Q&A Summary: Activity Options for Action Plans on the Reduction of uPOPs and Management of PFASs (20 January 2026)
Thank you for your great interest and participation in our action plans webinar held last Tuesday! We received many thoughtful questions, and we’re pleased to share the responses from Dr. Roland Weber.
Q1. For the emissions associated with power generation, are these to some extent linked to energy from waste or burning waste in incinerators for power production?
Dr. Roland Weber: These are emissions from real power plants and not from waste to energy. Waste to energy is quantified in the UNEP Dioxin Toolkit in the Source Group Waste Incinerators. So these emissions are largely from coal power plants which also can have relevant dioxin emission especially with coal containing elevated levels of chloride.
Q2. In our country, we burn around 17 million tonnes of waste annually in power generation plants. This creates around 500kt of Air Pollution Control residue (APCr) or fly ash which have to be managed sensitively. Increasingly we've seen approaches to stabilize and crystalize the ash to turn into a glassy material that permanently locks away dioxins and metals. Around 40-50% of fly ash / APCr is now managed this way.
Dr. Roland Weber: Thanks for this information. Please check the long-term heavy metal leachate performance of such materials.
Q3. Could biochar be a potential solution to remove heavy metals, arsenic, other unintentional POPs and PFAS?
Dr. Roland Weber: Yes, biochar is an adsorbent for PFAS and heavy metals. Here is an open access article on biochar and PFAS adsorption: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42773-025-00436-4
The problem is then what is next after you have a contaminated biochar. There is an interesting study from Norway on pyrolysis and PFAS degradation in an open access article: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.jafc.5c00651
Q4. Regarding that metal industries are also major emitters of dioxins, could you please provide a source for this information?
Dr. Roland Weber: As mentioned in the webinar, the data are from the individual Stockholm Convention NIPs. Dr. Fiedler compiled the data and might have them available.
Q5. What are the Egypt's problems regarding the unintentional release of POPs?
Dr. Roland Weber: Egypt has the updated dioxin inventory in the updated NIP (not submitted yet). BAT/BEP is certainly key for reduction of UPOP/dioxin releases. Our Egyptian – German Twinning Project had a BAT/BEP component, and I hope that this information is still present in Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA).
Q6. If PFOS is present at high concentrations in air, how can we reduce these concentrations, and what are the priorities for mitigating them?
Dr. Roland Weber: PFOS is not typically in the air. The key to controlling PFOS is the cessation of use and the management of waste. A PFOS and PFAS source in your country might be synthetic carpets, which should be assessed and managed appropriately, as well as remaining firefighting foams. Please refer to my action plan recommendation to regulate PFAS as a group and possibly consider and follow the European approach.
Q7. What are standard procedures for the safe handling, disposal or recycling of firefighting foam stocks and cylinders containing PFAS/PFOS?
Dr. Roland Weber: The PFAS foams are substituted and incinerated in hazardous waste incinerators (and possibly cement kilns). Cleaning the fixed installations is important so as not to contaminate the new firefighting foam.
For a deeper dive into the GGKP webinar “Activity Options for Action Plans on the Reduction of uPOPs and Management of PFASs”, you can access the full recordings and materials below.