Exposure estimation during use and during weee treatment

• Author: Clemm, Christan; Löw, Clara; Baron, Yifaat; Moch, Katja; Möller, Martin; Köhler, Andreas R; Gensch, Carl-Otto; Deubzer, Otmar
• Pages: 40-45

RoHS Annex II Dossier, final

Diantimony trioxide (flame retardant)

40

6 EXPOSURE ESTIMATION DURING USE AND DURING WEEE TREATMENT

For exposure estimations, the following scenarios will be looked at:

•WEEE treatment and therein the shredding process of EEE plastics;

•Incineration of waste fractions;

•General release of ATO into the environment.

Human exposure estimation

6.1.1 Exposure of workers of EEE waste processing plants

From the description of the waste streams it is assumed that exposure of workers in WEEE waste

processing plants to diantimony trioxide can occur during the processes of processing and shredding

cable and plastic waste, where generation of dust from decomposing and shredding of EEE plastic

is likely.

Exposure can occur through inhalation of dust and dermal uptake, whereas the exposure through

inhalation is assumed to be the relevant exposure pathway.

Exposure estimation for workers was modelled by using the ECETOC’s Targeted Risk Assessment

(TRA)85 tool to calculate the risk of exposure from chemicals to workers, consumers and the environ-

ment. The ECETOC TRA tool is intended for manufacturing and formulation processes. Hence,

appropriate processes to describe the exposure conditions of waste treatment processes do not yet

exist.

However, process category 24: “high (mechanical) energy work-up of substances bound in materials

and/or articles” has been selected to calculate the exposure of workers of EEE waste processing

plants.

This approach was first introduced by the Austrian Umweltbundesamt for the RoHS assessment of

the phthalates DEHP, DBP and BBP86 and has also been used by KEMI for the MCCP dossier87 and

the Fraunhofer Institutes for the assessment of TBBP-A that has been performed on behalf of the

BSEF, aisbl – The International Bromine Council and was submitted as part of the contribution of

BSEF on 23.04.2018 during the stakeholder consultation conducted from 20 April 2018 to 15 June

2018 in the course of this study.88

85 http://www.ecetoc.org/tools/targeted-risk-assessment-tra/

86 https://www.umweltbundesamt.at/rohs2

87 Swedish Chemicals Agency KEMI (2018): ROHS Annex II Dossier MCCP, Proposal for a restriction of a substance in

electrical and electronic equipment under RoHS; https://www.kemi.se/global/rapporter/2018/report-4-18-rohs-annex-ii-

dossier-mccp.pdf, last viewed 24.07.2018

88 The following assessment was submitted as part of the contribution of BSEF, aisbl – The International Bromine Council:

Contributions submitted on 23.04.2018 during the stakeholder consultation conducted from 20 April 2018 to 15 June

2018 by Oeko-Institut in the course of the study to support the review of the list of restricted substances and to assess

a new exemption request under RoHS 2 (Pack 15); see PDF5 at: https://rohs.exemptions.oeko.info/index.php?id=291:

Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine (ITEM), Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing

Engineering and Automation (IPA) (n.y.): Assessment of TBBPA (tetrabromobisphenol A) according to the

“Methodology for Identification and Assessment of Substances for Inclusion in the List of Restricted Substances (Annex

III) under the RoHS2 Directive”; submitted as contribution of the BSEF, aisbl – The International Bromine Council to

the 1st stakeholder consultation, submitted on 23.04.2018; available at:

https://rohs.exemptions.oeko.info/fileadmin/user_upload/RoHS_Pack_15/1st_Consultation_Contributions/TBBPA_un

der_RoHS_13102015_clean__2_.pdf