Support lacking for POPs clean-up efforts

It is now four years since the 2001 Stockholm convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) came into force. Large stocks still exist in developing countries, especially Africa, and central and eastern Europe is also heavily affected.

Nearly 30,000 tonnes of obsolete pesticides languish in drums in the region’s EU member states alone, according to estimates by the International Hexachlorocyclohexane and Pesticides Association (IHPA).