Canada Signs Global Treaty to Reduce Mercury Emissions

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The Government of Canada signed, October 10, 2013, the Minamata Convention on Mercury — a global agreement to reduce mercury emissions and releases to the environment. The convention is a legally-binding treaty negotiated under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Its primary objective is to protect human health and the environment from human sources of emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.

The convention addresses all aspects of the life-cycle of mercury, including providing controls and reductions across a range of products, processes, and industries where mercury is used, released, or emitted (e.g., coal-fired plants; boilers and smelters; certain light bulbs; mercury mining; mercury-containing batteries; switches and relays; certain soaps and cosmetics).

As an Arctic country, Canada is one of the main beneficiaries of the agreement. Although Canada has reduced its own mercury emissions by more than 90 per cent in the last 40 years, more than 95 per cent of the mercury deposited in Canada from human activity comes from foreign sources and winds up in the Arctic.

Mercury and other metals continue to be found both in wastewater effluent and in biosolids products. With national and international efforts to reduce not only environmental emissions but also limit mercury use in industrial and household products it is hoped that a positive impact will be seen in the sector.

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