27th July 2019
As in previous years, BZL GmbH provided Wienerberger AG with scientific advice for the preparation of its sustainability report.
April 2019
In its 7th Environmental Programme, the European Commission is, among other things, pursuing key objectives in the handling of substances and materials known under the keywords “non-toxic environment” and “circular economy”. These target areas have numerous interfaces in waste, chemicals and product legislation. Conflicts of objectives can arise, for example, with regard to the classification of waste in analogy to chemicals and at the border between waste and secondary raw materials that are processed into products. Based on questions and practical experience, we investigate how these conflicts of objectives can be defused or solved. In our opinion, it is necessary to provide waste management actors with much more information than before about the composition of used products; this should not only include hazardous substances, but also interfering and value-adding materials in general. Disposal routes as well as the entire handling of waste are largely based on risk considerations in waste management – a one-to-one transfer of hazard-related classifications from the chemicals and products sector to waste management would be counterproductive for achieving the Commission’s objectives. In the case of contaminated secondary raw materials, their entry into products can be justified in individual cases; however, this requires a risk assessment that includes in particular physico-chemical factors, utility models and controllable recycling routes. For plastics in particular, new Europe-wide End-of-Waste regulations are necessary. Internationally recognized variety lists of used plastics are an important condition for a significant increase in their recycling.
February 2019
The concept of “Circular Economy” aims at maximizing re-use or recycling of products and materials from the technosphere. Hazardous compounds are among the most prominent obstacles towards this goal. Cadmium (Cd) belongs to the group of strictly regulated hazardous elements. In this paper, we collect the available knowledge about the fate of products and materials containing Cd and its compounds and investigate Cd streams entering the waste management sector. In Part I we dealt with Ni/Cd batteries and in Part II with PVC window profiles. Part III is dedicated to the use of Cd in PV modules. With regard to the three exemplary applications of Cd, it can be shown that the rather decreasing use of Cd with the simultaneous occurrence of additional primary quantities as a by-product of the production especially of zinc, but of lead and copper, too, requires a global strategy for dealing with this heavy metal.