Pollution threat at Lake Balaton
Threats to coral reefs
European Common Market countries look for ways to recycle increasing amounts of waste materials
Robert Wazeka
ROBERT WAZEKA is the correspondent in Europe for a group of North American publications.
EEC research dealing with waste concentrates on nuclear processes' urban and industrial waste' toxic metals, sewage treatment and wastepaper.
An overall picture of the entire area of waste recycling was formulated at the European Waste Management Conference held 17-18 June 1980 in London and sponsored by the European Commission.
The nine member countries of the European Economic Community (EEC) are now generating about five million tons of waste materials of various kinds per day, 70-80 percent of which are thrown away without being recycled.
However, both the European Council of Ministers and the European Commission have recognized the great economic and environmental advantages in recycling. Given that the EEC produces 1800 million tons of waste per year, the potential value of reclaimable materials could exceed £16 500 annually. In addition, because member nations are comparatively lacking in raw materials, a successful recycling effort could yield savings on imports of between £8 250 and £11550 million per year.
Not all waste material can be recycled, however, nor perhaps should it be. First, much of it could be incinerated or fermented (in the case of agricultural waste) to produce energy. Second, any attempts to approach 100 percent recycling must take into account the fact that waste utilization itself requires investment in technologies which are often expensive and which consume significant energy resources. Therefore, efforts also need to be made to reduce the creation of waste at the source, although this process also would involve additional costs.
The major sources of waste in the EEC countries are:
· Agricultural wastes, including livestock effluent, which account for 54 percent of the annual 1800 million tons of waste.· Sewage waste and waste water, which make up 19 percent of the total.
· Consumer wastes, half of which are produced in the household and the other half outside the house including such items as old tires, metals and waste oils. These comprise 16 percent of all waste.
· Cinders and extractive industries such as mining, which yield 11 percent.
Wastes which are neither eliminated nor recycled pose the permanent threat of pollution. Wastes discharged by industry and agriculture can contaminate microorganisms and re-emerge in the food chain by way of complex and often ill-understood paths. Dumps and rubbish tips are still widely used by municipal authorities and individuals, and pollutants can filter through the soil and contaminate groundwater sources. Atmospheric wastes, dispersed by the wind, are later returned to earth via rain. Effluents dumped in watercourses transform the major European rivers into veritable sewers. In various parts of the Mediterranean and the English Channel coastline, the sea itself has already absorbed disturbing amounts of pollution.
In April 1976, the EEC created a waste management committee composed of experts from member countries. This committee advises the European Commission on new measures to be taken and on how to implement those already decided upon.
Thus far the committee has been guided by two basic documents, the first of which is an "outline directive" designed to harmonize waste management provisions which differ from country to country. This directive seeks to: (1) prohibit all uncontrolled discharges or dumping which threaten air, water or soil quality; (2) implement authorization and control procedures applicable to both public and private companies; (3) establish national plans, projects and regulations for the elimination of waste; and (4) promote retrieval, recycling and reprocessing of wastes and residues.
Secondly, the EEC has defined the principle objectives for the 1977-81 period:
· Collecting economic and technological data to help in the process of reclamation.· Ensuring better market stability for reclaimed materials, which are often subject to cyclical variations based on the price and availability of raw materials.
· Expanding the outlets for reclaimed materials, especially from orders through public agencies.
These objectives, together with the outline directive, have formed the basis for action on a sector-by-sector or product-by-product basis. Specific directives have already been formulated regarding the elimination of chlorine-based chemicals such as PCBs, the elimination of toxic and dangerous wastes such as mercury, cadmium, tar and asbestos, the discharge of waste into the aquatic environment and the elimination of waste from -the titanium dioxide industry. A new directive is now being formulated which addresses the problem of waste oils which account for about 28 percent of pollution in all European waters.
The Community has also been focusing on the too-often neglected area of consumer wastes. One specific goal is to raise from 4.0 to 60 percent the amount of recycling of wastepaper in the paper industry. Even at the current level of 40 percent recycling, wastepaper constitutes 40-50 percent of the volume and 15-20 percent of the weight of all urban wastes. Another 10 percent of the tonnage of urban waste comes from beverage packaging, and a proposal is now being formulated to reduce this wast-age and to extend the use of returnable bottles.
Another component of consumer wastes, old tires, is increasing at the rate of 10 percent per year (in 1978, there were 1.8 million tons of waste tires). Three fifths of all old tires are not being :recycled. The Community has two specific objectives in this area: to reduce the number of tires being thrown away by increasing tire durability and encouraging retreading; and to utilize waste tires by such means as rubber regeneration and incineration for energy retrieval. It is hoped that specific legal provisions can soon be drawn up, based upon research already in progress.
The EEC's overall approach to waste recycling is supported by fan ambitious research and development programme:
· £70.5 :million have been allocated for research into the processing and storage of nuclear wastes. The Community believes that. its efforts in this field represent the most important multilateral cooperation of its kind in the world.· £9.8 million have been allocated for research into improving the basic treatment processes of sewage sludge and for a study on the safe storage of non-recyclable elements with a high proportion of toxic metals.
· £3.0 million have been allocated to study various technical problems associated with the recycling of waste-paper and cartons such as decontamination, ink removal and the use and re-use of fibres.
· £39.2 million have been allocated for a four-year research and development programme in recycling municipal and industrial waste.
· Community subsidies have been given to demonstration projects on the conversion of agricultural wastes, comprising more than half of all waste, into gas.
Renewed action is being taken by the Hungarian Government to control pollution in Lake Balaton, which attracts more than 600 000 Hungarian and foreign visitors annually and is one of the country's most important tourist attractions.
Pollution in the 590-km² lake comes from three sources: the growing :number of tourists, the increased use of agricultural chemicals in the surrounding area, and seepage from 19 nearby livestock production stations. The result has been rapid eutrophication and a growth in algae which threaten to badly damage the lake's recreational value.
A 1963 government plan for the integrated development of the Balaton area proved adequate as far as it went, but it did not anticipate the rise in pollution. Therefore, the Government has drawn up a new, 30-year plan which anticipates 880 000 tourists and visitors by the year 2010. In addition to monitoring, research and public education programmes, the new plan includes improvement of sewage treatment systems and the substitution of fruit trees for crops on slopes of between 17 and 2.7 degrees.
Coral reefs occur along the coasts of some 85 countries. Most of these are developing countries. The reefs occupy some 600 000 km² and are among the: richest, most productive ecosystems in the world. They are simultaneously complex, fragile and highly productive, a combination which makes them vulnerable to disturbances.
One such disturbance is the direct extraction or mining of coral for building materials, a practice common today in the South Pacific. It is believed that such a practice so upsets the precarious balance of a coral reef that benthic fish and animals, which build the reefs, cannot re-establish themselves.
Another problem is fishing and shell collecting. Large catches can reduce the natural stocks and cause degradation, while shell collectors overturn coral blocks and often do not replace them, resulting in the death of some fauna. Pollution from insecticides, sew age, hydrocarbons, hot water, radioactivity and sedimentation resulting from deforestation and bad land management on nearby shores is a third problem.
The IUCN has a coral group active in efforts to save the reefs. As a result of the group's recommendations, French Polynesia has decided to stop coral extraction in March 1981 and the authorities of other governments are being alerted to the problem.
