A diverse group of industry, government and international experts have convened in the city of Buenos Aires to support strengthening the sound management of chemicals and waste in Argentina. The meeting, hosted by the Argentine Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development in cooperation with the UN Environment Programme and the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA), aimed to strengthen cooperation between government authorities, industry, the United Nations and other stakeholders in order to improve chemicals and waste management at the national level in Argentina.

Recently, Argentina was granted funding from the UN Special Programme for a project to “Strengthen the national capacity for the sound management of chemicals and waste.” The Special Programme aims to support institutional strengthening at the national level to enhance the implementation of the chemicals and waste conventions and achieve the 2020 goal of sound chemicals management under the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM).  CIQyP is a leader in implementing Responsible Care in the South American region and sees the Special Programme project as an opportunity to strengthen the recognition of Responsible Care product stewardship practices within developing Argentina policies and to accelerate implementation of the Globally Harmonized System for Classification and Labeling within Argentina, which aligns with the ambitions of the national government.

The group focused on four main objectives:

• Enhance implementation of the UN Special Programme through a transparent, cooperative relationship between government and industry;
• Enhance Responsible Care® and product stewardship implementation;
• Enhance implementation of the Globally Harmonized System for Classification & Labeling (GHS); and,
• Facilitate the establishment of a chemical control framework

Recognizing the need to correctly manage chemical products and minimize adverse impacts on human health and the environment, participants discussed how to enhance regulatory frameworks on chemicals and waste and how to enhance Argentina’s Responsible Care® Program, which is the global chemical industry’s voluntary commitment to drive continuous improvement and achieve excellence in environmental, health and safety, and security performance.  In addition to enhancing Responsible Care® implementation and awareness, the event also highlighted a project financed by the UN Environment Programme in Argentina, which aims to support institutional strengthening at the national level to promote the mainstreaming of the sound management of chemicals and waste.  Topics such as improving implementation of the GHS and establishing a risk-based chemical control framework also were addressed.