Global Chemical Leasing Award gold award winners

Global chemical leasing award winners receive prizes The winners of the first global chemical leasing awards were recognised at a reception at the official opening of ChemCon Europe 2010 last night. The biennial awards are sponsored by the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Water and Environmental Management. Thomas Jakl of the Austrian Environment Ministry said he felt the award had indeed inspired companies. “It brings companies and examples in front of the curtain and makes people exchange views and experiences.” The competition attracted a global response, with 27 applications from 10 countries. The gold award winners were:

Category – Case Studies: Ecopetrol of Colombia for delivering “huge” savings of water, chemicals and costs in a leasing project for wastewater treatment for its oil and petroleum refining plants. The project is said to clearly demonstrate the potential for other companies with similar operations; Category – Consulting Services: Mr Yuan Kuan of the UNIDO National Cleaner Production Center (NCPC) in Columbia; Category – PR Services: The two gold award winners are Mr Anurag Priyadarshi of IKEA Trading HK, India and Ms Vojislavka Satric of the UNIDO NCPC in Serbia.

IKEA also won a special “outstanding efforts in the supply chain award” award for promoting chemical leasing among dye suppliers for its textiles facilities in India, even though it was not using the processes itself. Pre-conference seminars Two well-attended meetings yesterday presented delegates with practical detailed compliance information. The first on the US Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) described both how the current law works and gave new insight into the potential timescale and content of changes under the TSCA re-authorisation process now underway. Acting Deputy Director of the US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics Barbara Cunningham said while 2010 will be the year of “heavy debate” on the reform, the new legislation is not expected to be finalised until 2011 or 2012. In the second session speakers gave a step-by-step explanation of exposure assessment for REACH and classification and labeling. Delegates learned why they are necessary, where to find useful information, how to use reference values and modifying assessment factors for risk assessment and data waiving arguments under REACH and then how to submit these via IUCLID and incorporate them into chemical safety assessments and reports. They were also directed to the many trade association tools and official guidance documents available to help but warned that it is a dynamic field with variables constantly changing!

GHS challenges continue

The Asia-Pacific region continues to lead the way with activity on implementation of the UN Globally Harmonised System on the Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). Karon Armstrong of the ChemCon Europe 2010 Program Advisory Committee talks to Mamta Patel about the continuing compliance challenges.

Ms Armstrong, Senior Regulatory Specialist at 3M, says Asia-Pacific countries continue to be the most dynamic on the GHS front, for example Indonesia and the Philippines have recently announced new classification and labeling legislation. New developments are also reported in New Zealand and Australia.

The situation in China remains confused with differing reports on the status of GHS implementation there. The Chinese authorities appear to be working closely with their counterparts in Japan and South Korea in a Tripartite on Chemicals Policy Management. Ms Armstrong recommends a report1 from the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Chemical Dialogue that draws together information on the region based on reports from regulators and industry.

Other parts of the world are now beginning to move on GHS implementation. For instance Brazil announced new GHS standards in September 2009 for implementation by February 2011. In the USA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a notice of proposed rule-making in December to bring its classification and labeling laws in line with GHS. OSHA will publish the final rule between April and October 2011 followed by a minimum three year transition period for full

compliance. A vigorous discussion is already underway on the proposals, with hearings scheduled in the next few weeks.

A continuing concern is interpreting what GHS laws mean in practice for companies. There is said to be confusion among some regulators about how to apply the “building block” approach allowed under GHS or how to choose relevant data for classification. Ms Armstrong notes that it can take many months to receive official legislative text and sometimes key details are still not available.

Even as companies and regulators struggle with these implementation challenges, Ms Armstrong notes that revisions are being discussed to the underpinning GHS regime. When many are still tackling previous versions, both government and industry bodies wonder whether it would not be wiser to wait until all have caught up. Overall, GHS is still a positive direction for both government and industry, she concludes.

1 APEC Chemical Dialogue GHS status

report (pp21-46)

http://aimp.apec.org/Documents/2009/SO

M/SOM2/09_som2_021.pdf

Editorial

First of all I would like to congratulate all chemical leasing award winners on their outstanding success. And I would also like to compliment UNIDO and The Austrian Ministry of Environment for taking this initiative. Yesterday was already a busy day with in-depth seminars on TSCA and exposure scenarios producing a lot of useful information to share as well as interesting questions for our speakers.

I expect today’s sessions on REACH and GHS will also provide many interesting angles on the implementation process for two challenging “monuments” of chemical control legislation.

Tjeerd Bokhout

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