PCBs and dioxins are among the most toxic organic chemicals and where the latter is an unwanted bi-product primarily from residential wood burning, fires, municipal waste incineration and steel reclamation, PCBs have been widely used in a number of industrial and commercial products and activities. PAHs have carcinogeni/mutagenic properties and are produced when materials containing carbon and hydrogen are burned. The heavy metal mercury is also one of the most toxic chemicals that is being used today and although there are legally binding instruments in force within the EU and globally, which aim to limit the use and spreading of mercury in the environment it is still found in various consumer and commercial products. The use of these chemicals gives rise to emissions to air. This joint Nordic project contributes to improving the emission inventories for mercury, PAHs, dioxins and PCBs related to the sector "Solvents and Other Product Use", which will help the Nordic countries to assess whether they reach the overall environmental objective of clean and healthy surroundings and several targets in the Nordic Environmental Action Programme 2009-2012 and the international air quality conventions such as Convention on Long-Range, Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP). The report is mainly aimed at experts performing the national emission inventories but also policy-makers and the general public may find information on sources to emissions, working procedure of emission inventories and on measures implemented on an international and national level for reducing emissions.

Environmental pollution by man-made persistent organic chemicals (POCs) has been a serious global issue for over half a century. POCs are prevalent in air, water, soil, and organisms including wildlife and humans throughout the world. They do not degrade and cause long-term effect in organisms. Exposure to certain POCs may result in serious environmental and health effects including birth defects, diminished intelligence and certain types of cancers. Therefore, POCs have been the subject of an intensive regional, national and international effort to limit their production, use, and disposal of these chemical stocks. Trend monitoring studies are essential to make clear the behavior and fate of these compounds and to protect our environment and living resources. Global Contamination Trends of Persistent Organic Chemicals provides comprehensive coverage of spatial and temporal trends of classical and emerging contaminants in aquatic, terrestrial, and marine ecosystems, including the Arctic and Antarctic ecosystems. Compiled by an international group of experts, this volume covers: Spatial and temporal trends of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chlorinated pesticides, polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/furans (PCDD/DFs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs), perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), synthetic musks, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and octyl- and nonylphenols Environmental and biological matrices used for the trend studies were atmosphere, water, soil, sediment, bivalve mollusks, fish, marine mammals, terrestrial mammals, and human breast milk Spatial and temporal trend studies presented from Australia, Brazil, China, Estonia, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, Poland, Sweden, the United States, coastal and open ocean environments, and the Arctic and Antarctic regions POCs have been the subject of an intensive regional, national, and international effort to limit their production and use, and to mitigate the disposal of these chemicals. Since POCs are prevalent in air, water, soil, and tissues of organisms (including wildlife and humans) throughout the world and do not degrade, they cause long-term effects in organisms. Trend monitoring studies are essential to make clear the behavior and fate of these compounds and to protect our environment and living resources. Relevant to professionals and students alike, Global Contamination Trends of Persistent Organic Chemicals facilitates the understanding of environmental and biological behavior of these chemicals and the development of strategies for protecting the global environment for future generations.

Transport and transformation processes are key for determining how humans and other organisms are exposed to chemicals. These processes are largely controlled by the chemicals’ physical-chemical properties. This new edition of the Handbook of Physical-Chemical Properties and Environmental Fate for Organic Chemicals is a comprehensive series in four volumes that serves as a reference source for environmentally relevant physical-chemical property data of numerous groups of chemical substances. The handbook contains physical-chemical property data from peer-reviewed journals and other valuable sources on over 1200 chemicals of environmental concern. The handbook contains new data on the temperature dependence of selected physical-chemical properties, which allows scientists and engineers to perform better chemical assessments for climatic conditions outside the 20–25-degree range for which property values are generally reported. This second edition of the Handbook of Physical-Chemical Properties and Environmental Fate for Organic Chemicals is an essential reference for university libraries, regulatory agencies, consultants, and industry professionals, particularly those concerned with chemical synthesis, emissions, fate, persistence, long-range transport, bioaccumulation, exposure, and biological effects of chemicals in the environment. This resource is also available on CD-ROM

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are chemicals that resist environmental degradation and cause deleterious effects on the environment and human wellbeing. Once released into the environment they can travel long distances and persist for longer duration. This book highlights the complex area of POPs in simple language and deals with the fundamentals of the chemicals, their sources, and impacts on human health. The book also unfolds several other aspects like new and advanced analytical detection methods, gaps in management, effectiveness of the Stockholm convention, and the role of the global monitoring plan on POPs for crucial and holistic understanding about POPs. It also investigates how to minimize the impact of POPs and the major gaps and challenges in sound management of POPs. With its comprehensive approach, this book is an indispensable source of knowledge for those studying and working to mitigate the effect of POPs in the environment.

Hazardous pollutants are a growing concern in treatment engineering. In the past, biological treatment was mainly used for the removal of bulk organic matter and the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorous. However, relatively recently the issue of hazardous pollutants, which are present at very low concentrations in wastewaters and waters but are very harmful to both ecosystems and humans, is becoming increasingly important. Today, treatment of hazardous pollutants in the water environment becomes a challenge as the water quality standards become stricter. Hazardous Pollutants in Biological Treatment Systems focuses entirely on hazardous pollutants in biological treatment and gives an elaborate insight into their fate and effects during biological treatment of wastewater and water. Currently, in commercial and industrial products and processes, thousands of chemicals are used that reach water. Many of those chemicals are carcinogens, mutagens, endocrine disruptors and toxicants. Therefore, water containing hazardous pollutants should be treated before discharged to the environment or consumed by humans. This book first addresses the characteristics, occurrence and origin of hazardous organic and inorganic pollutants. Then, it concentrates on the fate and effects of these pollutants in biological wastewater and drinking water treatment units. It also provides details about analysis of hazardous pollutants, experimental methodologies, computational tools used to assist experiments, evaluation of experimental data and examination of microbial ecology by molecular microbiology and genetic tools. Hazardous Pollutants in Biological Treatment Systems is an essential resource to the researcher or the practitioner who is already involved with hazardous pollutants and biological processes or intending to do so. The text will also be useful for professionals working in the field of water and wastewater treatment.

For many years, concerns have been expressed about environmental issues in the Arctic. While the Arctic region, unlike Antarctica, has been inhabited for thousands of years, it is under unique threat because of its vulnerability toward resource exploitation and the deposition of various airborne pollutants. With its varied populations, and with eight Nations asserting territorial interests, the Arctic needs a careful approach to its protection and development. This report describes the current Arctic environmental legal regime. It also discusses the possibility of negotiating a sustainability treaty for the Arctic with high standards of environmental protection similar to those in the 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. It is hoped that this review of the legal and policy contrasts between the Arctic and Antarctic can help in the consideration of future directions for the Arctic legal regime.