The building blocks of living organisms are organic compounds, which contain carbon and hydrogen (and in some cases other elements). These compounds are not indestructible and many breakdown relatively easily. However, humans have learnt to...

Dioxins are formed in industrial processes involving chlorine. Burning organic matter in the presence of chlorine, for example waste incineration, burning PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and chlorine-bleached paper, will produce dioxins.

Dioxin releases must be eliminated, not simply reduced. Because of the persistent nature of these chemicals, and their continual recycling throughout the environment, the current global build-up of dioxin will take years to decrease.

Over 90 governments of the world have signed The Stockholm Convention, which is an International Treaty to ban 12 persistent organic pollutants (also known as the "dirty dozen"). The New Zealand Government signed the Stockholm Convention in May 2001.

In 2002 Greenpeace began a campaign to have the Auckland International Airport incinerator closed and replaced with cleaner technology to treat the quarantine waste.

The first evidence of persistent organic pollutant (POPs) related injury to wildlife was discovered in North America in the 1960s, where the population of peregrine falcons was found to be declining due to pesticide contamination. Subsequently, a...

Burning was once considered the most effective method for disposing of waste materials. However, since industrialisation the nature of waste has changed dramatically. Mass production of chemicals and plastics means that burning or incinerating...

Electronic devices are a complex mixture of several hundred materials. A mobile phone, for example, contains 500 to 1000 components. Many of these contain toxic heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium and beryllium and hazardous chemicals,...

The amount of electronic products discarded globally has skyrocketed recently, with 20-50 million tonnes generated every year. If such a huge figure is hard to imagine, think of it like this - if the estimated amount of e-waste generated every...