The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and the Dutch group Stichting Natuur en Milieu (SNM) say the chlorine industry, represented by lobby group Euro Chlor, should adopt a stricter phasing out strategy for mercury, and should permanently store the discarded mercury rather than reselling it on the market. The obligatory dismantling, by 2007, of 47 chlorine and caustic soda plants in Europe that use mercury in their production process is expected to release up to 15,000 tonnes of mercury, which the industry proposes to sell on.

Euro Chlor has signed a contract with the world market leader in mercury, Minas de Almedèn in Spain, to sell their mercury problem on to the world market,says Marc Koene of SNM.Putting a stop to Europe's use of mercury in chlorine production is long overdue, but throwing thousands of tons of cheap mercury on to the world market would be irresponsible,says Stefan Scheuer of the EEB.

"The chlorine industry has a responsibility to deal with its waste, and should ensure that the mercury is immobilised and stored in secure underground containers," Scheuer told edie. "Although the industry is now working towards the 2007 deadline, it has called for an extension up to 2020 to switch all plants to non-mercury catalysed production, and could well seek exemptions from local and national authorities to continue using mercury beyond the deadline," says Scheuer.

Euro Chlor recently compiled the first set of sustainability performance indicators for the chlor-alkali industry, which include reducing mercury emissions and increasing energy and water efficiency. Baseline data has been collected from a range of companies, and will shortly be published to enable the industrys performance against commitments to be assessed in the future, says Euro Chlor.