| dc.description.abstract | Increased awareness of the effects of hazardous substances on human health and
the environment has led to a growing demand for information regarding use and
release patterns of such substances. For the past few years, Statistics Norway has
been working on new statistics on the consumption and emission of hazardous
substances in Norway. At present, the statistics cover the emissions of hazardous
substances caused by the use of products that are subject to the duty of declaration
to the Norwegian Product Register. The statistics include about 450 substances that
are categorised as being CMR (may cause cancer, be mutagenic or generate
reproductive disorders), chronically toxic, sensitising and/or dangerous for the
environment.The emission of hazardous substances to the surroundings (including air, soil and
water) is calculated by multiplying the amount consumed of a substance by an
emission factor. The emission estimates include diffuse emissions. This means that
not only emissions from production of products containing the substance, but also
emissions from the subsequent use of these products are included. The
consumption of a substance is expressed as the sum of production and import,
minus export, declared to the Product Register. The emission factor represents the
fraction of the substance that is not incorporated into a new product, transformed
into a new compound, or handled in some other way (e.g. as waste). The fraction of
a hazardous substance emitted is assumed to be dependent both on the type of
product used and the sector in which it is used.
The model and its emission factors have been gradually improved, incorporating an
increasing amount of information. In the present model, the majority of the
emission factors are specific for the combination of product type and industrial
sector. Some are product-specific factors, while a few emission factors are
specified for the combination of product type, industrial sector and substance. The
first two groups of emission factors are obtained from two Swedish studies, while
the substance-specific factors are based on consultations with relevant industry. | no_NO |
