PCB Management
Environmentally sound management of PCBs
ETI’s international activities focus on the environmentally sound management (ESM) of the industrial chemical Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) in developing countries, and countries in transition. PCBs can have serious health and environmental effects, which can include carcinogenicity, reproductive impairment, immune system disruption and also a loss of biological diversity. PCBs were manufactured worldwide by a number of companies in many industrialized countries and were mostly used as cooling and isolating agents in transformers and capacitors, or as softeners or flame retardants in paints, caulks and many more open applications. PCBs are regulated under the Stockholm Convention. According to Annex A part II of the Convention, Parties to the Convention are obliged to eliminate equipment and oils containing PCBs from use by 2025 and bring these under environmentally sound waste management by 2028. In Switzerland, for example, the first inventory of PCBs in electrical equipment started in 1983, and by August 1998 all PCB containing equipment was eliminated. Today, Switzerland is facing the more difficult task of identifying and eliminating PCBs from open applications, for example PCB containing caulks or paints and coatings. According to Annex A, Part II (f) of the Stockholm Convention Parties shall make efforts to identify other articles containing more than 0.005 % PCBs including uses in open applications and to manage them in an environmentally sound manner.
Current situation
In most industrial countries PCB containing electrical devices (for example transformers and capacitors) have been inventoried and eliminated over the past decades. In developing and transition countries, however, there are still approximately 3 million tonnes of equipment containing or contaminated with PCBs in use (Petrlík J (2010), When the Polluter Does Not Pay, PEN-Magazin, Ausgabe 1, 12/2010, 12-13). Therefore, detailed and reliable inventories of PCB containing or contaminated equipment are the top priority in these countries. Reliable detection, identification, quantification and recording of PCBs are the starting points for all further activities. This objective can only be attained if all important stakeholders in the countries have been sensitised to the PCB topic and trained accordingly. One of ETI’s and the Convention Secretariat’s main ambitions is to include open applications of PCBs in ongoing inventory activities. Applications like caulks or anti-corrosion coatings should be identified parallel to PCB containing devices.
Implementation of the Stockholm Convention in developing and transition countries
The implementation of the Stockholm Convention in developing and transition countries is often very complex and time-consuming. There are few reliable PCB inventories, and awareness of the PCB problem is generally low. Very often it must be communicated that not only chemists, but in particular electrical engineers and other specialists must be trained in the identification of PCBs. Priorities:
- Awareness Raising
- Capacity Building
- Assessment / Inventory
- Risk Assessment / Priority-Setting
- Handling, Interim Storage and Disposal
Countless “PCB Assessment” projects have been carried out, but in many cases only preliminary inventories or estimations of PCB quantities have been compiled. Therefore, basic information and basic data is still missing in many countries, and further activities cannot be planned.
Our services as PCB Experts
In our role as International PCB Experts for UN Programmes, the World Bank or Governmental Offices and Secretariats we organise country- and region-specific awareness raising and capacity building workshops worldwide. We assess (preliminary) PCB identification activities and make recommendations for reliable and detailed PCB inventories. Furthermore, we review and assess ongoing PCB disposal projects. Depending on the course of the project, some project components might be restructured, amended, replaced or completely omitted. Further activities focus on the environmentally sound management of identified PCB equipment and materials, according to Best Available Technologies und Best Environmental Proceedings as stipulated in the Conventions. We provide training courses in the environmentally sound management of PCBs, and we can assist in the development of „PCB Management Guidelines” or “Buildings Contaminants Management Handbooks”. Finally, we act as Policy and Legal Consultants in developing and transition countries. We make recommendations to existing PCB regulations, or propose new guidelines, in order to ensure the correct handling of PCB containing devices and wastes. This also includes the support of the stakeholders in the countries.
Our services at a glance
- PCB Management Workshops
- Assistance in the compilation of PCB inventories
- Assessment of existing PCB inventories
- Support and training in the handling and the disposal of PCB containing equipment and wastes
- Development of country-specific PCB Management Handbooks und Guidelines
- Support of local stakeholders as Policy and Legal Consultant