DECONTAMINATING POLLUTED SOILS - WHO CAN HELP?
UN/ECE PUBLISHES NEW GUIDE
Contamination
of soil by chemicals has created major social and economic
problems worldwide. Leaks from ageing industrial plants,
uncontrolled waste disposal, or contamination as a result of
engineering errors are some instances of how sites can become
highly dangerous. But technologies exist today which can
clean up these sites and make them perfectly usable again for
economic or social purposes.
The United
Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) has just
published a Compendium of Soil Clean-up Technologies and
Soil Remediation Companies. The Compendium is
intended to help authorities to select the technology best
suited to their soil contamination problems and to choose
companies to carry out the clean-up.
The Compendium comprises two parts. Part I describes 19 well-established
commercial soil remediation technologies, which have been
grouped into two broad categories: in situ and ex
situ and further classed according to the method
used - chemical, physical or biological.
Part II
contains a practical list of over 500 soil remediation
companies, with addresses, phone and fax numbers, as well as
contact persons. The 19 countries* / range
geographically from North America to eastern Europe.
UN/ECE will be
updating the Compendium regularly to include
additional countries, companies and technologies. Future
editions are also expected to be available in electronic
format.
The first
issue of the Compendium, priced at US$ 40, can be
purchased through the usual local United Nations sales agents
or from the United Nations Office at Geneva, quoting Sales
No. E.97.II.E.19. Further information about the Compendium can be obtained from:
Mr. André
Orban
Chemical Industry Programme
Trade Division
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Tel: + 41 22 917 32 57
Fax: + 41 22 917 01 78
E-mail: [email protected]
*/
The first edition of the Compendium covers the
following countries: Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia,
Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Switzerland,
Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States.