The European Commission has asked Echa to calculate the quantities and average cadmium content, in mixtures and articles containing recovered PVC.

The EU executive will use the information to review the existing derogation for cadmium and its compounds, from the REACH restriction on the use of cadmium in PVC and other plastics materials.

The restriction entry in Annex XVII says it must be reviewed "in particular, with a view to reducing the limit value for cadmium and to reassess the derogation" for those applications listed in the entry. These are:

• profiles and rigid sheets for building applications;
• doors, windows, shutters, walls, blinds, fences and roof gutters;
• decks and terraces;
• cable ducts; and
• pipes for non-drinking water if the recovered PVC is used in the middle layer of a multi-layer pipe and is entirely covered by a layer of newly produced PVC. 

Echa should use a targeted impact assessment to address different lower maximum cadmium limit values in recovered PVC, down to the full elimination of the derogation.

The Commission has also asked Echa to review the hazards associated with cadmium and the risks associated with the use of recovered PVC, containing the metal.

The agency must complete its preliminary evaluation by 1 September 2017. The Commission will then "consider whether to request" the agency to prepare an Annex XV dossier, with a view to reducing the limit value for cadmium.

The use of cadmium stabilisers in PVC was phased out in Europe many years ago, but cadmium can re-enter the market if long-lived "legacy" products are recycled.

 

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