Stockholm convention
The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants was signed on May 22, 2001, and effective from May 17, 2004. As of January 2021, 184 parties — EU and 183 countries — ratified the convention.
The convention is aimed at eliminating or reducing the production and use of several hazardous persistent organic pollutants (POPs), the list of which extended with time.
Under Article 6 of the convention, POP-containing wastes should be destroyed or irreversibly transformed so that they do not exhibit the characteristics of POPs or otherwise disposed of in an environmentally sound manner when destruction or irreversible transformation cannot be performed.
The implementation of the Stockholm Convention is closely related to implementation of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal which ensured development of the principles of environmentally sound waste management for wastes containing or contaminated with POPs including the list of technologies for destruction or irreversible transformation.
Technologies for destruction and irreversible transformation [1] Click for PDF
| Technology | POP | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HBB | HBCD | HCB, HCBD and PeCB | PCB | PCDDs/PCDFs | PCN | PCP | Pesticides POPs | PFOS | POP-BDEs | SCCPs | |
| (а) Alkali metal reduction | ND | ND | ND | Yes | ND | ND | ND | Yes for chlordane, HCH | ND | ND * | ND |
| (b) Advanced–solid waste incineration (ASWI) | ND | Yes | ND | ND | ND | ND | Yes | ND | ND | Yes | Yes |
| (c) Base catalyzed decomposition (BCD) | ND | ND | ND | Yes | Yes | ND | Yes | Yes | ND | ND | ND |
| (d) Catalytic hydrodechlorination (CHD) | ND | ND | ND | Yes | Yes | ND | ND | ND | ND | ND | ND |
| (e) Cement kiln co-incineration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| (f) Gas-phase chemical reduction (GPCR) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| (g) Hazardous-waste incineration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| (h) Plasma arc | ND | ND | ND | Yes | ND | ND | ND | Yes, for most pesticides, including chlordane, chlordecone, DDT, endosulfan, heptaclor | ND | ND | ND |
| (i) Plasma melting decomposition method (PMD) | ND | ND | ND | Yes | ND | ND | ND | ND | ND | ND | ND |
| (j) Supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) and subcritical water oxidation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| (k) Thermal and metallurgical production of metals | ND | ND | ND | ND | Yes | ND | ND | ND | ND | Yes | ND |
* ND stands for “not determined” and indicates that information is not available in the literature referred to in this document to confirm the use of the technology for certain POPs.
1 – General technical guidelines on the environmentally sound management of wastes consisting of, containing or contaminated with persistent organic pollutants (May 01, 2019).