the 2013 survey results show that VECAP
remains an integral part of environmental
best practices among those companies
committed to the programme. Participation
in the scheme continues to be high;
reporting covers 93% of the total volume of
four brominated flame retardants sold by
EFRA member companies. the VECAP team
continues to make steady progress with
improvements to the programme and in
ra i s i ng awareness of env i ronmenta l
management among users.
Potential emissions of the three flame retardants
surveyed over the course of several years
declined and in most cases reached default
levels, meaning that potential emissions are at
the lowest level achievable by applying the Best
Available Techniques described in the VECAP
tools. This was the case for potential emissions
to air and water for Deca-BDE, while the survey
results reported zero emissions to land for
HBCD, demonstrating that it is possible for the
programme to help users reduce emissions to
land completely.
First time reporting of flame retardant EBP
revealed that potential emissions to water and air
are at default values, those obtained when
VECAP best practices are applied, indicating
that best practices are already being introduced.
The VECAP team will work closely with new
users to encourage the uptake of best practices
for packaging waste disposal in order to ensure
that potential emissions are addressed going
forward. Participation in the programme was
already high among EBP users, covering 87.1%
of the volume sold and sets a good starting point
for implementation and future reporting.
Although brominated flame retardants supplied
by non-EFRA members cannot be included in
this report, it is reasonable to assume that users
who procure volumes from different sources will
also handle these materials with the same best
practices as those supplied by EFRA member
companies.
In 2012, Everkem
11
, an EFRA member supplying
brominated flame retardants based in Italy,
committed to joining the VECAP programme. The
company is planning to promote best practices
among users in order to carry out surveys to
report in 2014.
OVERVIEW OF
2013 PROGRAMME
RESULTS
11
Everkem
www.everkem.it/
VECAP 2013
European Annual
Progress Report
8