Managing Persistent Organic Pollutants

Managing Persistent Organic Pollutants
With the entering into force of the
Stockholm Convention in 2001, more
than 140 countries committed themselves to take measures on protecting human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
A global challenge
POPs circulate globally and con-tribute to the transboundary nature of
pollution. That is why taking measures to eliminate or reduce them from
the environment is a common global
challenge.
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National plans in place
Today, many Parties to the Convention have finalised their National Implementation Plans. They have also
outlined the actions to be taken for
further reducing and eliminating
POP’s in their countries.
Stepping up to the POPs
The next step is realising the Convention. That includes:
• Developing the legal framework for
POPs management
• Strengthening the capacity for
POPs management
• Identification, collection and elimination of POPs pesticides and
PCBs
• Identification and remediation of
POPs contaminated sites
• Investigating releases of unin-tentionally produced POPs and implementing cost-effective re-duction
measures
• Reducing and eliminating re-maining intentional uses of POPs
Managing POPs for decades
COWI has worked with many aspects
of POPs Management for more than
two decades. As the lead consultant
on POPs issues in Denmark, COWI
has assisted the Danish Government
preparing the Danish National Implementation Plan (NIP) for the Stockholm Convention.
As an internationally recognised consultant in this field COWI has assisted
a number of developing countries
and countries with economies in transition in their POPs management efforts.
Sustainable solutions
COWI’s work on POPs is based on
the principles of social, environmental, economical and legal sustainability. Our company consider developing responsive and well-functioning
institutions at all levels a key to sustainable development.
Selected references
Preparation of a draft Guidance Document for the development of National Implementation Plans (NIP) for the
Stockholm Convention for the World
Bank and UNEP (DANCED)
Assistance in the preparation of Denmark’s NIP, including legal gap analysis, country baseline and devel-opment of action plans (Danish EPA)
Assistance in the development of legal framework and capacity building
for POPs management in Moldova
(World Bank)
Supervision of removal of PCB-containing equipment and contaminated
soil in Zambia (World Bank)
500 green-collar workers
COWI employ more than 500 consultants working on environmental issues on both strategic and operational
levels. The company’s experts target
the environmental issues with a multidisciplinary approach and use the
inhouse expertise within natural science, social science, engineering,
health and economics to meet new
challenges.
Variety of services
COWI provide the following services
on POPs:
• Development of legal frameworks
• Strengthening capacity for POPs
management
• Identification, collection and disposal of POPs
• Identification and remediation of
POPs contaminated sites
• Reduction of releases of unintentionally produced POPs
Assistance in PCB phase-out in Russia, including development of least
cost strategy for PCB elimination, assessment of alternatives to PCB and
development of collection and storage schemes for PCB (DANCEE)
Supervision of pesticides disposal in
Albania (European CommissionPHARE)
PCB in electrical equipment and development of draft legislation
(DANCEE)
Investigation of dioxins/furans emissions from the metallurgical sector in
Poland including measurements of dioxins emissions from 20 plants and
proposals for reduction measures
(DANCEE)
Management of obsolete pesticides
in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine
(DANCEE)
Detailed technical, environmental and
economic review of POPs elimination
by nonincineration and incineration
technologies (DANCEE)
Development of collection system for
PCB in waste building materials in
Norway.
Contact
COWI A/S
Mr. Carsten Lassen
Senior Project Manager
Assessment and feasibility study of
methods for destruction of PCBs
from transformer liquids in Russia
(NEFCO)
Assistance in the preparation of GEF
Project Document, ToR and technical
specifications for POPs stockpiles
management project in Moldova
(World Bank)
Preparation of inventories of dioxins/
furans emissions in Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania and Poland (DANCEE)
Environment and Chemicals
Phone: +45 7642 6412
E-mail: crl@cowi.com
Havneparken 1
DK-7100 Vejle, Denmark
COWI A/S
Ms. Helle Husum
Senior Legal Advisor
Public Administration and Law
Phone: +45 4597 2325
E-mail: hhu@cowi.dk
Parallelvej 2
Assistance in the approximation of
the EU PCB/PCT Directive in Estonia
and Lithuania, including surveys of
DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby,
Denmark