Annex III Plastics IndustryHexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) Compliance Work Press Conference and HBCD Elimination Technology Exchange
On April 9, 2021, under the guidance of the Solid Waste and Chemicals Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the Foreign Cooperation and Exchange Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, hosted by the China Plastics Processing Industry Association, and supported by Shandong Xurui New Materials Co., Ltd. and Shandong Dongxin New Materials Technology Co., Ltd., the "Plastics Industry Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) Compliance Work Press Conference and HBCD Compliance Work Exchange Meeting" was successfully held at the Beijing Wuhuan Hotel.
Attending the press conference were leaders and experts from the Solid Waste and Chemicals Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Foreign Cooperation and Exchange Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Science and Industrialization Development Center of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Tianjin Fire Research Institute of the Ministry of Emergency Management, the Ecological Environment Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Flame Retardant Materials Professional Committee of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, Beijing Technology and Business University, and other units; media including China Chemical Industry News, China Environment News, China Building Materials News, China Quality News, China Industry News, Consumer Daily, China Plastics Magazine, Plastics Magazine, Tencent Video, Sohu.com, People’s Daily Online, as well as HBCD manufacturers, EPS and XPS board manufacturers, EPS bead manufacturers, flame retardant masterbatch manufacturers, related testing units, university research institutes, and more than 100 representatives from these organizations attended the meeting.
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Leaders and experts from the Solid Waste and Chemicals Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Foreign Cooperation and Exchange Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Science and Industrialization Development Center of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Tianjin Fire Research Institute of the Ministry of Emergency Management, the Ecological Environment Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Flame Retardant Materials Professional Committee of the China Petroleum and Chemical Federation, Beijing Technology and Business University, and other units attended the press conference; media including China Chemical Industry News, China Environment News, China Building Materials News, China Quality News, China Industry News, Consumer Daily, China Plastics magazine, Plastics magazine, Tencent Video, Sohu.com, People’s Daily Online, and HBCD manufacturers, EPS, XPS board manufacturers, EPS bead manufacturers, flame retardant masterbatch manufacturers, related testing units, university research institutes, and other unit leaders totaling about 100 representatives attended the meeting.
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1. Leaders at all levels from various sectors attached great importance, attended the press conference, and delivered guiding speeches
1. Yu Lifeng, Deputy Director of the Foreign Cooperation and Exchange Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, attended the meeting and gave a brief introduction on China’s achievements in fulfilling the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the compliance coordination mechanism. Deputy Director Yu emphasized the importance and urgency of China’s ban on HBCD from the perspectives of implementing ecological civilization thought and maintaining China’s responsible major country image. He focused on introducing the industry’s compliance obligations and national policy requirements for banning HBCD, and expressed hope that enterprises related to HBCD such as EPS beads, flame retardant masterbatch, EPS boards, and XPS boards would use regulatory pressure as motivation to actively research, apply, and promote HBCD alternatives and replacement technologies, implement the new development philosophy, and enhance the international influence of new green flame retardant products and foam industry plastic insulation materials markets.
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2, Chairman Zhu Wenwei of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association attended the meeting and delivered a speech, pointing out that as the organization of China's plastics industry, the China Plastics Processing Industry Association has always adhered to properly handling theHBCD phase-out issue, ensuring a smooth transition for theEPS,XPS industries, which is a firm foundation for the healthy development of both sectors. The China Plastics Association pays close attention to the progress ofHBCD phase-out and substitution efforts, establishing a special working group led by the main leaders of the association. Under the guidance of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment's Foreign Cooperation Center, research and guidance work related toHBCD phase-out and substitution have been carried out in the fields of flame retardants,EPS,XPS, grasping the industry's development status, analyzing key difficulties in phase-out and substitution work, facilitating government-enterprise dialogue, and promoting the orderly advancement of related work.
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The press conference was hosted by Wang Zhanjie, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association.
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3, Liu Jingjiang, Director of the Green Building Materials Division of the Science and Industrialization Development Center of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. Organic insulation material companies face the substitution ofHBCD, and developing green building materials is an inevitable choice. Unlike traditional building materials, green building materials require that products reduce consumption of natural resources and ecological environmental impact throughout their entire lifecycle. The "Technical Guidelines for Green Building Material Evaluation" explicitly include "not using hexabromocyclododecane flame retardants" in the scoring system, forming an effective combination ofHBCD phase-out and green building material evaluation, promoting enterprises to eliminateHBCD while achieving sustainable development. Enterprises should balance green development and economic benefits while developing alternative technologies and products.
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4 Researcher at the Tianjin Fire Research Institute of the Ministry of Emergency Management, Director of the Testing Center, Chair of the ISO Sub-Technical Committee on Fire Extinguishing Agents and Equipment, and Secretary-General of the National Fire Standardization Committee’s Sub-Technical Committee on Fire Extinguishing Agents, Zhuang Shuang used the water-based film-forming foam extinguishing agent containing PFOS substances, which has the greatest impact in the field of fire extinguishing agents, as an example to explain the various workflows for eliminating POPs substances under the Convention in fire prevention and control, particularly emphasizing the profound impact of the Stockholm Convention on firefighting in China. He stated that the next step for the Tianjin Fire Research Institute of the Ministry of Emergency Management will be to continue focusing on and conducting a series of research projects including basic performance evaluation and verification of new flame retardants, flame retardant performance studies of EPS, XPS with added new flame retardants, the effect of new flame retardants on the oxygen index of EPS, XPS, and rapid on-site detection of HBCD content. Through the efforts of the government, enterprises, and research institutes, future replacement EPS, XPS products will become safer, more environmentally friendly, and greener insulation materials, contributing to the protection of people's lives and property and supporting China’s "carbon peak, carbon neutrality" goals.
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2. Policy, standards, and technology promote HBCD compliance, elimination, and substitution work
1Deputy Director Ren Yong from the POPs Convention Office of the Center for International Cooperation and Exchanges of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment gave a keynote report titled "Compliance Requirements, Progress, and Action Plan for the Elimination of HBCD." The report introduced the background of HBCD being listed under the Stockholm Convention and the Convention's control requirements for HBCD, with a focus on emphasizing our country's compliance obligations to eliminate HBCD. It presented the current stage policies and measures jointly formulated by various ministries, as well as the overall plan and program of the grant project supported by the Global Environment Facility. The project will actively assist in achieving compliance goals in four areas: enhancing supervision and law enforcement capabilities related to HBCD, promoting enterprises to eliminate HBCD through BAT/BEP upgrades, strengthening harmless management of HBCD containing waste, and establishing information dissemination and knowledge platforms, ensuring the smooth progress of elimination and substitution work.
2. Professor Liu Wenbin, a researcher at the Ecological Environment Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced the development of the group standard for “Determination of Hexabromocyclododecane in Molded Polystyrene Foam and Extruded Polystyrene Foam by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry”. This includes the background, purpose, and significance of the standard development project, as well as the processes of formulation, approval, and publication. The establishment of this group standard will help EPS and XPS companies strengthen the management of HBCD content, provide services for ecological environment, quality inspection, and other related departments in controlling EPS and XPS HBCD, and also offer a basic analytical method for detecting HBCD waste when EPS and XPS are decommissioned in the future.
3 Professor Qian Lijun, Deputy Secretary-General of the Flame Retardant Materials Professional Committee of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation and a professor at Beijing Technology and Business University, systematically introduced HBCD alternative flame retardants development and current usage status, including production history and current status, production status of the alternative methyl octabromodiphenyl ether, production status of the alternative brominated SBS , and application technology research of HBCD alternatives. Through application experiments of HBCD alternative flame retardants in enterprises, Professor Qian concluded the following: the two HBCD alternatives, methyl octabromodiphenyl ether and brominated SBS , can achieve equivalent substitution for HBCD by adjusting the processing technology of polystyrene foam boards and modifying the form of flame retardant usage. However, since the prices of these two alternatives are still higher than HBCD at present, it is expected that after these two alternatives reach mass production in the future, they will be able to simultaneously replace HBCD in terms of application effect and cost in foamed polystyrene boards.
3. Upstream and downstream of HBCD work together in unity to effectively implement the elimination and substitution efforts
Dr. Wang Liangmin from Shandong Xurui New Materials Co., Ltd. stated: Xurui Company attaches great importance to HBCD compliance work, strictly controls the destination of HBCD, and ensures that the product is used in exempted fields; actively participates in the demonstration activities of production enterprises in China’s HBCD elimination and management project, and has formulated a complete shutdown and conversion plan; at the same time, jointly develops usage methods for alternatives with downstream customers, guiding and recommending the use of new alternatives. Xurui Company actively undertakes the social responsibility of HBCD elimination and substitution, participates in the formulation of the standard "Detection Method of Hexabromocyclododecane in Expanded Polystyrene and Extruded Polystyrene - Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry"; participates in the formulation of the CECS standard "Durability Test Method for External Wall Insulation Materials of Buildings" organized by Tianjin Fire Research Institute and other related work.
Guo Xinqi, Chairman of Nanjing Faninge Energy-saving Technology Co., Ltd., stated that as a representative of enterprises, full preparation should be made, and research on potential problems after substitution should be carried out early. Consideration should be given not only to the R&D status of flame retardant manufacturers in the upstream industry chain but also to the production readiness of midstream manufacturers, with emphasis on the equivalence verification of downstream building energy-saving projects. The company’s preparation measures before and after the HBCD ban and the impact on domestic and international business should be evaluated. At the same time, the environmental performance, economic performance, and engineering usability of HBCD alternatives should be comprehensively considered.
Engineer Zhang Benrong from Wuxi Xingda Foam New Materials Co., Ltd. introduced the progress of the company's HBCD replacement work. He stated: As early as 2015, Xingda Foam began developing non-hexabromocyclododecane (non-HBCD) EPS products. Currently, non-HBCD flame retardant products can be customized according to customer requirements to achieve B2 or B1 grade. In terms of mechanical properties, there is no significant difference compared to hexabromocyclododecane flame retardant products, and the company has the capability to stably supply large quantities to downstream manufacturers. Next, the company will actively cooperate with relevant environmental protection departments to prepare in advance for the elimination of HBCD. Products containing HBCD that are prone to slow sales will be reprocessed in advance, and production of HBCD-containing products will be controlled according to actual customer demand to avoid inventory backlog after elimination.
Chairman Guo Shaojun of Shandong Dongxin New Materials Co., Ltd. stated: The company will actively respond to the HBCD elimination and replacement policy. On one hand, it will properly handle the harmless transformation of the existing HBCD production line, properly arrange related personnel, and strictly formulate the next phase of HBCD production and inventory plans to gradually reduce and stop the production of HBCD products; on the other hand, it will further carry out performance research on HBCD replacement products, actively cooperate with downstream enterprises to conduct trials of alternative flame retardants on EPS and XPS, and prepare well for the elimination and replacement of HBCD.
To fulfill the commitments of international conventions, implement the spirit of the National People's Congress Standing Committee documents, and ensure a smooth transition in the EPS and XPS industries away from HBCD flame retardants before December 25, 2021, the China Plastics Processing Industry Association and the Foam Plastics (EPS, XPS) Special Committee issued the "Proposal to Gradually Cease the Production and Use of HBCD" at a press conference. The proposal calls on enterprises and units in the foam plastics (EPS, XPS) and related upstream and downstream industries to fulfill international convention obligations, join hands to protect the earth, and stop the production and use of HBCD before the specified date. Leaders, guests, and enterprise representatives attending the meeting jointly took the stage to witness the release of the "Proposal."