A new mobile application was launched today: Watch-IT: Waste and Chemicals Inspection Tool. The app aims to support environmental inspectors and law enforcement officers to perform inspection of waste and chemicals. It concerns those waste streams and chemicals that are covered by the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions and related regional agreements. The app, which is free downloadable, offers guidance and references. Also for training purposes the app is a valuable tool. And most of its content is available offline.
To the point
Legislation can be complex and lengthy. This app zooms in on the legal provisions relevant for shipments of waste and chemicals during a first assessment by inspectors and law enforcement officers.
For example:
- What are the requirements for imports and exports of waste and chemicals?
- What are legal definitions of (hazardous) waste and chemicals?
- What defines illegal traffic?
Screenshots
References
The app provides searchable databases with all annexes containing waste and chemicals, covered by the scope of international and regional agreements. Searches can be done by waste code, chemicals code, customs code or name. It also includes a variety of references, such as guidelines and example documents. And it lists provides points of attention what to look out for when performing administrative and physical checks of shipments of waste or chemicals.
Key features
- Waste stream library – providing information and photos of 20 priority and /or problematic waste streams
- Database with hazardous characteric classes and symbols
- Contact database – containing contact details of environmental authorities and/or customs authorities, including links to their websites.
About the App
The app was developed by Ambiendura, GoedWare and GRID-Arendal with the financial support of the United Nations University (UNU) and the Regional Enforcement Network on Chemicals and Waste (REN). For now the app is available in English only. Technically it is possible to offer it in more languages if funding for translation and development are available. This also applies to the scope of the app. Other MEAs or regional agreements could be added as new modules in case funding is available.
Downloads
The app is developed for all 3 main operating systems: Android, Apple and Windows. The minimum system requirements are Google Android 5.0, Apple iOS 10 and Windows 10 version 1607.