Meet ECT at the 16th International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium

The 16th International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium takes place in Forte Village, Santa Margherita di Pula (Sardinia, Italy) from 2 to 6 October 2017. ECT is contributing with the following platform presentation: J. Römbke: Testing of 24 potentially hazardous wastes using ecotoxicological tests For further information on the International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium […]

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ECT at the SETAC Latin America 12th Biennial Meeting

The 12th Biennial Meeting of SETAC Latin America (‘Bridging the gap between science and governance’) takes place in Santos, São Paulo, Brazil, from 7 to 10 September 2017. ECT is contributing with the following two platform presentations: J. Römbke, J. Bernard: The TRIAD – a new ISO standard for retrospective risk assessment in soil (ISO […]

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Rewetted degraded fen peatland site

New publication: Dissipation of micropollutants in a rewetted fen peatland – a field study using treated wastewater

A mixture of treated wastewater and surface water was used to rewet a degraded fen peatland site during a three-year rewetting experiment. Behaviour and effects of micropollutants were studied using hydrological, physico-chemical, microbiological and ecotoxicological monitoring. The highest concentrations of micropollutants in the treated wastewater were found for the pharmaceuticals carbamazepine and diclofenac, some metabolites, […]

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Review of the ecotoxicity of boric acid in standard laboratory tests with plants and soil organisms

To verify the sensitivity of ecotoxicological tests, reference substances with known toxicity are regularly tested. Ideally, such substances lack specificity in their mode action, are bioavailable and readily attainable, and their chemical characterisation is cost-effective. Boric acid satisfies these criteria, but has – due to reproductive effects in humans – most recently been characterised as […]

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Review of the effects of organic pesticides on enchytraeids (Oligochaeta) in agroecosystems – laboratory and higher-tier tests

Enchytraeids (Oligochaeta, Annelida) are regularly found in agroecosystems of the temperate regions of the world. Although less known than their larger relatives, the earthworms, these saprophagous organisms play similar roles in agricultural soils influencing soil structure and organic matter dynamics and having a central place in soil food webs. Due to difficulties in distinguishing the […]

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New publication: Survival, reproduction, growth, and parasite resistance of aquatic organisms exposed to wastewater treated by advanced treatment processes

Advanced wastewater treatment processes are known to be an effective tool for reducing micropollutant discharge into the aquatic environment. Nevertheless, some processes such as ozonation result in stable transformation products with often unknown toxicity. In the present study, effluents from different steps of advanced treatment were compared for their aquatic toxicity. Lumbriculus variegatus, Daphnia magna […]

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Report on assessment of environmental persistence

Report published on ‘Assessment of environmental persistence’

A literature study was performed to review the applicability of established and new tests for biodegradability for assessing persistence in the frame of PBT and vPvB assessments under REACH. Screening tests for ready and inherent biodegradability, proposals for enhanced ready tests as well as newly designed compartment-specific screening tests were analysed for strengths and weaknesses, […]

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