J5: Prevent harmful chemicals from being recycled
Short Description
This indicator will track the amount of banned, restricted or soon to be restricted chemicals in waste which are being destroyed. The removal and proper destruction of such chemicals is necessary to prevent them contaminating recycled products or being released into the environment.
Initially the indicator will use data on the amount of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) remaining in circulation. This is in line with the goal to substantially increase the amount of POPs material being destroyed or irreversibly transformed by 2030. Data on elimination of the use of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) has been included and data on other POPs will be included when data become available.
Where possible, these chemicals should be removed prior to disposal, minimising the amount of waste being sent for destruction. Data may soon become available for some of these waste types, enabling assessment of improvements in the quantity and quality of waste material available for recycling.
Readiness and links to data
This indicator is not available for reporting in 2024 in a finalised form. Further work is planned to expand the indicator to include more POPs, and to improve the existing data following further industry assurance. An interim indicator is presented here which shows the tonnage of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) remaining in the UK. Waste tool models have also been developed for brominated chemicals decabromodiphenyl ether (DecaBDE) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD), these are intended to be incorporated into J5 in a future publication.
Data are available via the persistent organic pollutants multimedia emissions inventory (MMEI) waste tool report (Defra project code CX0109), including data on the amount of POPs that have been incinerated. Additional data are also published via the hazardous waste interrogator. Relevant data from the interrogator are incorporated into the model presented here.
Notes on indicator
This indicator exhibits a slightly different trend to the emissions shown in indicator ‘H3: Emissions of mercury and persistent organic pollutants to the environment’. Whilst both this indicator and H3 incorporate a natural emissions factor from a total bank of PCBs, H3 also includes additional sources of PCB emissions, such as industry, combustion, uncontrolled burning and landfill.
J5 is based on data modelled via the PCBs waste tool, derived from a number of data sources, including: the generation rate and life of PCBs containing equipment; the hazardous waste interrogator; literature values on the bank of PCBs; the natural emissions factor for PCBs generated for the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI); and more recently efforts by the Environment Agency to register and monitor PCBs containing equipment. A full account of the data sources, plus future projections can be found in the persistent organic pollutant MMEI waste tool report.
Currently, the overall uncertainty is derived from the best available estimates in uncertainty from the various data sources, however, many of these uncertainty estimates are based upon expert judgement. As such, there is considerable uncertainty in the model and this is currently reported as 20% of the values presented in figure J5. Future development work will include additional rounds of validation and continued development of the methodology used to derive uncertainty.
Indicator components
Figure J5: Total bank of in-use polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) remaining in the UK, 1990 to 2022
Table J5: Total bank of in-use polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) remaining in the UK, 1990 to 2022
| Year | Tonnes of PCBs (thousands) |
|---|---|
| 1990 | 12.00 |
| 1991 | 11.20 |
| 1992 | 10.40 |
| 1993 | 9.60 |
| 1994 | 8.80 |
| 1995 | 8.00 |
| 1996 | 6.91 |
| 1997 | 5.97 |
| 1998 | 5.16 |
| 1999 | 4.46 |
| 2000 | 3.86 |
| 2001 | 3.33 |
| 2002 | 2.88 |
| 2003 | 2.49 |
| 2004 | 2.15 |
| 2005 | 1.86 |
| 2006 | 1.61 |
| 2007 | 1.39 |
| 2008 | 1.20 |
| 2009 | 1.04 |
| 2010 | 0.90 |
| 2011 | 0.77 |
| 2012 | 0.67 |
| 2013 | 0.58 |
| 2014 | 0.50 |
| 2015 | 0.43 |
| 2016 | 0.37 |
| 2017 | 0.32 |
| 2018 | 0.28 |
| 2019 | 0.24 |
| 2020 | 0.21 |
| 2021 | 0.20 |
| 2022 | 0.18 |
Trend description for J5
The amount of PCBs in use in equipment in the UK has declined by 98.5% since the start of the series (1990), with most of the reduction occurring between 1990 and the mid-2000s. However, decreases have continued throughout the 2010s and the first years of the 2020s, reducing from 890 to 180 tonnes between 2010 and 2022.
In addition to modelling the size of the remaining PCB stockpile, the waste tool for PCBs also models the destruction of PCBs. The full dataset can be viewed in the MMEI report, but to summarise, destruction rates were between 700 and 1,100 tonnes per annum during the 1990s, falling to below 500 tonnes per annum from 2000 onwards as the scale of the stockpile decreases.
Assessment of change
Decreases in the amount of in-use PCBs have been observed over the short, medium and long-term time periods (an improvement).
Change since 2018 has also been assessed. There has been a decrease in the amount of PCBs remaining in circulation in the UK, however this is based on 5 data points and should be considered as indicative and not evidence of a clear trend.
Further information on this assessment, along with details on the methodology, is provided in the Assessment background page. Summaries by 25 Year Environment Plan goal and information on indicator links are presented in the Assessment results pages.
Table J5: Assessment of change
| Component | Period | Date range | Percentage change | Smoothing function | Assessment of change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J5 | Short term | 2016 to 2021 | -33.50 | Loess | Improvement |
| J5 | Medium term | 2011 to 2021 | -71.25 | Loess | Improvement |
| J5 | Long term | 1990 to 2021 | -98.26 | Loess | Improvement |
Note that assessment categories were assigned based on smoothed data, so percentage change figures in Table J5 may differ from unsmoothed values quoted elsewhere. Percentage change refers to the difference seen from the first to last year in the specified date range.