BALTIC SEAENVIRONMENT PROCEEDINGS No. 59 - Helcom

Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
Margareta Stackerud
Principal Technical Officer
Product Control Measure
Background
The use of chemicals is part of our modern society and will so remain. Some of the
chemicals have a negative impact on the environment, particularly on the aquatic
environment. It is an important task for Helcom to minimize the impact of those
chemicals in the Baltic.
Once a chemical is released into the society as such or in products (goods), the
potential for exposure is established.
The reason for the selection of products as priorities for recommendations is usually
due to the content of a chemical of concern. One of the characteristics is that the
product in itself might not pose any problem during its ‘life-time’. The problems often
occur when the product has lost its function e.g. when it becomes waste
( incineration, landfill etc). It might be the big challenge to cope with those problems
in the future.
Different approaches to deal with these problems can be used.
- substitute a chemical of concern in the production process to a chemical with a less
impact on the environment or, in this case, of less concern for the Baltic.
- apply selected precautionary principles when substitution is not possible. Such steps
might involve handling and disposal of the chemical/product in a way that the
exposure to the environment is brought to a minimum.
Different recommendations
The recommendation ’ Basic principles in wastewater management in chemicals
industry, f3/3 ’ is an example of the first item. One of the general principles in the
recommendation includes provisions for substitution of some listed chemicals to less
harmful chemicals if they might reach the environment. The list of chemicals
includes organohalogen compounds and substances which may form such compounds
in the environment as well as metals and metalloids.
This recommendation covers emission into the water or municipal sewage systems.
From the Swedish perspective, the Swedish Environment Protection Act do apply
according to which limits for emissions can be required. The request of substitute
might, however, have an impact on the quality of the sludge and its use as fertilizer.
According to the Swedish policy, the aim is to be able to use the sludge in
agriculture in a long perspective and the Environmental Protection Agency has
recently presented a plan in order to achieve that goal. The basic principle of this
218