Chemical Industry Swap Shop Chemical Industry Swap Shop with the theme Waste Minimisation and Monitoring took place in May 1999. The event was jointly organised by the Environmental Business Network, RIS—Yorkshire & Humber Chemical Sector, ETBPP (Environmental Technology Best Practice Programme) and the Green Chemistry Network. The day centred around a series of presentations covering legislation, industry examples of waste minimisation and developments in monitoring systems followed by a series of surgeries covering everything from Green Chemistry to Environmental Compliance to support available from ETBPP.Throughout the day there was the opportunity for delegates to visit various stands and to take a look at the latest monitoring equipment on the market. The day started with an overview, given by Peter Calow who is Director of the EBN (European Business Network) and Chair of the Government Advisory Panel on Hazardous Substances, of the implications for the chemical industry of legislation.Legislation can broadly be placed in two categories: l that concerned with Direct Toxicity Assessment i.e. it is the environmental consequences that are measured, not the nature or concentration of chemicals.l that concerned with answering the question: Are critical concentrations likely to be exceeded? As monitoring equipment becomes more sophisticated then there is an increasing trend to measure and therefore limit allowable concentrations to lower and lower levels—the only answer therefore is to prevent waste being produced in the first place.George Smith from Hickson & Welch gave an overview of what industry can achieve in terms of minimising energy, water, gas and nitrogen use as well as effluent production. Through taking a critical look at their activities and targeting process development Hickson’s have achieved savings of over £1.3 million pa at a cost of £300 000. The afternoon surgeries took the form of general discussion groups.The two Green Chemistry surgeries were well attended and attracted interest from large and small chemical companies, environmental specialists and research A Environmental monitoring using X-ray fluorescence analysis institutions. It was obvious that there is a lot of interest in what Green Chemistry can offer and we all enjoyed a lively debate.It is worth noting that the EBN are running a TIDE Programme until June 2001. This programme provides financial assistance for SME’s (Small to Medium Sized Enterprises) (from the Yorkshire & Humber region) to buy in specialist expertise for the development of environmentally friendly products and processes. Topics covered include clean technology, monitoring and clean-up technologies.Further information can be obtained from Fiona Raynor, EBN, 5 Palmerston Road, Sheffield, S10 2TE, UK. COST Chemistry Action: Symposium on ‘Towards Environmentally Benign Chemical Processes’ Chambery in France was the location for the recent COST Meeting which brought together sonochemists, collaborating through the COST Chemistry Action D10/0008/98, with green chemists.The objective of the meeting which was organised by Professor Jean Louis Luche, was to examine the possible contribution of sonochemistry to green chemistry. The lectures covered the strategic use of sonochemistry in synthetic organic What is COST? COST is the acronym for the French equivalent of ‘European Cooperation in the Field of Scientific and Technical Research’.It takes the form of ‘concerted actions’ coordinating nationally funded pre-competitive research. It is complementary to, and does not compete with, the EUREKA initiative and the EU’s Framework Programmes. There are 28 COST member countries: the 15 EU member states plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Slovenia, Croatia, Malta, Estonia and Romania—plus the European Commission.E V E N T S C G G110 Green Chemistry August 1999Green Chemistry August 1999 G111 C G E V E N T S chemistry (Professor Ando), efficient oxidation processes assisted by ultrasound (Professor Sae Melo), sonochemical studies on cycloaddition reactions and related cyclisations (Professor Cintas), new processes for the use of agricultural resources as raw materials: the case for sucrose (Professor Queneau), ultrasound effects on photochemical and SET reactions (Professor Toma), sono-photodegradation of 2-chlorophenol (Professor Ragainin), sonolysis of organic compounds in water (Professor Petrier), sonolytic degradation of 1,2-dichloroethane and related compounds in natural ground water (Professor Peters) and scaling up sonochemistry: prospects and reality.Additionally Professors Clark and Sheldon gave talks on environmentally friendly organic synthesis and Professor Brunel described new mesoporous hybrid organic–inorganic materials as catalysts in fine chemistry. (http://www.cordis.lu/cost/home.html). Embassy commercial officers learn about green chemistry Over twenty commercial officers from UK embassies and high commissions throughout the world have recently spent two weeks in the UK on an industrybriefing course organised by ENTEC environmental consultants.The main responsibility of the commercial officers is to promote UK industry and expertise abroad; this course, aimed at demonstrating expertise within the UK environmental technology industry, included lectures, seminars and site visits —the highlight of which was a visit to the Millennium Dome.The Green Chemistry Network were invited to give a general talk on clean production, areas of UK expertise and technology. It was evident from the great enthusiasm and follow up questions that there is a real opportunity for both industry and consultants to exploit their know-how through collaboration, licensing etc.As expected the major areas of opportunity lie in the countries developing their chemical industry with places like China and India increasingly demanding that new chemical plants employ the latest clean, environmentally friendly technologies. The requirement for clean technology is truly universal: even highly developed countries such as Japan see a need for improved technology in the area of waste incineration, for example, where dioxin production is still a major concern. TMR - Programme Interuniversity Consortium "Chemistry for the Environment" European Commission - DG XII Announcing the second edition of the: SUMMER SCHOOL ON GREEN CHEMISTRY V e n e z i a , I t a l y September 6 - 12, 1999 A d m i t t e d a p p l i c a n t s w i l l r e c e i v e f u l l s c h o l a r s h i p s . Contacts: Prof. Pietro Tundo (Director): tundop@unive.it Dr. Alvise Perosa: alvise@unive.it Informations and application form: h t t p : / / w w w . u n i v e . i t / i n c a