Regional capacity-building workshop on the guidelines on best available techniques (BAT) and provisional guidance on best environmental practices (BEP)

Background:

To minimize and where feasible eliminate releases of persistent organic pollutants from unintentional production Parties shall promote in some cases and require in others the use of best available techniques and promote application of best environmental practices.

When applying best available techniques (BAT) and best environmental practices (BEP), Parties should take into consideration the guidelines on best available techniques and best environmental practices developed under the Stockholm Convention and adopted by decision SC-3/5 of the Conference of the Parties.

Workshop outcomes:

The workshop, which was hosted by CETESB, a nominated Stockholm Convention center for Latin America, gathered a total of 33 participants from 15 Latin American Parties, as well as representatives from NGOs, industry and intergovernmental organizations.

During three days, the following topics were presented and discussed:

• the requirements under Article 5 including the identification of priority sources of unintentionally released POPs;
• examples of techniques and practices described in the BAT&BEP guidelines;
• concrete case studies and experiences related to the implementation of BAT&BEP guidelines at national level;
• opportunities for accessing technical assistance under the Stockholm Convention;
• possible regional activities and cooperation in support of implementation of Article 5.

All participants appreciated the opportunity given to share experiences between countries from the region with the implementation of Article 5 and the use of BAT&BEP guidelines. The presentation of experience and activities undertaken by NGOs as well as techniques used in industry sectors relevant to the region was highly valuable to the discussions.

Workshop Materials

Conclusions and recommendations of the workshop

Resources:

• Workshop Agenda
• Stockholm Convention Guidelines on Best Available Techniques (BAT) and Best Environmental Practices (BEP)
• Introduction to Basel Convention POPs Waste Guidelines and Training Tool
• A Waste Management Handbook: a zero waste approach

List of participants

Workshop presentations:

• Objectives and Organisation of the Workshop (Spanish)
• Overview of the Stockholm Convention (Spanish)
  
• Requirements under Article 5 related to unintentional production of POPs (Spanish)
• Inventory of unintentional releases of POPs (Spanish)
• Countries presentations on Article 5 implementation:
  • Chile
  • Ecuador
  • Mexico
  • Panama:
  • Article 5 and BAT&BEP implementation      
  • Venezuela

• Introduction to the BAT&BEP Guidelines (Spanish)
• Summaries of main source categories
• BAT&BEP examples applied to source categories listed in Section V of the guidelines
  • Waste management including solid municipal and industrial waste and medical waste:
    • Industrial solid waste management
    • Medical waste management
    • Alternative to incineration
    • Alternative to medical waste incineration
  • Thermal processes in the metallurgical industry
• EU perspective
• Contaminated sites
• Technical assistance related to unintentional POPs and BAT&BEP implementation
• Workplan of the Stockholm Convention nominated regional centre, CETESB
• Other presentations:
  
  • Additional presentation from Mexico
  • Additional presentation by Paraguay