Riskcycle – A new Challenge in The worldwide Trade of Recyclables and

Recycled Products

Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Dr. h. c. Bernd Bilitewski

Mauritius, 2011

Fakultät Forst-, Geo- und Hydrowissenschaften, Fachrichtung Wasserwesen,

Institut für Abfallwirtschaft und Altlasten, Lehrstuhl für Abfallwirtschaft

Introduction to the Project

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RISKCYCLE

A global network of information about the risk of chemicals and additives in products

Coordination Action, but not a Research Project!

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Content

What is a Coordination Action?Issue of the projectObjectivesWhy is the project necessary?Relevant key pieces of information How to gain the information?Involved parties

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Philosophy of a COORDINATION ACTION

1 Define future needs of R & D contributions:innovations in the field of risk-based management of chemicals and products in a global perspective using alternative testing strategies

2 Compile information on present activities:making information in this area widely available

3 Ensure sustainable development of industrial society at global scale:encouraging international bodies to strength their activities in this field

4 Improve the competitiveness of the European industry at global scale

5 Encourage and list all relevant involved groups:industry, research and legislation facilitate co-operation, communication and networking in this field

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Issue of RISKCYCLE

Focus on the fate and behaviour of additives in six sectors:

TextileElectronics

PlasticsLeather

Paper andLubricants

Focus on the trade of chemicals and products containing chemical additives

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Objectives:

1 Establish a global network of key elements:to be considered for the safety and risk assessment information about the risks of hazardous additives in chemicals and products

2 Specify demands for tools for ecological design of products:production, use of products and wastes generatedmethods: LCA, risk analysis, environmental impact analysis, mass flow balance analysis, economic related tools

3 Collect data on usage, risks, chemical propertieslabeling, fate of certain chemicals in products

4 Contribute to the UN Globally harmonized system (GHS)for chemical substances and mixtures

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Objectives:

5 Develop a global strategy for a risk-based managementof additives in trade products

6 Identify alternative testing methodsto avoid the enlargement of animal testing

7 Identify knowledge and research gaps for future research activities

8 Consider the most effective way of ensuring continuing progressin this fieldinvolving EU and other partners at global scale, also international organizations

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Why is it necessary?

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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Internal recycling process

ReuseC, D

Production processB, C, D

ConsumptionC, D

Waste management

C, D

Recycling process

C, D

Raw material + ChemicalsA, C, D Consumer products

B, C

Waste materialA, B, C

Industrial wasteA, B, D

ResidueA, C, D

Recovered materialB, C, D

RecycablesB, C, D

health and environmental risks

A = transportation risksB = containing unidentified chemicalsC = unidentified health risksD = environmental risks

Simplified material flow of a circular economy in a global scale

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 and100 ppm after 30 June 2001.

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Paper: better known fluxes and behaviour of compounds

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.

Bisphenol A (BPA) Polycyclic AromaticsPolychlorinated Biphenyl’s (PCBs) and

Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs)

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Shares of plastics amounts used for material recycling or as secondary raw material from the total utilised amount

of plastics packaging

53%52%

47%46%

43%42%

51%

40%

42%

44%

46%

48%

50%

52%

54%

56%

58%

60%

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

raw material recycled material

Plastics: recyclables become more important

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Oceania

Other Asian Countries

Europe

China

Hong Kong

NorthAmerica

South America

Japan

500 100

PE waste (391510)PS waste (391520)PVC waste (391530)Other plastic waste (391590)

10 (in thousand t)

Plastics: different types of plastics

enormous amount of additives

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d e r s p i e g e l 4 9 / 2 0 0 9

Article illustrates WEEE „recycling conditions“ in Accra

- worldwide trade- dangerous circumstances- wrong recycling technology- unforseeable consequences

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Key pieces of information which will be required and collected:

• Where are the critical points throughout the products life cycle for the release of chemical substances?

• Do methods or defined procedures find “critical points” or is there still the need to develop these methods?

• How hazardous and toxic is the material set free? Has an evaluation and control of the risk of the substances taken place?

• Has a development of strategies for limiting the environmental risks of these substances been done? If yes, for which substances?

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Key pieces of information which will be required and collected:

• Do the effects caused by the chemicals have a global or only a regional meaning?

• Is the release of specific substances in the circular economy an actual risk or a perceived risk?

• Is the development of new "3R" methods (based on the principles of Refinement, Reduction and Replacement) as a modern alternative approach to the use of animals in safety assessment on a global scale known and supported by regulators?

• Is there a need to develop new safety assessment methods? Is there a need for 'global harmonisation' (GHS)? Is the 3Rs principle internationally sufficiently known and applied?

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How to gain the information?

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Wide range of experts within different scientific fields

Gather and synthesize information on different key aspects of the project

Project will be elaborated in different work packages dealing with

fate and behavior of the chosen additivesalternatives to animal testing when assessing the toxicity of additives risk assessment methodologieslife cycle assessment of products that contain additives socio-economic aspects of additives

End: Global strategy for risk-based management

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TUD: Dresden University of Technology. Prof. Bernd BilitewskiCSIC: Spanish Council for Scientific Research. Prof. Damià BarcelóIRFMN: Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri. Prof. Emilio Benfenati

UPC: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Prof. Joaquim CasalCML: University of Leiden. Prof. Ester van der VoetIVL: Swedish Environmental Research Institute. Tomas Rydberg

UCSC: Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Prof. Ettore CapriURV: Universitat Rovira Virgili. Marta SchuhmacherHAW: Hamburg University of Applied Sciences Prof. Susanne Heise.

DTU: Technical University of Denmark. Henrik Fred LarsenBRGM: Orleans. Gael BellenfantNORDEConsult Sweden: Stefan Rydin

Institute of Clean Energy and Environmental Engineering, Shenyang, China, Prof. Li RundongCOPPETEC Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Prof. Claudio Mahler Hanoi University of Science, Department of Chemistry, Vietnam. Prof. Nguyen Thi Diem TrangTERI. The Energy and Resources Institute. New Delhi, India. Col. Rakesh Johri

Involved parties

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Advisory Board

• Guarantee realism and quality of the action• Consulting and advisory support

Members: representatives from university, industry and administration

• CEFIC• OECD• SCHER• University of Wollongong (Australia)• Chinese Academy of Social Science• German Federal Agency for Environment• TU Darmstadt• Former Director General in the Federal Environment Ministry of Germany• German Federal Institute of Risk Assessment

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Kick-off Meeting (Barcelona) Month 10. 2009 done Vietnam Workshop Month 5. 2010 done

China Workshop Month 11. 2010 done Brazil Workshop Month 5. 2011 done

India Workshop 10.-11. 10. 2011

Final Conference (Dresden) 8.- 9. May 2012

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www.wadef.com/projects/riskcycle

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Thank you for your attention!