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The Secretariat of the Strategic Approach to Chemicals Management (SAICM) and the University of Cape Town (UCT) have launched a Community of Practice (CoP) on Chemicals and SDGs to bring representatives from different sectors together and to create a learning network around issues related to addressing Chemicals and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is a summary of the discussion on Chemicals and Biodiversity, which took place on 28 April 2021.Presenter: Neville Ash (UNEP-WCMC)This discussion focused on the relationships and

With a total revenue of more than 90 billion USD in 2018, the global toy market is an important sector of consumer products. Like many other products, toys are composed of a diverse range of materials. Many of these materials are made of, or contain manufactured chemicals. Most of these chemicals are intentionally added, but some can also be present as unintended contaminants.Many chemicals have properties that can make them hazardous to human health and/or the environment. The potential use

The SAICM Secretariat, in partnership with the University of Cape Town, established a community of practice on Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs) to foster discussions, exchange of best practices, and recommendations to address HHPs amongst relevant stakeholders. This is a summary of the discussion on The Role of Alternatives in Phasing out HHPs, which took place on 19 May 2021.Presenters: Francesca Mancini (FAO), Mark Davis (CPSP), Alex Stuart (PAN UK), Sheila Willis (PAN UK)There may often be a perception that HHPs

WHO launched the first comprehensive publication on e-waste, entitled ‘Children and digital dumpsites: e-waste exposure and child health’. The soaring global popularity of electronic and electrical devices, from computers to cell phones to heavy appliances, combined with ineffective waste management and disposal, is triggering a crisis of e-waste health risks to which millions of children, as well as women of childbearing age, are exposed.Informal processing of e-waste through open burning, heating and acid leaching (using cyanide salt, nitric acid or

The Secretariat of the Strategic Approach to Chemicals Management (SAICM) and the University of Cape Town (UCT) have launched a Community of Practice (CoP) on Chemicals and SDGs to bring representatives from different sectors together and to create a learning network around issues related to addressing Chemicals and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is a summary of the discussion on Promoting youth engagement with different stakeholders in chemicals and waste, which took place on 26 May 2021.Presenters: Dickson Ho

The Secretariat of the Strategic Approach to Chemicals Management (SAICM) and the University of Cape Town (UCT) have established a Community of Practice (CoP) on Lead in Paint to bring representatives from different sectors together and to create a learning network around issues related to the elimination of Lead Paint. This is a summary of the discussion on Reformulation is entirely possible, which took place on 9 June 2021.Presenters: Dr Branko Dunjic (NCPC Serbia), Vojislavka Satric (NCPC Serbia), Jeiel Guarino

The SAICM Secretariat, in partnership with the University of Cape Town, established a community of practice on Chemicals in Products to bring representatives from different sectors together and to create a learning network around issues related to addressing Chemicals in Products (CiP). This is a summary of the discussion on Chemicals in toys, which took place on 17 June 2021.Presenters: Olga Speranskaya (HEJSupport), Varuzhan Gyurjyan (Mankan LLC), Gohar Khojayan (AWHHE), Thony Dizon (EcoWaste Coalition), Ram Charitra Sah (CEPHED)This SAICM/UCT discussion

This document has been developed within the framework of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) project ID: 9771 on Global Best Practices on Emerging Chemical Policy Issues of Concern under the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM). This project is funded by the GEF, implemented by UNEP and executed by the SAICM Secretariat.Under the project, UNEP is partnering with Universidad El Bosque to develop a Regional Electronics Study and Circularity Roadmap in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Region

The healthcare sector has a unique healing mission, yet hospitals are key point sources for specialised pharmaceutical residues entering the environment, a serious source of pollution that can threaten ecosystems and the environment, as well as drive the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – a serious public health threat.Up to 90% of orally administered pharmaceuticals are excreted into wastewater as active substances in the faeces and urine of patients. Wastewater treatment plants widely vary in their capacity to eliminate these

Technological development has made electrical and electronic equipment (EEE1) essential parts of contemporary life and indispensable products in today’s societies. Information technology (IT) combined with the technological advances in recent decades, has resulted in EEE having a great influence on the daily life of consumers in aspects such as health, safety, knowledge, comfort information, among others. The global consumption of electronics is growing 2.5 million metric tons per year (Forti, Baldé, Kuehr, & Bel, 2020), because technology increases the living