Vol. 6 • Issue 4 • Oct. – Dec. 2005For private circulation only

Anti-litter Ruleson the Way

Office Bearers• • •

President,Governing Council

Mr. K. G. Ramanathan

• • •

Chairman, Executive CommitteeMr. M. P. Taparia

• • •

Executive Secretary /Member, Executive Committee

Mr. Sujit Banerji

• • •

Treasurer /Member, Executive Committee

Mr. Rajiv Tolat

• • •

NGO - ProjectsMember, Governing Council

Mr. Vijay Merchant

• • •

Convenor – CommunicationsMr. P. P. Kharas

In this Issue

Readers are welcome to send their suggestions, contributions, articles, case studies,and new developments for publication in the Newsletter to the ICPE address.

Reproduction of material from this Newsletter is welcome, with prior permission.

MumbaiKushesh Mansion, 2nd Floor, 22, Cawasji Patel Street and

48/54, Janmabhoomi Marg (Ghoga Street), Fort, Mumbai - 400 001.Tel.: +91-22-2282 0491 / 0496, 3090 4633 • Fax: +91-22-2282 0451

E-mail: icpe@vsnl.net • Website: www.icpenviro.org • www.envis-icpe.com

New Delhi1009, Vijaya Building, 10th Floor, 17 Barakhamba Road, New Delhi - 110 001.

Tel.: 011-2332 6377 • Fax: 011-2332 6376 • E-mail: icpedelhi@sify.com

For more information on Eco-Echoes and about the contents, please contactMr. T. K. Bandopadhyay, Technical Manager, ICPE, Mumbai.

Cover Story

The Municipal Corporation of

Greater Mumbai (MCGM)

initiates Anti-littering Rules 3

News Item

Plastics and the Environment –

An Assessment and Road Map 7

PVC and the Basel Convention 12

Question & Answer in the

Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha

of Indian Parliament on

Plastics and the Environment 13

International News

Proposed New Regulation

to include Acidity Factor as

a New Test Parameter in

Cables by EC 15

4th National Plastics &Packaging Exhibition

25-28 January, 2007

Ahmedabad

Plexpo India 2007, 4th NationalPlastics & Packaging Exhibitionto be held from 25th-28th Janu-ary, 2007 follows the stupendoussuccess of previously organizedthree Plexpo exhibitions.

The exhibition will showcaseplastics raw materials master-batches, machineries, moulds,dyes, ancillary equipments,packaging materials and variousplastic end products, etc.

Organized by:Gujarat State PlasticsManufacturers AssociationE-mail: plexpoindia@gspma.orgWebsite: www.gspma.org

ET, ICU andNemex 200616-18 May, 2006

Birmingham, U.K.

ET status has a the U.K.’s larg-est environmental technologymanagement service exhibition.

ICU is the only event of its kindfor all contaminated land indus-try in the U.K. It providesvisitors with an essential forumto network and attend a widerange of special events includingthe high profile conference &seminar.

NPE 2006The InternationalPlastics Showcase

19-23 June, 2006

Chicago, Illinois USA

NPE 2006 takes place in Chicago,the heart of the $330 billion ayear U.S. plastics marketplaceand a hub of trade with SouthAmerica, Europe and Asia.

For details:www.npe.org/world

The Municipal Corporation of GreaterMumbai has initiated a campaign toremove community solid waste storagecentres from public roads in phases byproviding services for point-to-pointcollection of segregated Solid Waste bybell-ringing vehicles at fixed times.

The MCGM hereby notifies the follow-ing rules to be known as “The Munici-pal Corporation of Greater MumbaiMunicipal Solid Waste (Prohibition ofLittering and Regulation of SegregationStorage, Delivery and Collection) Rules2006” under Section 368 of the MumbaiMunicipal Corporation Act, 1888.

The Municipal Corporationof Greater Mumbai (MCGM)initiates Anti-littering Rules

Since the last 5 or 6 years the plastics industryhas been saying plastics per se should not beblamed for the waste nuisance, it is basicallyLITTER. The industry has been asking for strongAnti-Litter laws and implementation in Indiaas it is believed that if used bags are not littered,the environmental nuisance in cities could beconsiderably reduced in India.

The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbaihas now drafted the Anti-Litter Rules and theauthorities have invited response from NGOs andconcerned citizens.

A meeting was held on 22nd Dec. 2005.

The summary points of the meeting were asbelow:

1. NGO and MCGM’s partnership would bebrought under the recognition and accep-tance by the political representatives for truesuccess.

2. A Management System for managing theSolid Waste should be established.

3. Chronic areas (of problems) are to be iden-tified and intense efforts should be made forresolving the problems for those areas.

4. More awareness campaigns are importantrather than evolving procedures for enforc-ing fines/punish-ments.

5. Involving workers’unions (of MCGM) inthe decision makingprocess is very impor-tant.

6. More than 60% area is covered by slums.Special measures are required for creatinginfrastructure in those areas.

7. Providing cycle van or hand-trollies inslum areas for waste collection. Fund to beorganized.

8. The system for employing contractualservice arrangement in specific areas wasdiscussed and agreed to be implemented onexperimental basis.

9. Dattak Vasti Yojna programme is to beencouraged in more slum areas.

10. Also need to increase the frequency of streetsweeping, was discussed.

11. Need to change the reporting system of thesweepers was discussed. It was suggestedthat instead of all sweepers of the areareporting to the supervisor at the point, thesupervisor should visit the whole area andtake note of the sweepers work.

12. The procedure of levying the fine wasdiscussed. It was felt that collection of finescould not be bestowed to the NGO group asit comes under the purview of publicaccounts committee of the governmentauthority.

However, possibility ofemploying contractors bygoing through tenderingprocedures, etc., was alsodiscussed.

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Abstracts from the Draft Noticeof Municipal Corporation ofGreater Mumbai

• No one shall litter or dirty anypublic place, and each citizenwill be responsible to keep thecity clean. Failure to do soshall attract fines.

• All waste to be segregated bythe generator. Failure to seg-regate shall invite fines.

• All waste to be held withwaste-generator or at desig-nated spots till time of pick-ing up by MCGM vehicle thatuses the bell-ringing concept.

• Citizens to be urged to com-post biodegradable waste.MCGM will provide infrastruc-ture as well as incentives forsuch initiatives.

• A formal close and sustainedassociation between MCGMand civil society to lead to anoverall clean city. The exist-ing structure of ALM’s/localcitizen’s organizations will bestrengthened and systems of

List of different types of municipal solid waste

Biodegradable Recyclable Non-recyclable

Hazardous Non-hazardous

• Kitchen Waste Incl: • Newspapers • FluorescentTea leaves, Egg • Paper books and Tubes, and CFL’s • Shoe polishshells, Fruit and magazines • Spray/aerosol cans • Mattress and sofa foamVegetable peels • Glass • Fertilizers and pesticide • Thermocol

• Meat • Wire containers• Bones • Metal objects • Car batteries• Flowers • Plastics • Cells• Garden and • Cloth rags • Bleaches and household

Animal litter • Leather kitchen and drain• Leaf litter • Rexine cleaning agents• Soiled paper • Rubber • Chemicals and solvents• House dust • Wood/Furniture and their empty containers

after cleaning • Packaging • Chemical-based• Coconut shells cosmetic items• Sanitary pads/ • Medicines, discarded

disposable diapers • Pints, oils, lubricants, glues,• Ashes thinners and their containers

• Styrofoam• Thermometers• Photographic chemicals

citizens’ reporting and moni-toring will be established.

• MCGM will ensure that all thesystems to support and facili-tate the citizen’s responsibil-ity (as generator) are alsosimultaneously in place.

Application of the Rules:

These rules shall apply to everypublic place within the limits ofthe Municipal Corporation ofGreater Mumbai, to every gen-erator of municipal solid wasteand to every premise under theownership or occupation of anyperson within the limits of theMunicipal Corporation of GreaterMumbai.

Prohibition of Littering:

In Phase 1 of the implementationof the Rules:

• On and after the date onwhich these rules are pub-lished in the newspapers, noperson shall throw, deposit or

cause to be thrown or depos-ited any waste whether liquid,semi-solid or solid includingsewage and waste water uponor in any public place, exceptin a manner provided for inthese rules, or in any otherrules framed under the Envi-ronment (Protection) Act,1986 or the Mumbai Munici-pal Corporation Act, 1888 orunder any other law whichmay be in force.

• On and after the date onwhich these rules are pub-lished in the newspapers, noperson shall throw any type ofwaste into any type of waterbody (natural or man-made)including “pooja” articles.

• On and after the date onwhich these rules are pub-lished in the newspapers, noperson shall spit, urinate, def-ecate, feed groups of animalsor birds, wash vehicles/uten-sils or any other object in anypublic place except in such

4

public facilities/conveniencesspecifically provided for any ofthese purposes.

• On and after the date onwhich these rules are pub-lished in the newspapers,every person shall ensure anypublic place in front of oradjacent to any premisesowned or occupied by himincluding footpath and opendrain/gutter is free of anywaste whether liquid, semi-solid or solid including sew-age and waste water andevery such person shall pro-vide an adequate number oflitter bins within such pre-mises and ensure that thereare adequate connections fordrainage of waste water intothe public drainage system.

Segregation, storage, deliveryand collection of Municipal solidWaste

In Phase 1 of the Implementationof these Rules:

• On and after the date of pub-lication of these rules in thenewspapers, every generatorof municipal solid waste inGreater Mumbai shall storeand deliver municipal solidwaste in a segregated mannerin three different groups, viz.,biodegradable waste, recy-clable waste and non-recy-clable waste in accordancewith the procedure laid downin Schedule I. Further non-recyclable waste is also to beseparated into i) hazardous,and ii) non-hazardous waste,and stored and delivered toMCGM separately.

• Untreated biomedical waste,hazardous industrial waste,construction and demolitionwaste, shall not be mixed withany of the three groups ofmunicipal solid waste speci-fied above and such wasteshall be governed by the rules

separately framed for themanagement and handling ofsuch waste under the Envi-ronment Protection Act, 1986,and/or the Mumbai MunicipalCorporation Act, 1888.

Citizens’ Empowerment

The effective implementation ofthese Bye-Laws required theactive participation of citizenswith MCGM’s support. Hence:

• Any registered ALM, NGO,RWA, CBO, citizens’ group orelected public representativethat is willing to take theresponsibility of keeping anarea clean will be empoweredby MCGM to do so. This willinclude enforcement of theanti-littering laws as well assegregation and delivery ofrecyclable and non-recyclablewaste to MCGM.

• Citizens and citizens’ groupsare also encouraged to sug-gest to MCGM “area improve-ment/beautification scheme”for their locality that whenimplemented, along with thecleanliness of locality, willcontribute to the upliftment ofthat neighbourhood. MCGMwill provide active support(including funds) for theimplementation of theschemes.

• The NGO Council and MCGMwill jointly review the effectiveimplementation of these rules,at least twice a year, and takeappropriate steps to ensurecourse correction such asevaluation of MCGM’sactive support to the rules,citizens’ response and partici-pation, revision of fines, evalu-ation of incentives, etc.

Mandatory Support by MCGM

• MCGM will provide incentivesto the generator of waste forreducing waste by compostingand recycling, and these

incentives will be based on thesavings made by MCGM byreduction of the volume ofgarbage to be transported.Schedule and specificationsfor the incentives will bedetailed through a separatedocument available at allWard Offices.

• Generators of waste are urgedto compost their biodegrad-able waste in-situ, and use thecompost created from segre-gated biodegradable waste atthe source for the purpose ofgardening and greening oftheir individual premises andsurroundings. MCGM willundertake to purchase anyextra compost, if available,from the generator, at a speci-fied fixed cost as notified fromtime to time.

• MCGM will set up compostingunits within the landfill or atany notified suitable area, forthe further processing of thebiodegradable waste that iscollected.

Recyclable municipal solid wasteshall be stored in covered binsand/or secured bags and deliv-ered by every generator of wasteto:

• any scrap dealer, recycler,authorized rag pickers’ orga-nizations, or any other person,or

• the community (dry waste)storage centres notified by theMunicipal Commissioner, or

• to the dry waste collectionvehicle which shall be pro-vided weekly by the Munici-pal Corporation at such spotsand at such times as may benotified by the Municipal Com-missioner from time to timefor collection of recyclablewaste.

In order to regulate the sortingof the recycled waste that is col-

5

lected, MCGM will notify as manyward-wise recyclable waste sort-ing centres as possible, wherethe recyclable solid waste istransported, and then sorted outby registered rag pickers’ orga-nization/recyclers’ association.These recyclable waste sortingcentres will be on MCGM land,and will be manned/regulated byregistered rag-pickers organiza-tions/recyclers’ associations.

Exceptions

1. For a limited number of fes-tive occasions, (list as notifiedby the State Government),there will be relaxation byMCGM in the collection offines for littering only for alimited period (not exceeding24 hours), and MCGM willtake the required measures toclear the litter generated inthis period.

2. For large gatherings of peoplein public places for any rea-son (including for exhibitions,circuses, fairs, political rallies,religious, socio-culturalevents, protests and demon-strations, etc.) where Policeand MCGM permission issought for the gathering/event, it will be the responsi-bility of the organizer of theEvent to ensure the cleanli-ness of that area as well as allappurtenant areas. A Refund-able Cleanliness Deposit willbe taken from the Organizer,for the duration of the Event.This deposit will be refundedon the completion of the eventand it is noted that the saidpublic place has been restoredback to a clean state.

(Note: In place of MCGM, thelocal Statutory Body such asMHADA, Port Trust, Railways,etc., will also be required tocollect such a cleanlinessdeposit, for use of their land.)

ICPE has studied the draft of anti-litter rules,and made the following comments:

Disposal method of waste atthe waste generating point

On this issue, we suggest toimplement the Mandatory Rec-ommendation made by theCommittee constituted by theHon. Supreme Court of India inthe Report of Solid Waste Man-agement in Class I Cities inIndia – (Chapter 3, pp26):

“Waste should be stored at thesource of waste generation intwo BINS/BAGS, one for foodwaste/biodegradable waste andanother for recyclable wastesuch as papers, plastics, metal,glass, rags, etc. Waste such asused batteries, containers forchemicals and pesticides, dis-carded medicines and othertoxic or hazardous householdwaste (Annexure E), if andwhen produced, should be keptseparately from the above twostreams of waste.”

On use of plastic bags for col-lection and disposal of waste

(i) Worldwide plastic trashbags/garbage bags areused for collection andtransportation of waste.This is cleanest way of han-dling wet waste.

(ii) Measures are to be takennot to dump the wet wastein the landfill area alongwith these trash/garbagebags. These bags are to berecovered for recycling intosuitable application.

(iii) Habit of using plastic carrybags for wrapping foodwaste and throwing intothe roadside/commonMunicipality bin especiallyin the slum areas, is to bediscouraged by suitableawareness programmes.

Some more comments

List of some domestic hazard-ous waste (from Report of theCommittee constituted bySupreme Court of India)

• Aerosol cans

• Batteries from flashlightsand button cells

• Bleaches and householdkitchen and drain cleaningagents

• Car batteries, oil filters andcar care products andconsumables

• Chemicals and solvents andtheir empty containers

• Cosmetic items, chemical-based

• Injection needles and sy-ringes after destroyingthem both

• Insecticides and theirempty containers

• Light bulbs, tube-lights andcompact fluorescent lamps(CFL)

• Medicines, discarded

• Paints, oil, lubricants,glues, thinners and theirempty containers

• Pesticides and herbicidesand their empty containers

• Photographic chemicals

• Styrofoam and soft foampackaging from new equip-ment

• Thermometers and mer-cury-containing products

6

7

ICPE led an Industry Delegation and made a pre-sentation to the Ministry of Environment and For-ests on 21st Nov, 2005 on various issues of Plasticsin the Environment.

Important ones included:

• Requirement of Uniform Laws and Rules for theentire country on thickness of Plastics CarryBags.

Plastics and the Environment –An Assessment and Road Map

• Exclusion of ‘Plastics’ from the list of Hazard-ous Waste.

• Review on use of Biodegradable Plastic Bags forthe collection of Biomedical Waste.

Some of the slides are reproduced below:

1 2

3 4

5 6

8

8

9 10

11 12

13

7

14

16

17 18

19 20

15

21 22

9

10

23 24

25 26

27 28

3029

11

31 32

33 34

37 38

35 36

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PVC and the Basel ConventionOrigin of the ConventionIn the late 1980s, a tightening ofenvironmental regulations inindustrialized countries led to adramatic rise in the cost of haz-ardous waste disposal. Searchingfor cheaper ways to get rid of thewastes, “toxic traders” beganshipping hazardous waste todeveloping countries and to East-ern Europe. When this activitywas revealed, international out-rage led to the drafting and adop-tion of the Basel Convention.

BackgroundInitially there was concern thatplastics wastes needed to be con-trolled by the Basel Convention.During the twelfth session of theTechnical Working Group of theBasel Convention in February1997 it was recognized that plas-tic wastes including chlorinatedpolymer and copolymers wastesdo not have intrinsic hazardcharacteristics and that any haz-ardous effects that may arise arefrom the disposal of these wastes.At that meeting it was decidedthat non-halogenated polymerwastes and some fluorinatedpolymer wastes should be placedon the Annex IX – non hazard-ous (B3010). A consensus couldnot be reached on PVC wastesdue to concerns of miss-manage-ment of these wastes. During thefourteenth session of the Tech-nical Working Group, held inPretoria, in November 1998, itwas reviewed that PVC wastesand PVC coated cables have beenplaced on list C. This is simply aworking list used by the Techni-cal Working Group for consider-ing the placement of wastes oneither Annex VIII (list A) orAnnex IX (list B) and has no otherstatus.

Due to the divergent opinions onthe hazardousness of PVC wastesand PVC coated cables and statedpositions of some countries mean

that it has not yet proved possibleto achieve a consensus within theTechnical Working Group. But atthis stage no single country hasinformed the Basel Secretariatthat it has included PVC wastesin its national definitions of haz-ardous waste. Nevertheless someconsider they should be listed onAnnex VIII-hazardous wastes.

One problem that had been iden-tified refers specifically to thetreatment of PVC wastes and PVCcoated cables. It is agreed thatburning could result in the pro-duction of dioxins and, in theabsence of control, to theirrelease to the environment. Thishas been given as a reason forproposing the placing PVCwastes and PVC coated cables onAnnex VIII (list A). However,placement of a waste on listscontained in Annex VIII or IXcannot be due to its managementpractices, according to the prin-ciples of classification adopted inthe Basel Convention, which areintrinsic characteristics.

The evaluation of the hazardous-ness of PVC wastes and PVCcoated cables in terms of the Con-vention seems to be premature,at that time, with respect both tothe completeness of the scientificinformation available and theTechnical Working Group’s ownevaluation of the application ofthe hazard classes H10 to H13.

The Secretariat, in cooperationwith other experts as necessary,was requested to prepare a viewof the available and forthcomingscientific information and pro-vide an independent summaryreport for Technical WorkingGroup.

A proposal to re-examine the list-ing of PVC wastes and PVCcoated cables should be recon-sidered at a future meeting of the

Technical Working Group onlywhen the results of a reviewof the available and forth-coming scientific information areready and the Technical Work-ing Group’s review of the Hcharacteristics is concluded asfar as these characteristicsare necessary to conclude theclassification.

During the sixth Conference ofParties in December 2002, theTechnical Guidelines for theIdentification and Environmen-tally Sound Management of Plas-tic Wastes and of their Disposalcontained in document UNEP/CHW.6/21; was adopted. Thesecretariat was requested to dis-seminate them to Parties, non-governmental organizations andindustry in all United Nationslanguages as appropriate; andinvite Parties, non-governmentalorganizations and industry to usethe technical guidelines. Thisguideline included the currentavailable scientific informationon PVC and PVC coated cablesand Environmental Sound Man-agement (ESM) practices.http://www.basel.int/meetings/cop/cop6/cop6 21e.pdf

As requested by decision VI/37 onthe work program of the Open-ended Working Group, the Sec-retariat has undertaken the taskto continue collecting relevantand recent scientific informationon PVC wastes and PVC coatedcables in collaboration with Par-ties, industry, non-governmentalorganizations and other organi-zations. This information hasbeen placed on the website of theBasel Convention. www.basel.int

Where are we nowAt the seventh meeting of theConference of Parties, held inOctober 2004, it was agreed to

(Cont. on page 14)

13

Rajya Sabha

Plastic Waste

Unstarred Question No. 1877Smt. Bimba Raikar:

(a)Whether India generatesaround 7250 tonnes of plasticwaste including PET bottles,snack/gutka pouches, etc.,every day;

(b)Whether 60 per cent of thisplastic waste is recycled intoinferior products which arehazardous to health;

(c) Whether the rest 40 per centis tossed around to choke sew-ers and environment; and

(d)Whether Government wouldenact an uniform law for useof biodegradable plastics?

Answer: Shri Namo NarainMeena, Minister of State in theMinistry of Environment andForests:

(a)As per the Manual on SolidWaste Management broughtout by the Ministry of UrbanDevelopment in the year2000, plastic waste generatedin the country is around 5000tonnes per day.

(b)As per the information pro-vided by the Indian Centre forPlastics in the Environment,about 60% of the India’s plas-tic production is recycledannually. Standards havebeen laid down by the Bureauof Indian Standards forrecycled plastic products.

(c) Plastics in general are chemi-cally inert substances. Theyare ‘per se’ not harmful to theenvironment, except the indis-criminate littering of the plas-

tic material along with othergarbage and the absence of itsorganized segregation.

(d)Biodegradable Plastics is stillin its nascent state. Its devel-opment and usage in thedeveloped countries also islimited. A uniform law for theuse of biodegradable plasticsis not under consideration ofthe Government at present.

Use of Plastic inAgricultural Activities

Unstarred Question No. 2587Shri Shahid Siddiqui:

(a)Whether it is a fact that Gov-ernment has recommendedthe use of plastic in agricul-tural activities, if so, thejustification for the recom-mendation; and

(b)Whether any study has beendone on the alternatives toplastics, if so, the detailsthereof showing the compara-tive cost-benefit ratio?

Answer: Shri Kanti LalbhuriaMinister of State in theMinistry of Agriculture:

(a)Plastics materials are used inthe following applications inthe agriculture which arebeing promoted through vari-ous Centrally sponsoredSchemes:

• Drip Irrigation• Sprinkler Irrigation• Green House/Low Tunnels• Mulching• Plastic Crates

The above applications help inachieving increase in yields,water saving, better quality pro-duce, raising crops in extremeclimatic conditions. The use of

plastic crates for carrying fruits& vegetables not only facilitatestransportation maintaining thequality of produce but also savesforests to a larger extent whichwould have been otherwise cutto produce wooden boxes tocarry fruits & vegetables.

(b)Plastics materials have beendeveloped as an alternativeto limited conventionalresources, viz., wood, paper,jute, etc., as well as for eco-logical balance and environ-ment protection. Studies havebeen carried out to producebiodegradable plastic materi-als for use in agricultureapplications, viz., mulching.However, such material iscostlier than the conventionalplastics materials.

Water Treatment andDisposable Facilities

Unstarred Question No. 1875Smt. N. P. Durga:

(a)The details of cities whichhave set up suitable wastetreatment and disposablefacilities under the MunicipalSolid Waste (Management andHandling) Rules, 2000;

(b)Whether it is a fact that Indiaproduces 42 million tonnes ofurban solid waste annually,and

(c) What measures Governmentare taking in coordinationwith the States and local mu-nicipalities to maintain theurban waste to the minimumlevel?

Question & Answer in the Rajya Sabha andLok Sabha of Indian Parliament onPlastics and the Environment

14

Answer: Shri Namo NarainMeena, Minister of State in theMinistry of Environment andForests:

(a)As per the information pro-vided by the Central PollutionControl Board of State Govt.,Land fills have been set up invarious cities and towns.

(b)As per the information pro-vided by the Ministry of UrbanDevelopment, India producesaround 42.0 million tonnes ofmunicipal solid waste annu-ally and 1.14 lakh tonnes ofwaste everyday.

(c) The Ministry of Environmentand the Central Pollution Con-trol Board have fundedprojects for the setting upmodel demonstrating facilitiesfor the management of mu-

nicipal solid waste as per theMunicipal Solid Waste (Man-agement and Handling) Rules,2000 on cost sharing basis.

Lok Sabha

Deadly Disease in Childrendue to Toys

Unstarred Question No. 4211Shri Raosaheb Danve Patil:

Whether the Government isaware that small children arelikely to contact a disease likecancer by putting PVC toys intheir mouth?

Answer: Dr. AnbumaniRamadoss, Minister of Health& Family Welfare:

Polyvinyl Chloride (PVCs) is usedto produce plastic materials hav-

ing wide applications in thebuilding sector, packaging, elec-trical appliances, medical care,agriculture, the automotiveindustry and toys. As per a WHOstudy there is evidence thatexposure to vinyl chloride causescancer in humans. However, thereport identifies inhalation as themain route for the occupationalexposure, which occurs prima-rily in plants producing vinylchloride and PVC. The samereport calls for measures to mini-mize emissions at productionsites and sanitary landfills, andto ensure low residual levels inPVC. However, there is no evi-dence which suggests contactingof cancer by putting PVC toys inmouth.

include the review of scientificinformation on the disposal ofPVC wastes in the work programof the Open-ended WorkingGroup of the period 2005-2006.Nevertheless, scrape plasticcoated cables, including PVCcoated cables were mirror listedon Annex VIII if destined foruncontrolled burning and onAnnex IX if ESM is applied.

Also the Secretariat wasrequested to prepare, based oncomments received and made inall the meetings up to the seventhmeeting of the Conference of theParties, a paper analyzing thecurrent situation for consider-ation by the Open-ended Work-ing Group; and also requestedthe Open-ended Working Groupto submit to the Conference of theParties at its eighth meeting rec-ommendations for a decision onthe status of PVC wastes in thecontext of the Basel Convention.

An interim guideline for H013was also adopted at the seventhmeeting of the Conference of Par-ties. This guideline advised thatthe only practical examples ofuse for these H characteristicsare limited to approaches usingtesting procedures based uponleachate of wastes. None of theParties provided concrete infor-mation regarding approachesconcerning other materialsyielded after disposal. The docu-ment contains practical informa-tion on leachate tests whichcould be used by Parties todevelop a national approach forH13. At this stage there is noharmonized approach that couldbe recommended.

Similarly, progress was reportedfor H10, H11 and H12.

The Convention is now ready todecide on the listing of PVCwastes.

(Source: European Council ofVinyl Manufacturers)

PVC industry strongly feelsthat PVC waste should joinother plastics waste on AnnexIX as long as they do not haveAnnex III (hazard) character-istics as currently defined inthe Basel Convention.

Official representatives of vari-ous countries are required toplace their view points to theBasel Convention Secretariat.Malaysian Government hasalready officially declared thatas per Malaysian GovernmentRegulations, PVC waste do notfall under the classification ofHazardous Waste. Represen-tatives of Indian PVC industryalso met the official represen-tatives of Indian Government,Jt. Secretary, MoEF and Direc-tor, MoEF and put forward theviews and facts before the Gov-ernment officials substantiat-ing that PVC waste should notbe categorized as a hazardouswaste.

(Cont. from page 12)

15

Proposed New Regulation toinclude Acidity Factor as aNew Test Parameter inCables by EC

Technical Barriers to Trade(TBT) committee of EuropeanCommission (EC) has proposednew regulation related to fireperformance of cables as a partof Construction Products Direc-tive (CPD).

Chemicals and PetrochemicalsManufacturers’ Association(CPMA), has requested the Min-istry to forward their objectionsto the EC and urge upon it toreconsider the same in view ofthe points raised against the pro-posal as stated below:

• From approximately 32 mil-lion MT PVC consumedglobally, about 6% is used inwire and cable sector. Thereis hardly any match to thetechno-commercial perfor-mance of PVC in the specificareas of low-medium voltagepower cables, household wir-ing, instrumental cables, tele-phone cables, to name a few.With the tremendous develop-ments in infrastructure acrossthe globe, PVCs market inwire and cable sector alone isexpected to grow at the rateof about 4.5%.

• The most importantand serious concern incase of fire is genera-tion of toxic gases, themain one being Car-bon Monoxide (CO).Majority of the peoplewho die from expo-sure to toxic gases hadlethal levels of CO intheir blood. It isimportant to note here

that CO is odourless and hencekills without warning. HClgenerated during burning ofPVC, on the other hand,causes irritation and hencealerts the inmates of theimpending danger, muchbefore attaining a lethal dose.It has been experimentallydemonstrated that it takesabout half an hour to form alethal dose of HCl in a normalroom fire, whereas formationof lethal dose of ‘CO’ due toburning of wood, cloth andother natural and syntheticmaterials is much faster.Moreover as ‘CO’ is odourless,it does not give any indicationof the impending danger tothe inmates.

• In any fire, the first stage, i.e.,initiation is the crucial stageto act for prevention of itsspread. PVC by its chemicalnature is very difficult to burnand is self extinguishing, i.e.,it would cease to burn themoment the source of flameis withdrawn/extinguished.

• PVC has highest Flash IgnitionTemperature, Highest SelfIgnition Temperature andHighest Limiting OxygenIndex (LOI), among the com-mon insulating materials.These properties put PVCahead of other materials as afire resistant material. Theseaspects have been ignored inthe Proposed Regulation.

It appears that this proposeddraft decision is being put forthto effectively ban the usage ofPVC coated cables in EU market.A product should be selectedover an alternative due to itstechno-commercial advantages.The proposal has failed to dem-onstrate that PVC cables are inanyway unsafe. There is no jus-tifiable reason for excluding PVC

as a material for cablecoating. Any technicalregulation adopted by thecommission has to con-form to the EC’s bindingobligations under theTBT agreement. Thisproposed draft decision isnot based on relevant in-ternational standards, isnot performance basedand appears to createunnecessary obstacles ininternational trade.

Do Not Litter.Keep Your Environment Clean.

• Segregate and Throw Waste Only inWaste Bins.

• Use Two Bins – One for Wet Waste,One for Dry Waste.

Waste Food and otherBiodegradable Waste.Can be compostedinto manure.

Plastics, Metals, Paper …Can be recycled intouseful products.

MunicipalCorporation ofGreater Mumbai

Indian Centre forPlastics in theEnvironment

and

Issued in Public Interest by

www.icpenviro.org • www.envis-icpe.com