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Stockholm convention

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants was signed on May 22, 2001, and effective from May 17, 2004. As of January 2021, 184 parties — EU and 183 countries — ratified the convention.

The convention is aimed at eliminating or reducing the production and use of several hazardous persistent organic pollutants (POPs), the list of which extended with time.

Under Article 6 of the convention, POP-containing wastes should be destroyed or irreversibly transformed so that they do not exhibit the characteristics of POPs or otherwise disposed of in an environmentally sound manner when destruction or irreversible transformation cannot be performed.

The implementation of the Stockholm Convention is closely related to implementation of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal which ensured development of the principles of environmentally sound waste management for wastes containing or contaminated with POPs including the list of technologies for destruction or irreversible transformation.

Technologies for destruction and irreversible transformation [1] Click for PDF

Technology POP
HBB HBCD HCB, HCBD and PeCB PCB PCDDs/PCDFs PCN PCP Pesticides POPs PFOS POP-BDEs SCCPs
(а) Alkali metal reduction ND ND ND Yes ND ND ND Yes for chlordane, HCH ND ND * ND
(b) Advanced–solid waste incineration (ASWI) ND Yes ND ND ND ND Yes ND ND Yes Yes
(c) Base catalyzed decomposition (BCD) ND ND ND Yes Yes ND Yes Yes ND ND ND
(d) Catalytic hydrodechlorination (CHD) ND ND ND Yes Yes ND ND ND ND ND ND
(e) Cement kiln co-incineration Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
(f) Gas-phase chemical reduction (GPCR) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
(g) Hazardous-waste incineration Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
(h) Plasma arc ND ND ND Yes ND ND ND Yes, for most pesticides, including chlordane, chlordecone, DDT, endosulfan, heptaclor ND ND ND
(i) Plasma melting decomposition method (PMD) ND ND ND Yes ND ND ND ND ND ND ND
(j) Supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) and subcritical water oxidation Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
(k) Thermal and metallurgical production of metals ND ND ND ND Yes ND ND ND ND Yes ND

 * ND stands for “not determined” and indicates that information is not available in the literature referred to in this document to confirm the use of the technology for certain POPs.


1 – General technical guidelines on the environmentally sound management of wastes consisting of, containing or contaminated with persistent organic pollutants (May 01, 2019).