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Worldwide, nearly 1.2 billion people live without electricity, something which many of us take for granted. Now, with a bit of ‘green’ thinking and a splash of chlorine chemistry, a Philippines-based non-profit group are doing their bit to bring affordable lighting to low-income houses. Winners of the 2015 Zayed Future Energy Prize, Liter of Light use old plastic bottles filled with water and chlorine to produce a 55-watt solar bulb to capture and refract sunlight – a device which has already illuminated 28,000 homes in Manila alone. Such technology was vital in the aftermath of the 2013 typhoon which had such a devastating impact on the Philippines. With further projects in India, Indonesia and Switzerland, they hope to install over a million of these lights worldwide by the end of the year and it is all thanks to innovation and a bit of chlorine chemistry.
Euro Chlor’s Dolf van Wijk addresses the conference.
In April, China, the world’s largest chlorinated paraffin manufacturer, held an international conference in Beijing to discuss the challenges faced by the industry. Co-organised by CCAIA, CCAON and Euro Chlor, representatives from across the WCC were in attendance and the conference discussed the state of the industry in Asia, North America and Europe as well as the regulatory issues impacting these regions. The benefits and risk management issues were also addressed with the hope that, with close cooperation, clarification on some of the incorrect views in academia and at a regulatory level regarding CPs could be obtained.
CP’s provide effective solutions in many applications and products used to improve people’s lives worldwide. At the same time, these products continue to be under high regulatory pressure in various parts of the world, unfortunately often due to political, rather than scientific reasons. Being organochlorines, CP’s are too easily associated with some of the more problematic organochlorines of the distant past, such as PCBs and ‘drins’. In addition, dioxins have not helped the image of organochlorines, despite the fact that they are naturally produced and have never been intentionally manufactured. Meanwhile, the knowledge of the toxicology, environmental fate and analytics of these products has steadily increased for two decades. The Conference was an excellent occasion for international CP producers to network and exchange international regulatory updates.
The international delegation of the ICPC.
World Chlorine Council Contributes Viewpoint Paper on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Goals to Copenhagen Consensus Center
As part of the post-2015 United Nations development agenda, a new set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) has been submitted to the General Assembly by a UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development and are now being considered as part of broader post-2015 discussions. The new goals will be established upon the foundation of the 2000-2015 UN Millennium Development Goals. Proposed goal #6 has particular significance to World Water Day 2015, celebrated on March 22: “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.”
As part of their effort to evaluate the costs and benefits of the proposed goals, the Copenhagen Consensus Center produced a “Water and Sanitation Assessment Paper” concluding that “Regardless of location and income, providing water and sanitation passes a cost-benefit test,” but that the greatest relative benefit comes from serving rural communities and the poorest populations. An invited Viewpoint Paper by the World Chlorine Council notes that as part of safely managing drinking water services, a low but measurable chlorine level (single digit or less parts per million), known as a “chlorine residual,” is an effective indicator of the microbial safety of drinking water. The authors make the point that for as long as it is detectable in stored or delivered water, chlorine provides an ongoing barrier to new contamination that could spread waterborne illness, such as typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery and hepatitis A.
Chlorine-based disinfectants are strong allies in the global effort to achieve safe drinking water and sanitation goals. Water and sanitation goals contribute to several of the other proposed SDGs as well, including ending poverty (Goal #1), ensuring healthy lives and well-being (Goal #3), achieving gender equality (Goal #5) and promoting economic growth and productive, decent work (Goal #8).
In September, World Vision responded to ACC’s offer by coordinating a humanitarian airlift of essential supplies from the US to Sierra Leone, where the need was particularly great.
In the summer of 2014, as the West African Ebola crisis intensified, the American Chemistry Council contacted the humanitarian organization World Vision to offer a shipment of donated chlorine bleach disinfectant to help control the disease outbreak in West Africa.
Chlorine bleach is a critical ally in the fight against Ebola. The Ebola virus can live on inanimate surfaces, especially those that are soiled with blood or other bodily fluids from infected people. To help prevent the spread of infection, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends Ebola virus-contaminated surfaces or objects be cleaned and disinfected as quickly as possible with a solution of 5,000 parts per million free chlorine.
In September, World Vision responded to ACC’s offer by coordinating a humanitarian airlift of essential supplies from the US to Sierra Leone, where the need was particularly great. Along with other necessary supplies, thousands of gallons of donated concentrated chlorine bleach were loaded into the cargo hold of an airplane for the journey across the Atlantic. The chlorine bleach was donated by Olin Corporation; domestic transportation services for bleach were donated by CSX, the Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad and the American Chemistry Council; bleach bottling services were donated by The James Austin Company.
The American Chemistry Council is honored to have worked with World Vision and others to assist with this important humanitarian mission.