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Recent trends in atmospheric dioxin emissions in France Volume 1, issue 2, Mai - Juin 2002

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Centre interprofessionnel technique d'études de la pollution atmosphérique, 10, rue du Faubourg Poissonnière, 75010 Paris.

Under the Aarhus Protocol of the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, France has supplied to the United Nations an annual inventory of atmospheric dioxin emissions for every year since 1990. At the request of, and with funding from, the French Ministry of Land Use Planning and the Environment, the Interprofessional Technical Center for Air Pollution Studies (CITEPA)performs these inventories according to international guidelines. Total dioxin emissions have decreased from 1.9 kg per year in 1990 to 570 g per year in 2000. While dioxins are produced by most industrial processes involving combustion, the major source in France is the incineration of domestic waste. It accounts for 70%of the total, despite a substantial 74%decrease over the past decade, following actions initiated by public authorities to prevent and reduce these emissions. The use of wood as heating fuel in the residential sector was responsible for 15%of total emissions in 2000. Most of the rest come from iron and steel processes, emissions from which are decreasing markedly due to efforts strongly promoted by the authorities. The level of uncertainty about emissions can be high, because of issues related to operating conditions and to measurements. Moreover, some emissions come from natural (forest fires, volcanoes, etc. )and widely diffuse (garden fires, for example) sources and are difficult to quantify.