Jätteiden kaatopaikkakelpoisuuden toteaminen

Valtioneuvoston päätöstä kaatopaikoista (861/1997) on muutettu niin, että se vastaa EY:n neuvoston päästöstä (2003/33/EY) kaatopaikalle sijoitettavien jätteiden kelpoisuusmenettelystä ja perusteista. Tämä opas on tarkoitettu helpottamaan täsmentyneen kaatopaikkasäädöksen tulkintaa sekä tarkentamaan jätteiden kelpoisuustutkimusten sisältöä ja opastamaan kelpoisuusarvioinnin toteuttamisessa. Työssä on luotu kaikkien alan toimijoiden (viranomaiset, kaatopaikan pitäjät, jätteen tuottajat) käyttöön kansallinen menettelytapaopas jätteiden kaatopaikkakelpoisuuden osoittamiseksi

Legal situation and current practice of waste incineration bottom ash utilisation in Europe

Almost 500 municipal solid waste incineration plants in the EU, Norway, and Switzerland generate about 17.6 Mt/a of incinerator bottom ash (IBA). IBA contains minerals and metals. Metals are mostly separated and sold to the scrap market and minerals are either disposed of in landfills or utilised in the construction sector. Since there is no uniform regulation for IBA utilisation at EU level, countries developed own rules with varying requirements for utilisation. As a result from a cooperation network between European experts an up-to-date overview of documents regulating IBA utilisation is presented. Furthermore, this work highlights the different requirements that have to be considered. Overall, 51 different parameters for the total content and 36 different parameters for the emission by leaching are defined. An analysis of the defined parameter reveals that leaching parameters are significantly more to be considered compared to total content parameters. In order to assess the leaching behaviour nine different leaching tests, including batch tests, up-flow percolation tests and one diffusion test (monolithic materials) are in place. A further discussion of leaching parameters showed that certain countries took over limit values initially defined for landfills for inert waste and adopted them for IBA utilisation. The overall utilisation rate of IBA in construction works is approximately 54 wt.%. It is revealed that the rate of utilisation does not necessarily depend on how well regulated IBA utilisation is, but rather seems to be a result of political commitment for IBA recycling and economically interesting circumstances

Efflux Protein Expression in Human Stem Cell-Derived Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells

Retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells in the back of the eye nourish photoreceptor cells and form a selective barrier that influences drug transport from the blood to the photoreceptor cells. At the molecular level, ATP-dependent efflux transporters have a major role in drug delivery in human RPE. In this study, we assessed the relative expression of several ATP-dependent efflux transporter genes (MRP1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -6, p-gp, and BCRP), the protein expression and localization of MRP1, MRP4, and MRP5, and the functionality of MRP1 efflux pumps at different maturation stages of undifferentiated human embryonic stem cells (hESC) and RPE derived from the hESC (hESC-RPE). Our findings revealed that the gene expression of ATP-dependent efflux transporters MRP1, -3, -4, -5, and p-gp fluctuated during hESC-RPE maturation from undifferentiated hESC to fusiform, epithelioid, and finally to cobblestone hESC-RPE. Epithelioid hESC-RPE had the highest expression of MRP1, -3, -4, and P-gp, whereas the most mature cobblestone hESC-RPE had the highest expression of MRP5 and MRP6. These findings indicate that a similar efflux protein profile is shared between hESC-RPE and the human RPE cell line, ARPE-19, and suggest that hESC-RPE cells are suitable in vitro RPE models for drug transport studies. Embryonic stem cell model might provide a novel tool to study retinal cell differentiation, mechanisms of RPE -derived diseases, drug testing and targeted drug therapy