Recently, the Chinese company Senior Materials has been on everyone’s lips. Few could have missed the company’s plans to release sky-high amounts of the banned environmental toxin methylene chloride, in connection with its factory in Eskilstuna. If the plans come true, it will be one of the largest releases of a banned environmental toxin in modern Swedish history.
Methylene chloride has been banned in Sweden since 1996 and has been phased out in almost all workplaces. Rightly so. It is a substance that can cause both brain cancer and neurological diseases such as ALS. At the same time, the emissions risk threatening Lake Mälaren, and the drinking water for two million people. But despite the fact that the substance is banned, Senior Material has been given the go-ahead for its emissions. How did we end up there?
128 times more than the total annual use in all of Sweden
The EU’s Industrial Emissions Directive, which regulates emissions of hazardous chemicals, contains strict rules for the use of methylene chloride. Yet Senior Material has found a loophole in the legislation and convinced the Swedish Chemicals Agency to obtain an exemption. By classifying their operations as “production of new materials” instead of “surface treatment”, they are allowed to use sky-high levels of the substance, levels that would have been unthinkable otherwise. The Green Party firmly believes that this is not how the law was intended to work.
Miljöpartiet de gröna
The Swedish Chemicals Agency has granted an exemption to use 1,280 tonnes of methylene chloride over two years. That is 128 times more than the total annual use in all of Sweden, and it will all take place in one place, in Eskilstuna. Eskilstuna residents are rightly extremely worried about the consequences of the emissions, and some are even planning to move. The Swedish Chemicals Agency has itself called the legislation outdated.
Thousands of Eskilstuna residents are demonstrating and over 150,000 people have signed a protest list against the factory. Research warns of life-threatening risks. People in Cyprus have already seen the consequences of this, where a factory that released a smaller amount than planned in Eskilstuna led to a wave of cancer among children. These are clear examples that should make the government wake up and act.
The Green Party has asked the Minister of the Environment Romina Pourmokhtari what she intends to do to protect people from environmental toxins such as methylene chloride. The answer was… nothing.
In the Riksdag, we have taken the initiative to tighten the legislation and ban methylene chloride. But despite the high tone from all parties locally in Eskilstuna, SD, S, M, KD, L and C voted nationally against the Green Party’s initiative.
The Green Party demands a total ban on emissions of toxic chemicals
Viktor Frisk, originally from Eskilstuna, appealed to the Prime Minister to act but Kristersson has not even bothered to respond. The silence from the government and Ulf Kristersson is deafening.
“The government could have put a stop to Senior’s gigantic emissions today. With a simple change in the law, they have the opportunity to close the loophole in the legislation that has given Senior permission for its large emissions.”
At the same time, it is not enough. The Green Party demands a total ban on emissions of toxic chemicals such as Methylene Chloride. This is about something as simple, and at the same time as fundamental, as the right to clean air and fresh water.
“We should not have to read headlines about children suffering from cancer before the government wakes up. No one should have to choose between staying in their hometown or protecting their children from toxins. We already know what is at stake. So plug the loophole, stop the emissions and take responsibility now.”
