<p>Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of News Item titled "MP Supriya Sule expressed concern over medical waste dumping” appearing in the Hindustan Times dated 18.12.2024.</p>
The draft "Hazardous Materials Rules 2007' put up on the MoEF website in September this year for public comments has changed the definition of hazardous waste by replacing the word
State inaction, public protests block facilities Lax laws are only part of the problem. India does not have enough treatment facilities for the hazardous waste it generates
The European Commission (<font class="UCASE">ec</font>) recently issued a second formal warning to Slovenia to implement European Union rules on the prevention of sea pollution. In case of further non-compliance, <font class="UCASE">ec</font> threatened to drag the East European country to the court of the European Communities in Luxembourg. <br>
The shipbreakers of Alang are an exasperated lot. "As it is we are crippled by excise duty and competition. Then these Greenpeace activists make business tough for us. Shipbreaking falls under 32 government departments. How are we supposed to operate,' says R K Jain, operator of a ship breaking plot and an ancillary steel rolling mill in Alang.<br>
Le <i> Clemenceau</i> is undoubtedly big. It has dominated more than its fair share of media space. But it does deserve it. Not because of its scale or the fact that it is carrying asbestos, whether in its cargo or its structure.
Hazardous: e-waste material like computers and cellphones. Chennai ranks third among the top 10 cities in the country that generate e-waste, according to the Central Pollution Control Board. It generates roughly 10,000 to 20,000 tonnes of e-waste a year with no proper facility to recycle them. e-waste includes discarded computers, phones, cell phones, fax machines, printers and copiers and their components. Experts say that only 10 per cent of e-waste is recycled properly. The remaining 90 per cent is broken down in a crude manner in the unorganised sector.
NAZIRA,Feb12
Thousands of tons of used computers and obsolete electronic equipment, which contain large amounts of hazardous waste, are being brought into Pakistan with complete disregard to the grave risks they pose to human and environmental health, Dawn has learnt. Tens of thousands of used computers and related equipment, which are difficult and expensive to dispose of in developed countries because of their hazardous nature, are annually imported under the pretext of
More than 100 dental clinics in Colombo will participate in a "Go Green' project aiming for zero environmental effect from dental dangerous waste containing mercury. Amalgam separators will soon be installed at the clinics collecting 99 per cent of the amalgam which contains mercury. Sweden Recycling AB, a Swedish environmental oriented company, with financial assistance from the Swedish organisation SIDA, is spearheading this project to reduce the mercury waste coming from dental clinics in Sri Lanka. With this project, Sri Lanka will be the first country in Asia to move towards a safe recycling of dental dangerous waste. Installing amalgam separators will evidence that mercury waste can be reduced instantly. Awarness of the positive effects on the evironment and the benefit of this to humans is expected to lead to a wider use of amalgam separators both on a national and international level. The Sri Lanka Dental Association with 1,500 dentist members, together with Sweden Recycling is offering dental clinics to participate in a subsidised project where dangerous waste will be collected and recycled. Sweden Recycling has during the last 25 years successfully reduced the amount of mercury finding its way into nature, polluting the environment in Nordic countries. In Sweden, more than 500 kg of mercury is yearly recovered by Sweden Recycling from the dental sector. Mercury is a heavy metal which posses the most severe threat to nature and to human beings through pollution caused by inadequate handling of mercury contaminated waste. Dental clinics generally represent approximately 50 per cent of the total amount of mercury being wasted into nature and polluting the environment for decades. Amalgam waste, and thus mercury being its main ingredience in the dental amalgam, has to be collected at source (the dental clinic) according to the mercury strategy adopted by the European Parliament. In Asia pollution caused by mercury waste is not restricted like in Europe and the amalgam pollution continues. Teeth repair with amalgam fillings continue to be the main method for dental proffesionals. Since there is no collection in Asia of waste containing mercury and recovery of mercury the impact of the waste is massive. Many inhabitants in Asia have fish as their most important daily food and the fish is prone to be contaminated by mercury in the water. Mercury will thus be transferred to man and accumulated in the human body with well-known lethal effects. Inducting amalgam separators in dental clinics is thus a big step towards a cleaner environment and consequently less polluted food.
The Defence Department said on Monday it had a "high degree of confidence' that the missile fired at a dead U.S. spy satellite in space destroyed the satellite's fuel tank as planned. In its most definitive statement yet on the outcome of last Wednesday's shootdown over the Pacific, the Pentagon said based on debris analysis it is clear the Navy missile destroyed the fuel tank, "reducing, if not eliminating, the risk to people on Earth from the hazardous chemical.' The tank had 454 kg of hydrazine, a toxic substance that U.S. government officials believed posed a potential health hazard to humans if the satellite had descended to Earth on its own. The presence of the hydrazine was cited by U.S. officials as the main reason to shoot down the satellite
