Substances of very high concern hamper recycling Substances of very high concern (SVHC) can hamper the safe recycling of waste streams in the Netherlands. These substances occur in a wide range of waste streams.
Scientific background information on rubber granulate now available in English In December 2016, RIVM published in Dutch the results of its research into the health risks of playing sports on synthetic turf pitches with rubber granulate.
Guus Velders in Nature's "Ten people that mattered this year" Researcher Dr Guus Velders of RIVM has made the Nature top-10 list of 2016. This means that, according to Nature, he was one of the 10 most influential scientists in 2016.
Playing sports on synthetic turf fields with rubber granulate is safe New research by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) shows it is safe for people to play sports on synthetic turf fields with an infill of rubber granulate.
RIVM starts field research into rubber granulate RIVM has started to take samples of rubber granulate from 100 synthetic turf fields in the Netherlands.
RIVM research basis for historic climate agreement on HFCs Scientific research by RIVM’s Guus Velders stood partly at the basis of the HFC global climate agreement.
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.
Without measures emissions of HFC greenhouse gases will increase rapidly Without global agreement on the use of HFCs, their contribution to the greenhouse effect may increase sharply to 10 percent of that of CO2 by 2050. The current contribution is less than 1 percent.
Half of the Dutch participate in sport weekly In 2014, 53% of people between the ages of 12 and 80 in the Netherlands participate in some type of sport weekly.
RIVM participates in large EU project to head up global fight against infectious diseases COMPARE, a large EU project intends to speed up the detection of, and response to disease outbreaks among humans and animals worldwide, through the use of new genome technology.