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The draft REACH legislation on chemicals could save society billion of euros in water treatment and other environmental costs such as sewage treatment, according to new research for the European Commission.
Most studies on the draft REACH regulation (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) have focused on the costs to the economy of imposing stricter controls on chemical manufacturers, including on downstream users of chemicals in other industrial sectors. But few have explored the possible long-term benefits of REACH in reducing potential chemical threats to the environment as these are less easily quantifiable.
The aim of this latest study, prepared by independent researchers and published on 15 February 2006, is to assess the benefits of REACH on the environment and to humans who are exposed to chemicals via the environment.
The study - carried out at the request of the Commission's environment directorate by research and consultancy firm DHI Water & Environment - concludes that REACH would save a minimum of €150-500 million by the year 2017, at the expected close of its 11-year roll-out period. By the year 2041, the savings would add up to €8.9 billion, mostly in areas such as "purification of drinking water, disposal of dredged sediment and incineration of sewage instead of disposal on farmlands".
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