1 / 9

Export of mercury and mercury waste

Export of mercury and mercury waste. Sven Hagemann GRS. Export of elemental mercury and mercury waste. When? As long as national/ regional storage/ treatment/ disposal facilities do not exist If quantities are too small to justify a national storage/ treatment/ disposal facility Examples:

lolita
Download Presentation

Export of mercury and mercury waste

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Export of mercury and mercury waste Sven HagemannGRS

  2. Export ofelementalmercuryandmercurywaste When? As long as national/ regional storage/ treatment/ disposal facilities do not exist If quantities are too small to justify a national storage/ treatment/ disposal facility Examples: • Export of by-product mercury from Chile/ Peru to USA for refining and re-export (will end from 1 January 2013) • Export of mercury contaminated waste (catalysts, sludges) from the oil/ gas industry in Indonesia to Germany and Switzerland for recycling

  3. Export concepts Transport • B1) Warehouse storage, 40 years (USA) • So far, availableonlyformercurygenerated in the USA • Mercury remains in theownershipandresponsibilityoftheproducer B2) Stabilizationandundergrounddisposal (Europe)

  4. Legal prerequisites and requirementsfortheexportofcommoditymercury No export ban for commodity mercury (currently only in the EU, soon in US) export may be further restricted in the mercury convention (e.g. export only for accepted uses, environmentally sound storage and disposal) No import ban for commodity mercury (some European countries) Application of international rules for shipment of dangerous goods, e.g. ADR (UNECE) (road), IMDG (sea), GHS, UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods • Classification, • Labelling • Packaging • Safety measures

  5. Legal prerequisites and requirements for the export of mercury waste No export ban for mercury waste (Basel Convention: no export of hazardous waste to non-parties no export to area south of 60° South latitude no export from EU, OECD countries to other countries (Ban amendment, not entered into force)  export may be further restricted in the mercury convention (e.g. export only for the purpose of environmentally sound disposal) No import ban for hazardous waste (> 100 developing countries) Shipment according to international rules for shipment of dangerous goodsClassification, Labelling, Packaging, Safety measures (ADR, UN, IMDG, GHS) Prior informed consent, notification, proof of contract, documentation (Basel Convention)

  6. Export ofelementalmercuryascommodityorwaste? Elementalmercury Intented for disposal (treatment, storage before disposal, recycling, final disposal)  waste(Basel Convention) Mercury from a certain source  waste to be disposed (national definition, e.g. EU) Mercury not considered waste intented for warehouse storage (storage of commodities)  commodity

  7. Containers for shipment of elemental mercury Sea transport: only 3l flask (e.g. on palettes) Transport on land: according to national/ regional requirements: 3l flasks, 1 t containers, other containers

  8. Costofexporttoanotherregion A) Transport Example: Export ofby-productmercuryfrom Peru to USA: 850 to 1,140 USD/t B1) Warehouse storage, 40 years 7,200 to 16,100 USD/t (planned DOE facility, USA) Transport + Storage: ~8,000 + 17,000 USD/t B2) Stabilizationandundergrounddisposal 2,000 EUR ~ 2,800 USD/t Transport + Disposal: ~ 4,000 USD/t  maybemore expensive that regional solution

  9. Opportunities and challenges of export to another region Opportunities • Use of established processes and facilities elsewhere • Probably few legal obstacles for export to developed countries Challenges • Foreign facilities may not be available for non-domestic mercury • Public acceptance in importing state • Storage: difficult issues of ownership and liability • Export of waste to facility in developing country hampered or even excluded by national and international law

More Related