POPS PRODUCERS
Dioxins
Dioxins and furans are produced as unintentional byproduct from many
manufacturing and combustion processes, especially processes that use,
produce or dispose of chlorine or chlorine derived chemicals.
| There
are many dioxin sources in both developed and developing countries,
whereas according to a recent UNEP inventory only 15 countries -almost
all in Western Europe and Northern America - so far have dioxin
inventories, and even these are incomplete. This means that there
is a general lack of information on dioxin sources and currently
no estimate of the global dioxin production and release into the
environment can be made. Estimates range from 1.4 to 50 kg per year. |
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The
main identified source of airborne dioxin contamination is waste incineration.
However, it is believed that a significant part of the sources is not
quantified yet. For example for the North Sea it is believed that alifatic
chlorine production (VCM for PVC-production) is a major source. Other
known dioxin sources include epychlorine production (Shell, Solvay).
The main chlorine producing and using companies include many of the
world's leading chemical companies, including Dow Chemicals, Solvay
and ICI.
Because dioxins are produced as unintentional byproducts and only in
very small amounts, companies producing dioxins do not keep records
of the amounts of production. It is therefor impossible to make any
assessment of the extend to which individual companies may have contributed
to the global contamination with dioxins and furans. However, there
are records for some of these companies of local dioxin contamination
or dioxin contamination of their products (e.g.
see the hotspots map).
Table of Known or Suspected
Processes that form Dioxin and Related Chemicals