PCBs nowadays in Europe
7/09/2015
PCBs in Europe were used as insulating fluids in transformers, plasticizers for plastics (as joint sealants, ceiling panels, cable sheathing, coatings and adhesives, and as hydraulic oils).
Around the world, the marketing and use of PCBs are prohibited and the handling of PCBs are only allowed in exceptional cases.
In the demolition industry of Europe, PCBs appear easily, but they are normally detected with pre-demolition audits.
Therefore, PCBs are quiet regulated in Europe, however, these guidelines and regulations are not followed at all.
The demolition industry has to carry learning more and improving its practices where the PCBs are.
The harmful effects on health and the environment of PCBs are known since the seventies.
Its manufacture and marketing was banned in European countries in 1976 by Directives 76/403 and 76/769, although the ban on its use did not come until 1985 with Directive 85/467.
These restrictions, however, have been accompanied by the need for collection and decontamination of equipment and devices containing them until 1996 with Directive 96/59, which reflects the agreement of the signatory countries of the Convention for the Protection of Marine Environment of the Northeast Atlantic Ocean (PARCOM) to remove and decontaminate PCB and equipment containing them before the end of 2010.
PCBs are a family of substances included in the “dirty dozen”, the first dozen of synthetic chemicals whose use is prohibited in the entire planet as a result of the Stockholm Convention sponsored by the United Nations.
In the Deconstruction Forum 2014, which was held in Madrid, the Director of the Danish company J. Jansen, Stine Egsgaard, presented a study about a great innovations in the PCBs cleaning.
Links
