waste

water treatment plants. In this work, the COMMPS method and a new developed

model based in fuzzy logic have been used to assess the risk of effluent waters

from 22 WWTP’s in Catalonia.

Within the framework of the Regulation 166/2006, a ranking of the risk associated

to the 22 WWTP’s has been established and a relative risk based prioritization of

the compounds analyzed achieved. The fuzzy model tends to be more conservative

than the COMMPS methodology. However, the results are in good agreement and

in most of the cases the prioritization is the same.

This information can be considered valuable for management purposes and will be

therefore delivered to the responsible water authority (Catalan Water Agency) in

order to provide them with scientific criteria to take decisions on the potential

sources of risk related to WWTP’s.


36

References

[1] Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of

18 January 2006 concerning the establishment of a European Pollutant Release

and Transfer Register and amending Council Directives 91/689/EEC and 96/61/EC.

[2] CEC 1999. Revised Proposal for a List of Priority Substances in the Context of

the Water Framework Directive (COMMPS Procedure). Fraunhofer-Institut Umwelt-

chemie und Ökotoxicologie. 98/788/3040/DEB/E1

[3] E.Teixidó, M. Terrado, A. Ginebreda, R.Tauler. 2010. Quality Assessment of ri-

ver waters using risk indexes for substances and sites, based on the COMMPS

procedure. J. Environ. Monit., 12, 2120–2127.

[4] Mckone TE, Desphande AW. 2005. Can fuzzy logic bring complex environmen-

tal problems into focus? Environ Sci Technol 39:42-45.

[5] López EM, García M, Schuhmacher M, Domingo JL. 2008. A fuzzy expert sys-

tem for soil characterization. Environ Int 34:950-958.

[6] Betrò, S. 2011. Environmental Risk Assessment of Polybrominated Diphenyl Eh-

ter (PBDE) and Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) in Ebro River Basin. Final Pro-

ject of the Chemical Engineering Degree. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

Acknowledgement - This work has been supported by the Catalan Water Agency

and the Coordination Action (CA) Risk-based management of chemicals in a circu-

lar economy at a global scale (RISKCYCLE) [FP7, Contract Number: 226552].


37

1.8 South of China e-waste recycling processes - Health Risk assessment of Lead released, by using 2FUN Tool

Suciu, N. (1), Trevisan, M. (1), Tanaka, T. (2), Capri, E. (1) (1) Ist. di Chimica Agraria ed Ambientale, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore,

Piacenza, Italy

(2) INERIS, Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques,

Verneuil-en-Halatte, France

1.8.1 Introduction

At present, e-waste has increases rapidly in the world. The developed countries

export E-wastes to Asia by different ways, which inevitably cause severe pollution

of the environment in the victim countries. The unregulated processing of E-waste

usually recovers gold and other valuable metals by applying some simple

techniques such as burning, melting, using acid chemical bath, and so on. These

activities can cause severe pollution by highly toxic heavy metals (such as Pb, Cu,

Ni and Hg) in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and even to the atmosphere. The

main scope of this work was to identify the most important Asiatic countries

recycling the e-waste and to create local scenarios for health risk assessment for

additives present in electronic devices, released during these operations. The

specific objectives were (i) to review the existing data of lead concentrations in

water bodies and the surrounding environment of Guiyu town (Guangdong

Province, China), (ii) to develop scenarios for health risk assessment of general

population in Guiyu town, and (iii) to undertake simulations using a multimedia

model. The outputs of the simulations were then used for sensitivity analysis.

1.8.2 Material and methods

1.8.2.1 Selection of the study area

A literature review was made in order to identify the main Asiatic countries recycling

the e-waste and to select the most representative for this study. A number of 25

articles were found to be of our interest and analysed. The country selected was

China, which seems to import and recycle 80% of e-waste produced in US and


38

important quantities from European countries as well. An important recycling place

in China is the Guiyu town (Fig 1), formed by several villages located in the

Chaozhou region of Guangdong Province, 250km northeast of Hong Kong. This

place has been defined by Greenpace China as the second most polluted place in

the world. The report by the Basel Action Network and Silicon Valley Toxics

Coalition published in 2002, pointed out that, the lead concentration in samples

taken in an E-waste recycling location was 2400 times that prescribed in World

Health Organization (WHO) Drinking Water Guidelines. In December 2001, the

levels at the same site were found to be 190 times the threshold WHO level.

Furthermore, the results of a sediment sample taken under the river showed lead

content 212 times higher than that in the hazardous waste from the Rhine River

bottom in the Netherlands.

Figure1: Map of Guiyu Town

1.8.2.2 Development of the scenario

For the development of the scenario the Guiyu area considered was just where the

e-waste workshops are located, near the main rivers Lianjiang and Nianyang. For

the fact that the two rivers are connected we considered them as one main river.

The weather data of the region, necessary for the development of the scenario ( air

temperature, wind speed, precipitation) were available from literature while the soil

temperature was calculated based on air temperature. The amount of monitoring

data for lead concentration in water and air found in literature was very low,

therefore, maximum and minimum values were selected, based on two main

climatic seasons, and a sinusoidal function was applied using the maximum and

minimum values in order to create the necessary model inputs.


39

The main pathways of human exposure considered in the scenario were inhalation

of contaminated air and ingestion of fish from the river and potato cultivated in the

area and irrigated with the water from the river.

1.8.3 Description of the model

2-FUN tool is new integrated software based on an environmental multimedia

model, physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models, and associated

databases. The tool is a dynamic integrated model and is capable of assessing the

human exposure to chemical substances via multiple exposure pathways and the

potential health risks (Figure 2).

Figure2: Multi - pathways into humans

The multimedia model comprises several environmental modules, i.e., air, fresh

water, soil/ground water, several crops, and animal (cow and milk). It is used to

simulate chemical distribution in the environmental modules, taking into account the

manifold links between them. The PBPK models were developed to simulate the

body burden of toxic chemicals throughout the entire human lifespan, integrating

the evolution of the physiology and anatomy from childhood to advanced aged.

These models are based on a detailed description of the body anatomy and include

a substantial number of tissue compartments to enable detailed analysis of toxic

kinetics for diverse chemicals that induce multiple effects in different target tissues.

The key input parameters used in both models were given in the form of probability

density function (PDF) to allow the exhaustive probabilistic analysis and sensitivity

analysis in terms of simulation outcomes.


40

The complete 2-FUN tool is capable of realistic and detailed lifetime risk

assessments for different population groups (general population, children at

different ages, pregnant women), considering human exposure via multiple

pathways such as drinking water, inhaled air, ingested vegetables, meat, fish, milk,

and etc.

1.8.4 Results and discussion

Figure3 presents lead concentrations in the arterial blood over the simulation

period, with values at mean, 5th and 95th percentiles. Simulations were performed

for five years, setting the initial age of population at 10 years (Fig 3a) and 20 years

(Fig 3b) respectively. This is because many articles reported that young children

spent a long time in e-waste workshops to help their parents. It can be assumed

that the values at 95th percentile represent „pessimistic‟ scenarios in the context of

health risk assessment. It was found that there is a slightly higher lead

concentration in children blood than in the adults blood but in the both cases the

values are below the limit established by the Centre of Disease, Control and

Prevention , 10 µg dL-1. Average ranges between Lead concentrations at 5th and

95th percentile over the simulation period, for children, adults, are 1.6 and 1.8

orders of magnitude, respectively. It indicates that the parametric uncertainties and

variability contained in input parameter contribute significantly to propagation of

such gaps in outputs.

Figure3: Lead concentrations in arterial blood (µg dL-1) over 5 years simulation; (a) initial age 10

years, (b) initial age 20 years


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1.8.4.1 Global sensitivity analysis

A global sensitivity analysis was performed for the lead concentration in the arterial

blood (Fig 4) over the simulation period for each parameter. Parameters considered

for the sensitivity analysis are listed in Table 1. The magnitude of sensitivity is

shown by relative sensitivity index .It was observed that the most influential

parameter is the porosity of the sediment of the river (phi_sed) followed by the

height of the river and the empirical calibration parameter (b) of the rating curve

describing the relation between the Suspended Particulate Matter and the flow rate

of the river. These results indicate as well that the variation of the model output is

highly sensitive to the variations of parameters used in fish compartment. The

higher concentration of lead in fish than in potato (Fig 5) reflects that the variation of

the model output is more sensitive to variations of fish parameters than of potato

parameters.

Figure4: A global sensitivity analysis for lead concentration in arterial blood Table1: The parameters used for the sensitivity and uncertainty analyses for the model outputs

Parameter

Unit PDF

River depth m N(3.0,1.0,0.0)

1st empirical parameter for the rating curve relating sus-pended particulate matter (SPM) and flow rate in river (log(a) )

-

N(-4.19, 0.33)

2nd empirical parameter for the rating curve relating SPM and flow rate in river (b)

- N(0.99, 0.13)


42

Manning's coefficient

m1/3 s-1

unif(0.02,0.07)

Settling velocity of particles (Wc)

m/d

LN2(18.9, 3.0)

Boundary layer thickness above sediment δsed

m unif(0.0,0.03)

Layer thickness below sedi-ment δw

m unif(2.0E-4,7.0E-4)

Critical shear stress for re-suspension

Pa N2(1.71,1.33)

Maximum erosion rate

g m-2 d-1 N2(7.891,1.69)

Partition coefficient of metal at the water-SPM interface

m3/g

N2(-0.69,0.92)

Partition coefficient of metal at the sediment-pore water interface

m3/g

N2(-3.2,4.4)

Porosity of sedi-ment ϕsed

- unif(0.33,0.41)

Elimination rate constant in fish λelimination_fish

d-1 N2(-4.79,1.42)

1st regression coefficient of the relationship log(BCF)=f(log(C_dis_water)) αfish_metal

log(m3/g)

norm(5.2,0.38)

2nd regression coefficient of the relationship log(BCF)=f(log(C_dis_water)) βfish_metal

- norm(-0.85,0.073)

Random error of the regres-sion of the relationship log(BCF)=f(log(C_dis_water)) εfish_metal

- norm(0.0,1.11)

Transfer factor from soil to potato TFsoil,potato

kgdw kgdw-1

N(0.0020,0.91)

Density of dry potato ρdry,potato

kgdw L-1

triang(0.163,0.233,0.195)


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Figure5: Lead concentration in fish and potato (mg kg-1)

1.8.5 Conclusion

The results of this study didn’t show a real health risk for humans due to lead

released during the e-waste recycling operations. However this study demonstrated

the feasibility of the integrated modelling approach to couple an environmental

multimedia and a PBPK models, considering multi-exposure pathways, and thus

the potential applicability of the 2-FUN tool for health risk assessment. The global

sensitivity analysis performed in this study effectively discovered which input

parameters and exposure pathways were the key drivers of a model outputs, i.e.,

concentrations of Lead in the arterial blood of adults and children. This information

allows us to focus on predominant input parameters and exposure pathways, and

then to improve more efficiently the performance of the modelling tool for the risk

assessment.

References BAN and SVTC – The Basel Action Network and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition

(2002) Exporting harm: the high-tech trashing of Asia. February 25, 2002, Seattle

WA, USA. www.ban.org

Tanaka T, Capri E, Ciffroy P (2011) Probabilistic and full-chain risk assessment of

the chemicals accumulation on human body using an integrated modelling tool. La

Goliardica Pavese, Pavia, Italy.


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1.9 Development of a multi-compartmental pharmacokinetic model for human health risk assessment. Application for PFOS and PFOA

Schuhmacher, M. (1); , Fàbrega, F.(1); Nadal, M.(2); Domingo, J.L.(2) (1)Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Departament d'Enginyeria Quimica,

Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain

(2) Laboratory of Toxicology and Environmental Health, School of Medicine, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Spain

1.9.1 Introduction

The main aim of Rickcycle Project is to establish risk-based assessment

methodologies for chemicals and products that will help reduce animal testing

and minimize risks for health and the environment. Riskcycle will focus on

persistent additives used in different kinds of industries. Among these

compounds, PFOS (perfluorooctane

the seventh framework programme€¦ · 1.9 development of a multi-compartmental pharmacokinetic...

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