TABLE OF CONTENTS Members of the European Stabiliser Producers Association (ESPA) have made a voluntary commitment to phase out all lead stabilisers in Europe by 2015. Since lead is the commonest type in use today, this is a considerable commitment. There is expected to be a 50% reduction in lead stabiliser usage between 2001 and 2010. It is possible that individual national regulatory authorities will press for a more rapid elimination of lead from specific end products. Cadmium was phased out some time ago.
Different regions of the world have developed different practices over the years. North America relies almost exclusively on tin compounds for transparent foam sheet, pipes and fittings and window frames, whereas most of the rest of the world has continued to favour lead. Within Europe, there are differences between individual countries. The UK and Finland appear to favour calcium-zinc mixed metal stabilisers when not using lead, whereas calcium-organic combinations are popular in the Netherlands and Norway. France and Belgium, like the US, use tin for water pipe. The global position in 2002 (shortly after the trend away from lead in Europe became industry policy) is summarised in Chapter 6.
Not all countries will abandon lead within the same time schedule as Europe. Almost half of China s stabiliser consumption was lead-based in 2002, and this is not expected to change very rapidly. Chemson, the leading European stabiliser manufacturer, entered into partnership with Dalian Shide, the biggest PVC company in China, in...
