Like Europe, there are restrictions on flame retardants being contemplated at the state and federal in the United States, with a particular focus on organohalogen flame retardants (OFRs) used in plastic device casings for electronic and electrical equipment. One of the most important benefits of flame retardants in product design is they can stop small ignition events from turning into...
In this edition of ‘Meet the Experts’, Nuno Bacharel, Communications Manager at BSEF, speaks to Professor Löfstedt who is professor in risk management and Director of King’s Centre for Risk Management. [embed]https://youtu.be/rw7kuBCvL7I[/embed] Professor Löfstedt talks about the current challenges of proportionate risk communication and the need for all actors to understand that people worry more about some risks than others. “humans are...
The European Commission is preparing next steps to promote a market transition towards a circular economy. The Sustainable Products Initiative will cover a wide range of consumer products and encourage new thinking about the materials used and design purposes of everyday products to encourage re-use, re-purposing and recovery. The measure of sustainability has wide implications for how manufacturers make and...
The European Commission proposed a ban on new petrol and diesel cars from 2035. As a result, estimates suggest that more than 40 million electric vehicles will be driving on European roads by 2030. [embed]https://youtu.be/PlEaK4-UL28[/embed] But fire safety for remains a challenge. Fortunately, modern certified safe flame retardants offer a solution. Research shows that flame retardants improve the safety of insolation, preventing...
The European Commission’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability adopted in October 2020, includes a requirement for the Commission to extend the ‘generic approach to risk management’, i.e. restricting certain substances in products for certain users while allowing limited exemptions under conditions clearly defined in law. The strategy noted that: “until the assessment of the proposed changes and their introduction in the...
BSEF Japan has reinforced its relations with Nissan Motor Corporation, a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Japan. During a recent meeting of the Society of Flame Retardant Materials in Japan, Kazuya Okazaki o fNissan’s Materials and Technology Division, gave a presentation on “flame retardant materials in automobiles”. The key message from the presentation was that while automotive manufacturers are using...
Just Transition is a unifying and place-based set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy. The concept was established in the 1990s by North American unions and has since been applied by multiple countries. The transition itself must be just and equitable; redressing past harms and...
Colonel Cajaty, representative of the Fire Department of the Federal District (DF), in Brasilia, conducted a new round of fire tests with support from ABICHAMA to evaluate combustion in relation to materials with flame retardants. The fire tests were developed to compare the development of the fire in a medium environment, where there was no difference in terms of geometry and...
In this edition of Meet the Experts, Nuno Bacharel, Communications Manager at BSEF, visits the newly opened PolyStyreneLoop plant and talks to Jan Noordegraaf, Director of PolyStyreneloop, about the process and technology behind recycling PolyStyrene foam containing Brominated Flame Retardants. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCPT7mFn_DI The recycling of EPS waste and of bromine containing compounds is not just something possible in theory, it is a reality...
