Ekokem involved in important international waste management project

Ekokem and the Australian manufacturing company Orica have developed a proposed solution for the safe, permanent and environmentally sound destruction of the hexachlorobenzene (HCB) stockpile originating from Orica’s previous operations.

Jani Lösönen, SVP Commercial at Ekokem said: “This project will again showcase Ekokem’s ability to serve customers’ most demanding waste management needs, even on a global scale. In addition, this is an excellent case for Finland to show its capabilities in cleantech export and contribute responsibly to solving a longstanding international environmental issue.”

Ekokem has proven world-class technology, expertise and experience in safe destruction of international hazardous waste in accordance with stringent conditions set for the protection of human health and the environment. This is evident most recently through the successful treatment of the chemical waste resulting from the disposal of Syria's chemical weapons as a partner to the United Nation's Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Ekokem’s Riihimäki facility played a central role in this project during 2014-2015.

Orica’s HCB waste was produced as a waste by-product of now discontinued solvent and plastics manufacturing processes at the Botany Industrial Park, Australia between 1963 and 1991. There are currently 15,000 tonnes of HCB safely and securely stockpiled at the site and it is proposed that most of this volume would be treated at Ekokem’s high temperature incineration facility in Riihimäki, Finland.

The proposal is subject to environmental authorities’ approvals in both Australia and Finland regarding transport, storage and treatment of the waste. If the approvals are received, the first shipment would be expected to arrive in Finland around the end of the year 2016. The remainder of the HCB waste treatment would be expected to occur over the course of several years, as part of Ekokem’s ongoing hazardous waste treatment operations in Riihimäki.

Further information:

Hanna Masala, SVP Strategy and Communications, tel. +358 10 7551 110

www.orica.com/hcb