- This article was originally written by Mr. Enrique García John, Policy Officer. Waste Management and Secondary Materials Unit. DG Environment. European Commission. You can read it on the EDI Special Publication 2021 – Decontamination of hazardous substances.
The European Commission is currently preparing a legislative proposal to amend the annexes that deal with waste of Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). These limits are a central element to ensure the environmentally sound management of POP waste and to achieve the ultimate objective of the Regulation as regards waste management: minimising the releases of POPs, with a view to eliminating them, where feasible, as soon as possible.
POPs are chemicals that persist in the environment, bio-accumulate and pose a risk of causing significant adverse effects to human health or the environment. If released they can be transported far from their sources and even accumulate in regions where they have never been used or produced. The manufacture, placing on the market and use of these substances is banned internationally, or very severely restricted, by the Aarhus Protocol on POPs and by the Stockholm Convention. Also under the POPs Regulation, that implements these in the EU. However, the past use of POPs in many applications, and the long service life of some products until they become waste, results in their presence in the waste we generate today.
This is particularly relevant in the case of demolition waste, where materials used up to fifty years ago or longer, become waste now. Relevant demolition wastes that may contain POPs include polystyrene insulation, often flame-retarded with HBCDD, other flame retarded plastics and sealants, containing PCBs and PBDEs and treated wood, containing pentachlorophenol, to name just a few. The presence of materials such as wood or plastics contaminated with POPs in demolition waste makes it ever so important to ensure that these materials are identified, segregated and separately collected to ensure their effective treatment (usually destruction by incineration). Consequently, building promoters and the demolition industry must be aware of the materials and substances concerned and their applicable legal concentration limit values, in order to comply with their legal obligation to adequately manage POP waste.
The 2018 amendment of Directive 2008/98/EC on waste gave a boost to the selective demolition and sorting of construction and demolition waste, requiring Member States to take measures to promote it in order to enable removal and safe handling of hazardous substances and to facilitate re-use and high-quality recycling by selective removal of contaminated materials. The Commission has endeavoured to exchange best practices in the management of construction of demolition waste through various guidance documents.
The thorough implementation of these measures, particularly relevant in the case of POP waste, play a key role in achieving the zero-pollution and circular economy objectives outlined in the European Green Deal and which are further developed under the new Circular Economy Action Plan and the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, both adopted in 2020.