Emphasising safety and sustainability in circular design A stronger focus on safety, health and sustainability is needed in designing circular products. When basic resources are re-used in new products, health risks should be avoided.
RIVM will make measurements around the Sint Maarten landfill From 21 January 2019, a team from RIVM will travel to Sint Maarten to make measurements and take samples at various locations around the landfill in Philipsburg.
Dutch air quality shows little improvement in 2017 In 2017, concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter in most parts of the Netherlands were below European limit values.
Discussion regarding health-based guidance value of PFOA The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published a provisional health-based guidance value for perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).
Climate change, ozone depletion and air quality need to be addressed coherently Ozone layer depletion, air pollution and climate change need to be addressed in connection with each other.
European critical loads: database, biodiversity and ecosystems at risk Approximately 79 percent of the nature reserves (Natura 2000 areas) in EU countries are estimated to be exposed to an excess of nitrogen deposition in 2020.
EFSA agrees with RIVM that potential effect of BPA on the immune system requires further attention RIVM expressed concerns on the effects of bisphenol a (BPA) on the immune system in a report issued in March 2016.
Less air pollution from traffic and industry but increased contribution from agriculture International air policy has shown good results in Europe: in the past 35 years the air has become cleaner. Nevertheless air pollution is still an important cause of premature death.
RIVM recommends more stringent EU standards BPA More stringent European standards for safe exposure of workers and consumers to bisphenol A (BPA) were proposed in 2014 and 2015.
Need for circular use of materials in construction Construction and demolition waste are being recycled on a large scale to use as a foundation for e.g. roads, but recycled building materials are hardly ever used in the construction of buildings.