- The management of industrial chemicals is one of the core businesses of the Egyptian National Cleaner Production Center (ENCPC), which provides technical assistance to the Egyptian chemical industrial sector to ensure compliance with the governing EU regulations, such as REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and restriction of Chemicals). Within its scope of services, ENCPC commissioned Environics to develop capacity building guidelines for proper management of chemicals in Egyptian industries, with focus on hazardous chemicals and their waste.
- Environics carried out comprehensive research to develop the guidelines, which aimed at promoting environmental performance of the chemical industries through identifying gaps, non-compliance areas, and opportunities for improvement. The guidelines targeted companies that aim to reduce their running costs of chemicals, consultants who wish to provide technical assistance and/or capacity building services to such companies, and intermediary institutions that may facilitate such services.
- The guidelines included the following sections:
- Hazardous characteristics of chemicals and chemicals waste, and their potential impacts.
- Policy and regulatory framework for hazardous chemicals management systems (EU regulations and directives, and the Egyptian Laws).
- Integrated management system for chemicals and chemicals waste management, which included: chemicals and waste identification; risk assessment; lifecycle management, and Best Available Technology (BAT).
- Operational procedures for management of hazardous chemicals and their waste, which comprised onsite storage, as well as the treatment, transportation, and disposal of hazardous waste.
- Responsible production, which introduced waste minimization and its implementation schemes, and addressed effective tools for responsible production.
