Waste containing nanomaterials — or nanowaste — is an emerging safety concern worldwide, warranting specific environmentally sound waste management and regulation.
References
Keller, A. A., McFerran, S., Lazareva, A. & Suh, S. J. Nanopart. Res. 15, 1692 (2013).
Auribault, D. Bull. Insp. Trav. 126, 120–132 (1906).
Perry, K. M. A. Thorax 2, 91–120 (1947).
Stuttgen, V. et al. Nanotoxicology 13, 717–732 (2019).
Nanotechnologies - Guidelines for the Management and Disposal of Waste from the Manufacturing and Processing of Manufactured Nano-Objects (CEN/TS, 2018); https://standards.iteh.ai/catalog/standards/cen/1b18e75b-05bf-4c72-9559-a04c1f551705/cen-ts-17275-2018
Scheringer, M. Nat. Nanotechnol. 3, 322–323 (2008).
Auffan, M. et al. Nat. Nanotechnol. 4, 634–641 (2009).
COP.15 Fifteenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention: Information Document 52 (Secretariat of the Basel Convention - UNEP, 2022); http://www.basel.int/TheConvention/ConferenceoftheParties/Meetings/COP15/tabid/8392/ctl/Download/mid/24683/Default.aspx?id=139&ObjID=26086
Musee, N. Environ. Int. 37, 112–128 (2011).
Policy Briefs, Nanowaste: Need for Disposal and Recycling Standards (G20 Insights, 2017); https://www.g20-insights.org/policy_briefs/nanowaste-need-disposal-recycling-standards/
Mazari, S. A. et al. J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 9, 105028 (2021).
Report on Issues Related to Waste Containing Nanomaterials and Options for Further Work Under the Basel Convention (UNEP, 2018); http://www.basel.int/Portals/4/download.aspx?d=UNEP-CHW-OEWG.11-INF-24.English.pdf
Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (UNEP, 2019); http://www.basel.int/TheConvention/Overview/TextoftheConvention/tabid/1275/Default.aspx
Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS Rev. 9, 2021) (UN, 2021); https://unece.org/transport/standards/transport/dangerous-goods/ghs-rev9-2021
ADR 2021 (files): Agreement Concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (UN, 2020); https://unece.org/transportdangerous-goods/adr-2021-files
Wang, Z. et al. Science 371, 774–776 (2021).
Baron, P. A. in NIOSH Manual of Analytical Methods (NMAM) 5th edn (NIOSH, 2016); https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/nmam/
Boulanger, G. et al. Environ. Health 13, 1–18 (2014).
Miernicki, M., Hofmann, T., Eisenberger, I., von der Kammer, F. & Praetorius, A. Nat. Nanotechnol. 14, 208–216 (2019).
Buitrago, E. et al. Nanomaterials (Basel) 11, 2768 (2021).
Boverhof, D. R. et al. Regul. Toxicol. Pharmacol. 73, 137–150 (2015).
Groso, A., Petri-Fink, A., Rothen-Rutishauser, B., Hofmann, H. & Meyer, T. J. Nanobiotechnol. 14, 21 (2016).
Verordnung über den Verkehr mit Abfällen (VeVA) - Swiss Federal Council Regulation No. 814.610 (Fedlex, 2005); https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2005/551/de
Karakoçak, B. B. et al. ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 1, 3682–3692 (2018).
Faried, A. S., Mostafa, S. A., Tayeh, B. A. & Tawfik, T. A. J. Build. Eng. 43, 102569 (2021).
Templeton, J. & Kohler, P. 2021 Meetings of the Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions (BRS COPs) 1–11 (Earth Negotiations Bulletin, 2021); https://enb.iisd.org/chemicals/2021COPs
Zalk, D. M. & Paik, S. Y. in Assessing Nanoparticle Risks to Human Health (Ed. Gurumurthy R.) 139–166 (William Andrew Publishing, 2011).
Acknowledgements
This article is based on initial safety instruction work by Yuki Umehara and Nico Bruns at the Adolphe Merkle Institute (AMI). We are grateful to Georg Karlaganis and Oliver Wootton from UNITAR for the insights they provided into the global regulation, and to Michael Mayer, Anita Roulin, Dimitri Vanhecke, and the members of the BioNanomaterials group at AMI for helpful discussions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
B.R.-R., A.P.-F., and F.S. conceived the idea of the article. F.S. wrote the article with contributions from B.B.K., made the figures, and gathered most of the information with contributions from B.R.-R. and A.P.-F. A.S. and T.M. contributed with their insights and experience as workplace hygienists and safety officers at the University of Fribourg and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), respectively. The manuscript was critically reviewed by A.P.-F., B.R.-R., T.M., A.S., and B.B.K. All co-authors read and approved the manuscript prior to submission.
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare the following competing interests: F.S. was supported by Innosuisse, the Swiss Agency for Innovation (project No. 38515.1 IP-EE). F.S. has a patent pending on a SiO2-NP plant growth enhancer (WO2020212526A1). This research was also supported by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment, the Adolphe Merkle Foundation, and the University of Fribourg. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this commentary is those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Swiss Government. This work has not been subjected to review by the Swiss government or any of its institutions, and no official endorsement should be inferred. The authors declare no other competing interest.
Peer review
Peer review information
Nature Nanotechnology thanks Gabriel Sigmund for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schwab, F., Rothen-Rutishauser, B., Scherz, A. et al. The need for awareness and action in managing nanowaste. Nat. Nanotechnol. 18, 317–321 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-023-01331-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-023-01331-4
- Springer Nature Limited