Updated general technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management of wastes consisting of, containing or contaminated with persistent organic pollutants (POPs) K0760113 180607 Contents Contents .............................................................................................................2 Abbreviations and acronyms .............................................................................................................4 Units of measurement .............................................................................................................5 I. Introduction .............................................................................................................6 A. Scope............................................................................................................................6 B. About POPs..................................................................................................................7 II. Relevant provisions of the Basel and Stockholm conventions .................................................7 A. Basel Convention .........................................................................................................7 1. General provisions...........................................................................................7 2. POPs-related provisions...................................................................................8 B. Stockholm Convention...............................................................................................11 1. General provisions.........................................................................................11 2. Waste-related provisions................................................................................11 III. Issues under the Stockholm Convention to be addressed cooperatively with the Basel Convention ...........................................................................................................12 A. Low POP content .......................................................................................................12 B. Levels of destruction and irreversible transformation................................................13 C. Methods that constitute environmentally sound disposal...........................................14 IV. Guidance on environmentally sound management (ESM) .....................................................14 A. General considerations...............................................................................................14 1. Basel Convention...........................................................................................14 2. Stockholm Convention ..................................................................................15 3. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.........................15 B. Legislative and regulatory framework .......................................................................15 1. Phase-out dates for production and use of POPs ...........................................16 2. Transboundary movement requirements........................................................16 3. Specifications for containers, equipment, bulk containers and storage sites containing POPs.............................................................................................17 4. Health and safety ...........................................................................................17 5. Specification of acceptable analytical and sampling methods for POPs........17 6. Requirements for hazardous waste treatment and disposal facilities.............17 7. General requirement for public participation.................................................17 8. Contaminated sites.........................................................................................18 9. Other legislative controls...............................................................................18 C. Waste prevention and minimization...........................................................................18 D. Identification and inventories.....................................................................................19 1. Identification..................................................................................................19 2. Inventories .....................................................................................................19 E. Sampling, analysis and monitoring ............................................................................21 1. Sampling........................................................................................................21 2. Analysis .........................................................................................................22 3. Monitoring.....................................................................................................23 F. Handling, collection, packaging, labelling, transportation and storage......................23 1. Handling ........................................................................................................24 2. Collection.......................................................................................................24 3. Packaging.......................................................................................................25 4. Labelling........................................................................................................25 5. Transportation................................................................................................25 2 6. Storage...........................................................................................................26 G. Environmentally sound disposal ................................................................................27 1. Pre-treatment .................................................................................................27 (a) Adsorption and absorption ................................................................27 (b) Dewatering ........................................................................................27 (c) Mechanical separation.......................................................................27 (d) Mixing...............................................................................................27 (e) Oil-water separation ..........................................................................27 (f) pH adjustment ...................................................................................27 (g) Size reduction....................................................................................27 (h) Solvent washing ................................................................................28 (i) Thermal desorption ...........................................................................28 2. Destruction and irreversible transformation methods....................................28 (a) Alkali metal reduction.......................................................................28 (b) Base-catalysed decomposition (BCD)...............................................30 (c) Catalytic hydrodechlorination (CHD) ...............................................32 (d) Cement kiln co-incineration ..............................................................33 (e) Gas-phase chemical reduction (GPCR).............................................34 (f) Hazardous-waste incineration ...........................................................36 (g) Photochemical dechlorination (PCD) and catalytic dechlorination (CD) reaction ..............................................37 (h) Plasma arc.........................................................................................38 (i) Potassium tert-Butoxide (t-BuOK) method.......................................39 (j) Supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) and subcritical water oxidation ................................................................40 (k) Thermal and metallurgical production of metals...............................41 (l) Waste-to-gas conversion ...................................................................43 3. Other disposal methods when neither destruction nor irreversible transformation is the environmentally preferable option............44 (a) Specially engineered landfill .............................................................45 (b) Permanent storage in underground mines and formations.................45 4. Other disposal methods when the POP content is low...................................46 H. Remediation of contaminated sites ............................................................................46 1. Contaminated site identification ....................................................................46 2. Environmentally sound remediation..............................................................46 I. Health and safety........................................................................................................46 1. Higher-risk situations.....................................................................................47 2. Lower-risk situations .....................................................................................48 J. Emergency response ..................................................................................................48 K. Public participation ....................................................................................................49 Annex I International instruments............................................................................................50