December 2019
In December 2019, Henning Friege, Beate Kummer, Klaus-Günter Steinhäuser, Joachim Wuttke, and Barbara Zeschmar-Lahl published an updated article on the interface problem of chemical, product, and waste law at Environmental Law Network International (elni Review 2019, 39-40, ISSN 1618-2502).
20th November 2019
On November 20, 2019, the book “Wastewater Treatment Residues as Resources for Biorefinery Products and Biofuels” edited by Jose Antonio Olivares, Daniel Puyol, Juan Antonio Melero and Javier Dufour was published by ELSEVIER. In this book, Dr. Barbara Zeschmar-Lahl has contributed the introductory chapter “I.1. Waste as a resource”.
11th November 2019
As in previous years, BZL GmbH provided Wienerberger AG with scientific advice for the preparation of its sustainability report. The 2018 Wienerberger Sustainability Report was awarded second place in the “Large Companies” category of the Austrian Sustainability Reporting Award (ASRA) on November 11, 2019. This award is sponsored annually by the Chamber of Certified Public Accountants in cooperation with the Institute of Austrian Certified Public Accountants, the Ministry of Life, the Federal Environment Agency, the Confederation of Austrian Industries, respACT (the Austrian Business Council for Sustainable Development), the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, and the Austrian Society for Environment and Technology.
Press release:
2018 Wienerberger Sustainability Report:
4th November 2019
The report entitled “Digital – Innovativ – Nachhaltig” (“Digital – Innovative – Sustainable”) presents the sustainability strategy of LINZ AG and shows the innovative and digital services and products with which this largest municipal enterprise in Upper Austria makes a significant contribution to the future viability of the Linz area. The report was written by Dipl.-Ing. Isabella Kossina and Dr. Barbara Zeschmar-Lahl.
14th August 2019
The edition includes the following contributions:
Trapp M.: Development of the leachate quality from landfills – evaluation for the water balance from different landfill classes in North Rhine-Westphalia (in German). Müll-Handbuch, Ref. 4322, Ed. 1/19. Information and download options:
Biermann J.: MinPlus: Additive for hot acid gas clean-up and boiler protection (in German). Müll-Handbuch, Ref. 7405, Ed. 1/19. Information and download options:
Stockschläder J., Quicker P., Pretz T., Garth A., Koralewska R., Zayat-Vogel B., Feil A.: Dry and wet ash removal during waste incineration: Influence on bottom ash treatment and its products (in German). Müll-Handbuch, Ref. 7440, Ed. 1/19. Information and download options:
Schnell M., Horst T., Quicker P.: Thermal treatment of sewage sludge (in German). Müll-Handbuch, Ref. 7611, Ed. 1/19. Information and download options:
14th August 2019
On 14 August 2019, Henning Friege, Beate Kummer, Klaus-Günter Steinhäuser, Joachim Wuttke and Barbara Zeschmar-Lahl published their contribution on the question of the interfaces between chemicals, product and waste legislation at Environmental Science Europe.
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.