Toxic and waste program 

The Czech environment belongs to one of the worst ones in Europe. It is polluted by various toxic substances, for example by dioxins, PCBs or heavy metals. Number of those substances gets to the environment from the waste and from the waste processing (mostly from industry). Arnika tries to eliminate them and struggles for stricter laws and introduction of the so called "cleaner production" or the consistent waste recycling. We promote citizens' right to know about the toxics in the environment as unfortunately this right is still not granted in the Czech Republic.

This project brings together three important steps towards a clean environment:

• the introduction of an integrated register of pollution which guarantees to the public the right of information about what particular industrial plants are releasing into the environment and what dangerous materials are to be found in it
• the signing and ratification of the new international agreement about the twelve most toxic materials on the Earth (known as persistent organic pollutants), including dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls and DDT.
• a reduction of the quantity of harmful materials released into the environment from particular industrial plants

What has the Waste and Toxics Platform of Arnika (formerly part of the Children of the Earth) done so far to reduce the emissions of dangerous materials?

• helped to put a stop to 19 unnecessary waste incinerators (1994 - 2000) and two new landfill sites
• with the help of the public a law which places a limit on emissions of dangerous dioxins from waste incinerators in the Czech Republic (1999 - 2000) was pushed through

And what are we doing now?

• we operate a register of information about pollution from waste incinerators and generators (http://bezjedu.arnika.org/registr.htm).
• we help with the recycling of waste in the moravian village Dobrá
• we take part in international projects aimed at reduction of dangerous levels of persistent organic pollutants (dioxins, PCB's and DDT) in the environment, and to limit the use of PVC, which is a danger to the environment and to health

The Program's Main Campaign

• Toxics Free Future (bezjedu.arnika.org) - the aim of the campaign as well as of the same name petition is the reducing the amount of toxics emissioned into the environment by industry. This should be reached by the ratification of the Stockholm agreement, which has already been signed by the Czech Republic, and by pushing through the integrated register of pollution into the Czech legislation. The register would enable the public a free access to the information about the amount of pollution coming from the particular plants.

Other campaigns and projects of the program

• Waste Management Plan in the Czech Republic
• Replacement of PVC in the Czech health care system
• Waste will not disapper if burned! - Incinerator in Lysá nad Labem
• Database of pollution of the incinerators and energyblocks at the internet (bezjedu.arnika.org/registr.htm)
• Support of composting and waste separation in Dobrá
• Web pages about dioxins and other toxic substances (dioxin.arnika.org)

Projects on the European as well as on the international level

• Stop to Toxics in Europe - an international project aimed at pushing through the ban and elimination of the so called persistent organic substances
• HCWH - Health Care Without Harm (noharm.org) - an international project - health care system without PVC
• European working group (pops.ecn.cz) - International POPs Elimination Network
• The Information Centre about the persistent substances for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe