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The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide To control mercury discharges from households, the sale of mercury thermometers was recently banned by the city. Electric thermometers with reusable or rechargeable batteries are now on the market for use in households and in hospitals. A campaign run in April 1992 to encourage people to turn in their mercury thermometers to pharmacies has resulted in the collection of about 190,000 thermometers, which corresponds to about 380 kilograms of mercury. Toxic Discharges from Small Industry Control of other toxic discharges from small businesses into the sewer system in Greater Stockholm was another of Vatten’s antipollution measures. Focusing on surface finishing industries, graphic and photo laboratories, automotive repair shops, service stations, car wash shops, and food processing industries, Vatten’s approach aimed to promote: • a shift by manufacturing industries to chemicals that are safer for the environment; • the adoption of process containment technologies to reduce the amount of wastewater disposal from a manufacturing process; and • extensive internal purification of wastewater by these industries before release into the sewer system. According to Swedish law, municipalities are only obligated to provide sewerage services to private households. Municipalities are under no obligation to provide wastewater treatment services to industrial users. While pollution standards and discharge limits for businesses are established by the Swedish Environmental Protection Act (SEPA), depending upon the size of the industry, regulations are set by either the national or regional environmental protection authorities or by the local environmental protection authority. In the process of establishing regulations, the sewage treatment plants, among others, are given the opportunity to make their own demands. In accordance with standards set by SEPA, Vatten compiled a list of acceptance limit values or parameters that these industries have to comply with in order to be allowed connection to the municipal treatment facility. This list, which was first compiled in 1980, was updated in 1989 by the city in order to intensify restrictions on additional substances. • Photo laboratories are now required to treat developer or fixing solutions separately before they are discharged into the sewer system. In addition, they must treat all rinse water containing silver, using ion exchange or similar methods. This measure has prompted larger companies to acquire their own treatment equipment. Waste produced by smaller graphics companies and laboratories that do not have treatment facilities are collected by waste disposal companies in the area for treatment. • Car wash companies are required to run wastewater through oil separators and to maintain the oil separators according to regulations. They must also assign company personnel to be responsible for implementing environmental measures in each installation, including the annual reporting to Vatten of measures taken to comply with local regulations on auto care products. Auto care products containing APE (a nondegradable toxic substance) have been prohibited by the city’s standards since July 1990. Auto care products with more than 20 percent petroleum will also be banned in the near future by the city. It is anticipated that car wash companies will be required to install purification equipment when appropriate technology is available on the market. Although the city does not have the authority to impose penalties to an industry that does not comply with the limits set by the list, the city can cut the violator’s connection to the sewer system, or, if damage is done to the treatment plant or to the sewer system because of non-compliance by an industry, it can take legal action against the party involved. Municipal and Household Discharges Vatten’s anti-pollution program also addressed hazardous discharges from households and municipal institutions resulting from the use of environmentally damaging dishwashing, laundry, and cleaning detergents, insecticides, and the reckless disposal into the sewer system of household paints and solvents and other toxic household products. The shift to safer chemicals, especially in detergents, was achieved after discussions with product wholesalers and manufacturers. These discussions centered on the issue of harmful substances in dishwashing, laundry, and cleaning detergents, such as EDTA (a chelating agent) and nonylphenol (a surfactant) and the need to come up with better products. As a result of these meetings, nonlyphenol is no longer used in detergents. Two wholesalers have developed environmentally safe detergents for households and a leading manufacturer has developed a new detergent that has been marked with “the Swan,” a Scandinavian symbol for http://www.idrc.ca/openebooks/448-2/ (122 of 180)18/10/2010 12:47:23 AM
The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide environmentally safe products. In the autumn of 1989, SKAFAB, the city’s waste disposal company, opened environmental stations or collection points where households may dispose of hazardous wastes that should not be released to the sewer system. Vatten also launched an extensive public information campaign in May 1990, aimed at influencing the behavior of the public towards purchases of household products that have adverse environmental impacts. An information campaign called “Wash Wisely” discouraged the use of unsuitable laundry and cleaning detergents. Primarily directed at large consumers, the campaign covered all municipal administrations in the city, including city-run schools, day care centers, hospitals, and neighboring communities. The campaign also provided every household in the city with an information folder on environmentally safe cleaning methods and products. This was followed by advertisements in daily newspapers, and poster displays in public places. Four months later, another folder containing information on environmentally hazardous household waste was distributed. This contained information on how to deal with hazardous household waste such as mercury from a broken thermometer. Stockholm Water has initiated cooperation between municipalities in the region through the organization of a number of working groups. One of the working groups organized concentrates on the promotion of environmentally friendly construction materials during the permitting and financing processes for building renovations and new construction. Ongoing cooperation has been fostered with other municipalities with regard to the purchase of suitable detergent brands, not only to realize economies but also to exercise their market influence over product designs. Vatten supports the effort through the continual grading of the detergents from an environmental viewpoint. As a result of the higher environmental consciousness among consumers, products that are excluded from the list of suitable products have lost market share, forcing the manufacturers to make their products more environmentally suitable. Another component of Vatten’s efforts was to reduce pollution from storm water drains. This involved a year-long study, started in autumn of 1991, to measure emission levels of dioxides, PAH pollutants, PCB pollutants, and metals from automobile traffic. Findings from this study will provide the basis for anti-pollution measures, such as imposing a ban on the use of cleated tires in the inner city area, reductions in the use of leaded gasoline, and the construction of separate storm water lines for high traffic streets. This program has achieved substantial reductions of various metal contents in sewerage sludge—from 50 percent to 84 percent— over an 18-month period in 1990-91. This was achieved in spite of the city’s lack of regulatory powers to impose penalties or to close down polluting industries. Vatten has skillfully leveraged the city’s legal position to disconnect polluting industries from sewage treatment facilities in order to achieve the compliance of businesses and small industries to the imposed limits. Vatten also collaborated with industries in the development of technologies that would render pollution limits more achievable, conducted awareness campaigns to harness consumer sovereignty to steer the market away from inferior products, and used the city’s own purchasing power to encourage the introduction of environmentally superior products. Solutions and technologies continue to be explored. Purification technology for car wash wastewater is being developed, and, when completed, will be required in all car washes. A year-long study is in progress to analyze the pollutants in storm water runoff and to provide the basis for measures to be taken. In cooperation with crematoria owners, purification of smoke fumes (primarily from mercury) is being conducted on a trial basis with plans to install effective facilities in the near future. Contact Sven-Erik Skogsfors Box 6407 113 82 Stockholm, Sweden Tel.: +46-8/728-0130 Fax: +46-8/728-8701 References Brattberg, Gunilla and Sven-Erik Skogsfors. “Measures at the Source—A Presentation of Stockholm Water Ltd.’s Efforts to Reduce the Discharge of Environmentally Hazardous Pollutants http://www.idrc.ca/openebooks/448-2/ (123 of 180)18/10/2010 12:47:23 AM
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