Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns 

Achieving sustainable consumption and production requires adherence to international norms on the management of hazardous chemicals and wastes. If not properly managed, these can have a grave impact on the environment and public health as they can contaminate water, soil and the atmosphere.

The OSCE helps its participating States to effectively manage hazardous waste and chemicals and to minimize the serious security risks that they pose. In Central Asia it helps the people in communities affected by uranium legacy sites in Central Asia, strengthening stakeholder engagement in remediation. The Aarhus Centres and Public Environmental Information Centres reach out to affected communities, particularly women and youth, raising their awareness of the risks and promoting practical small-scale safety measures.

The OSCE conducts risk assessments and develops recommendations related to hazardous waste accumulated at industrial legacy sites, for instance, in Armenia and Georgia. It has trained customs officers, border guards and environmental authorities from Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine in preventing illegal trans-boundary movement of hazardous waste.

The Organization has been and still is assisting participating States with the disposal of mélange, a highly-toxic, liquid rocket propellant used during the Cold War that a number of the OSCE participating States still possess in large quantities, stored in deteriorating storage sites. The projects involve transporting the toxic substance to disposal facilities where it was either destroyed or converted into products for civilian use –fertilizers, paint, industrial explosives and foam.