Film tip: Tomorrow - the world is full of solutions

Can the world still be saved? Anyone who sees the new documentary "Tomorrow" will believe afterwards: Yes, it is - if we only commit ourselves to it.

Global warming, exploitation of resources, population growth - our planet is dangerously close to the tipping point in many respects. This is what moved actress Mélanie Laurent and French activist Cyril Dion to make their film "Tomorrow": when they read a study predicting the collapse of our civilization in the next 40 years, they did not want to accept this scenario. So they set out: to find ideas and approaches worldwide that could inspire the population and move them to action.

www.tomorrow-derfilm.de

Keywords: Greening / climate adaptation, Soil & land consumption, DE-News, Renewable, Movies, Movies < 4 Min, Climate protection, Sustainable management, News Blog France, Permaculture, Social / Culture, Sufficiency, Transition Town, Environmental policy, urban gardening

Published 19 September 2016

EPS/XPS - From October 2016 it will be expensive

uba-broschuere-waermedaemmverbundsysteme The flame retardant HBCD, which was mainly used in polystyrene insulation boards, has been banned since March 2016. But trouble looms from the many millions of cubic meters of HBCD-containing insulation material that have already been installed in Germany.

The flame retardant hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) has been largely banned from trade and use in the EU since spring 2016. For a long time, HBCD was the economically most important flame retardant for polystyrene insulation materials - accordingly, there are still transitional rules for insulation materials made of expanded or extruded polystyrene (EPS/XPS).

While the industry in Germany has largely replaced HBCD with allegedly less problematic flame retardants since the end of 2014, homeowners in Germany are now threatened with considerable costs when converting their buildings and removing insulation materials containing HBCD: This is because these will be classified as "hazardous waste" from October 2016 and can only be disposed of at great expense in special waste incineration plants or plants specially approved for this purpose. According to estimates by the Federal Environment Agency, "considerable disposal costs" are to be expected for homeowners.

How can a consumer tell if a polystyrene insulation material contains HBCD?

Since HBCD has already been identified as a substance of very high concern under the REACH Regulation since 2008, the manufacturer and also the distributor must provide information on the use of the substance in all articles. An online form from the Federal Environment Agency can be used to ask the manufacturer, dealer or importer whether HBCD has been used as a flame retardant. In addition, since 2011, the Construction Products Regulation has also required the information to be provided to end users with the declaration of performance for the CE mark. However, for all polystyrene insulation boards used in the past, it must be assumed that they contain HBCD.

In the brochure "Frequently asked questions and answers on hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) - Answers to frequently asked questions".
of the Federal Environment Agency of July 2016 provides further explanations: www.umweltbundesamt.de/...oekologische-kriterien-fuer

Keywords:
Building Biology, DE-News, New books and studies, Thermal insulation