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SWEDEN MOVES TOWARDS COMPLETE MERCURY PHASE-OUT

Environment Daily

GOTTENBURG, Sweden, 29 June 2001 -- Sweden should bury all waste containing more than 1% mercury as part of its national goal to phase out the metal by 2010, a report by experts has concluded.
Prepared by a government-appointed committee of experts and handed over to the environment ministry on Monday, the report proposes a legal requirement that all waste containing more than 1% of mercury must be disposed of in deep geological sites.  Waste contaminated with more than 0.1% of mercury should be subject to equally stringent disposal criteria if the cost is "reasonable" when compared to "near surface" disposal.

The report will now be sent for comment from industry, the authorities and the public before the government drafts legislation.  Under EU law, Sweden will have to notify the European Commission of its intended law as the initiative would be stricter than existing EU legislation (ED 02/02/01 http://www.environmentdaily.com/articles/index.cfm?action=article&ref=
9231).  In this case, member states may implement more stringent legislation if they can justify it on environmental grounds.

This is not the first time that underground disposal has been recommended.  In 1997, the Swedish environmental protection agency advised the government that mercury waste recycling should be avoided and underground disposal be promoted instead (ED 01/12/97 http://www.environmentdaily.com/articles/index.cfm?action=article&ref=
1992).

The environment ministry estimates that there will be about 15,000 tonnes of waste containing more than 1% mercury, amounting to about 1,100 tonnes of metallic mercury, with another 300 tonnes of the metal contained in 50,000 tonnes of the less contaminated waste by the time the phase-out is complete in 2010.

Follow-up: 

Swedish environment ministry http://miljo.regeringen.se/ 
tel: +46 8 405 1000 
and press release at: http://www.regeringen.se/galactica/service=irnews/owner=sys/action=obj _show?c_obj_id=40349
 

 

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