International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

1.7 The UNECE / Stockholm Conventions
1.7.1 The 1979 UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air
Pollution and Protocols:
The 1979 UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP)
entered into force in 1983. It has since been extended by eight specific protocols. The
two most relevant of protocols are those on POPs and Heavy Metals. 32
POP POPs POP s Protocol: Protocol: The Executive body to the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary
Air Pollution adopted the Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) on 24th June 1998. The POPs protocol focuses on a list of 16 substances that have been
selected according to agreed risk criteria. They comprise eleven pesticides, two
industrial chemicals and, of particular interest for incineration, three unintentionally
produced by-products.
The Protocol was signed by 36 of 48 Parties to the CLRTAP and by all EU Member
States and entered into force on 23 rd October 2003. Ireland signed the UNECE
protocol on 24 th June 1998 but has not yet ratified. 33 The protocol has 29 Parties and
entered into force on 23 rd October 2003. The Protocol was signed by the European
Community on 24 th June 1998 and approved on 30 th April 2004.
The objective of the protocol is to eliminate discharges, emissions and losses of
POPs. It bans the production and use of some chemicals outright (aldrin, chlordane,
chlordecone, dieldrin, endrin, hexabromobiphenyl, mirex and toxaphene); others are
scheduled for elimination at a later stage (DDT, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene
(HCB), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)). It includes provisions for dealing with
the wastes of chemicals that will be banned.
It also obliges Parties to reduce their emissions of dioxins, furans, polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs) and HCB below their levels in 1990 (or an alternative year
between 1985 and 1995). For the incineration of municipal, hazardous and medical
waste it lays down specific limit values.
The The Protocol Protocol on on Heavy Heavy Metals Metals: Metals This was adopted on 24 June 1998 in Aarhus,
Denmark. It targets three particularly harmful metals: cadmium, lead and mercury.
According to one of the basic obligations, Parties have to reduce their emissions for
these three metals below their levels in 1990 (or an alternative year between 1985
and 1995). The Protocol aims to cut emissions from industrial sources (iron and steel
industry, non-ferrous metal industry), combustion processes (power generation, road
transport) and waste incineration.
It lays down stringent limit values for emissions from stationary sources and suggests
best available techniques (BAT) for these sources, such as appropriate filters or
32 UNECE (1998) Aarhus Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution
on Persistent Organic Pollutants. 1998; UNECE (1998) Aarhus Protocol to the 1979 Convention on
Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Heavy Metal. 1998.
33 http://www.unece.org/env/lrtap/status/98pop_st.htm
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International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes