Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants aims to protect people and the planet from harmful chemicals.
The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants aims to protect people and the planet from harmful chemicals.
The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (the convention) is a multilateral environmental agreement that aims to protect human health and the environment by banning the production and use of some of the most toxic chemicals.
The convention became international law in May 2004. New Zealand ratified (officially joined) the convention in September 2004. It entered into force (became legally binding) for New Zealand on 23 December 2004.
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants [UN Stockholm Convention website].
The Stockholm Convention, together with the Basel Convention and Rotterdam Convention create international rules for transboundary movement and safe management and disposal of some of the most hazardous chemicals and wastes in the world.
National focal point Stockholm Convention, Ministry for the Environment, PO Box 10362, Wellington 6143
Phone: 0800 499 700 or +64 4 439 7400 / Email: stockholm@mfe.govt.nz
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are organic (carbon-based) chemical substances that have properties which can have significant negative effects on health and the environment.
Due to these characteristics over 180 countries are committed to the convention.
There are over 30 chemicals targeted by the convention.
The listed chemicals are divided into three annexes according to how each is produced and the level of restriction required.
List of POPs, their description and use in New Zealand (PDF, 503 KB). The POPs are grouped by annex.
For more information about these chemicals see national implementation plans below.
New Zealand's national implementation under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (2006) (NIP) sets out how New Zealand proposed to meet our obligations for the initial 12 chemicals such as on:
In 2014, New Zealand submitted an addendum [Stockholm Convention website] to the first national implementation plan about the implementation of the 2011 listing of technical endosulfan and its related isomers.
In December 2018, we submitted New Zealand’s updated national implementation plan under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.
It outlined measures to implement our obligations relating to new POPs added to the convention in 2009, 2013, 2015, and 2017. It also reports on New Zealand’s achievements in phasing out the 12 initial POPs.
In December 2022, we submitted a further updated national implementation Plan, reporting on our implementation of the two new listed POPs added to the Stockholm Convention in 2019 – dicofol and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts, and PFOA-related compounds.
This updated plan describes the measures New Zealand has already taken and aims to provide a proactive plan for the future to support compliance with the convention.
By implementing this plan, New Zealand will continue to contribute to the international efforts in limiting the effects of persistent organic pollutants on human health and the environment.
New Zealand has laws and regulations to tightly control POPs.
We implement the convention through:
The Stockholm Convention together with the Basel Convention and Rotterdam Convention create international rules for transboundary movement and safe management and disposal of some of the most hazardous chemicals and wastes in the world.
Parties to the convention must have an Action Plan to reduce or eliminate releases of dioxins and other Annex C chemicals. New Zealand’s Action Plan is in our updated National Implementation Plan [Stockholm Convention website].
'Dioxin' is a generic term used to describe a family of chlorine-containing chemicals called dioxins and furans. These unwanted and highly toxic 'by-product' chemicals are formed in very small amounts when chlorine is present in some industrial processes and during the burning (combustion, incineration) of organic materials.
For further information about dioxins, see Dioxins, furans and PCBs
Dioxins are released to the environment in very small amounts through a number of industrial and domestic activities, particularly the open burning of wastes. New Zealand is obligated under the convention to take measures to reduce and where feasible ultimately eliminate releases of dioxin. Although levels of dioxins in New Zealand foods (including our meats, dairy products and fish) are low and below the World Health Organisation guidelines, it is prudent to further minimise our exposure to dioxins where practicable.
In 2004, MfE developed the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality (NES) as regulations under the Resource Management Act 1991. The NES bans certain activities that produce dioxins and other air toxins.
New Zealand undertakes an inventory of dioxin emissions to air, land and water, and reservoir sources every five years.
See the latest update of the New Zealand inventory of dioxin emissions to air, land and water, and reservoir sources.
Further work on dioxin minimisation is set out in the Action Plan for Dioxins and other Annex C Chemicals, in New Zealand’s National Implementation Plan under the Stockholm Convention 2018.
New Zealand has clear regulations and guidelines in place for how to store, handle and dispose of POPs safely in the few situations where they are still present in New Zealand.
These are set out in the Hazardous Substances (Storage and Disposal of POPs) Notice 2004 (PDF 277 KB) [EPA website].
For advice about disposal of POPs contact HSCompliance@epa.govt.nz.
MfE worked with local government to undertake a national collection of agricultural chemicals in rural New Zealand, with the aim of removing as much as possible the historical legacy of agrichemicals stored in rural sheds across the country. A key focus was the removal of POPs.
Agrichemicals and their containers were declared as priority products under the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 (WMA) in 2020 (Declaration of Priority Products Notice 2020). A product stewardship scheme for agrichemicals, their containers, and farm plastics – managed by Agrecovery – was developed and accredited under the WMA in 2023. This new scheme builds on the voluntary Agrecovery rural recycling programme [Agrecovery website] and will provide nationwide take-back of agrichemical containers, including residual chemicals. We are currently consulting on proposed WMA regulations to support this scheme.
POP wastes must be exported for destruction. Under the HSNO Act 1996, the disposal of POPs must comply with the:
Hazardous Substances (Storage and Disposal of POPs) Notice 2004 (PDF 277 KB) [EPA website]
New Zealand must also comply with the requirements for the environmentally sound management of POP wastes set out in the:
The Hazardous Substances (Storage and Disposal of POPs) Notice 2004 states that POP wastes cannot be disposed of to a landfill. Increasingly, with waste containing POPs such as flame-retarded plastic waste and hexabromocyclododecane- (HBCD-) containing polystyrene, the management of POP disposal is much more problematic.
We commissioned the following studies on e-waste containing brominated flame retardants in New Zealand.
New Zealand has a comprehensive framework for managing contaminated land. Land contaminated by POPs is managed under this framework.
This includes a mix of:
Studies to monitor the levels of POPs in New Zealanders and the environment include:
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