Environmental sustainability – legislation, policy drivers and perks

A framework for assessing the impact of the IPPC directive on the performance of the pig industry

EU Directive 96/61/EC on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC), for the first time, applies comprehensive environmental regulation to the intensive livestock sector. In this context, this paper assesses the impact of IPPC on the environmental and financial performance of intensive pig installations, using three case studies in England and Wales. Particular attention is paid to the impact of ‘best available techniques’ (BAT) and standard conditions of the permit on capital and operating costs, and on commercial viability. Key environmental and economic performance indicators are used to compare ‘with’ and ‘without’ IPPC situations.The case studies confirm that IPPC will have greatest impact on animal housing and waste management systems. There are risks, however, that BAT prescriptions may not ensure a completely integrated approach to environmental protection throughout the whole production process. Furthermore, given the current depressed state of the sector, IPPC compliance could threaten the viability of existing production units. IPPC could, however, drive innovation and structural change in the pig industry. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment.

The Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive and its implications for the environment and industrial activities in Europe

This article gives an economic analysis of some of the more important aspects of the new proposal for a Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC). The authors use an economic interpretation of the subsidiarity principle to analyze the concept of IPPC, the choice of the permit as a central instrument and the importance and interpretation of the principle of Best Available Technology (EAT) in the IPPC proposal. They come to the conclusion that the proposal does not conform with the subsidiarity principle to the extent that it allows for a European-wide interpretation ofBA T and prescribes the permit as the main instrument to control and prevent pollution. Emission and technology standards should be set at local level, using local and optimally differentiated interpretations of BAT, complying with a European framework of quality standards. Also scope should be given to Member States for using alternative instruments.

Integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC)

Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC)

The Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive has been for the first time published in 1996 (Council Directive 96/61/EC). It was amended in 2008 and now it has been replaced by the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) n.75/2010. The IPPC Directive represents one of the main important policy tool of European Union to manage the emissions of industrial activities and to achieve a higher level of protection of environment as a whole. The Directive asks to the Competent Authorities to issue an unique permit for the industrial installations where are included limits, monitoring frequencies and operational requirements referred to all environmental aspects (water emissions, air emissions, soil, etc.) In literature we can find several studies about policies assessment. In this framework we can observe that not so many authors have studied the IPPC Directive. In addition the papers related to the assessment of the IPPC Directive are referred mainly to discuss about the effectiveness of the Directive in the implementation of Best Available Techniques (BAT) and the improvement of environmental performance of the companies in the scope of the Directive. Besides the few papers or technical reports focused on the implementation of the IPPC Directive from a legislative and administrative perspective have never studied in depth the contents of the issued permits. The objective of our paper is to bridge this gap presenting the results of an empirical research carried out by the authors in the framework of an European project named MED IPPC NET. The authors investigated 62 IPPC permits of landfill sector issued in seven European Regions: Andalusia and Valencia (Spain), Tuscany, Piedmont and Sicily (Italy), West Macedonia (Greece) and Slovenia. The research aimed to identify the differences in the Emissions Limit Values, monitoring frequencies, operational requirements imposed to installations of the same sector but with permits issued in different Competent Authorities. The results demonstrate relevant disparities not always justifiable by the flexibility given by the Directive to the Member States and Competent Authorities to implement the Directive.

Introduction In this chapter we examine the most traditional and prevalent tool through which environmental regulators exercise ongoing control over regulated parties, that is the licence (or authorisation or permit – the terms seem to be used indiscriminately in legislation). We consider elsewhere other areas of environmental law that have licensing at their centre (e.g. water in Chapter 10, waste in Chapter 11, planning in Chapter 13). Here though, we examine in detail the permitting scheme under the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive, using it as an opportunity to study in detail one particular system of licensing. Direct regulation by licensing is at the core of the regime: Art. 4 requires Member States to ‘take the necessary measures to ensure that no new installation is operated without a permit issued in accordance with this Directive’. The study of the IPPC Directive allows us to examine a number of features of licensing regimes more generally, including for example, in section 4, the use of a variety of ‘standards’. As well as being a good example of a permitting system, the IPPC Directive is also much more, simultaneously responding to certain concerns about direct environmental regulation (and indeed about European Community (EC) environmental regulation), as we will see; in part this is about flexibility, but we will also discuss the IPPC Directive's use of procedure to control flexibility, including procedures that encourage learning and reflection and participatory procedures, as discussed in Chapter 3.

This chapter deals with the latest in a long series of attempts to streamline or integrate various industrial pollution control systems—a regime that began by bringing together integrated pollution prevention and control and waste management licensing but which now extends to water and groundwater discharge permits and controls on radioactive substances. The environmental permitting regime provides a broad, largely procedural, framework within which the substantive provisions of various European Directives are implemented across a range of industrial installations and waste management facilities. As such, it introduces few general changes of substance, merely reflecting, as many integrative measures have done, structural and administrative changes, and a reordering of what was already there.

Volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions into the atmosphere are among the primary environmental problems caused by flexible packaging printing plants. Since 1999, VOC emissions from the use of solvents in various technological processes have been limited by the volatile organic compounds solvents emissions directive, and by directive 2010/75/EU on industrial emissions since 2010. Thus, flexible packaging plants require processing technologies or other solutions to ensure compliance with these requirements. In this paper, combined VOC pollution prevention and treatment alternatives were suggested and were evaluated for their technical, environmental, and economic feasibility. A flexible plastic packaging company that produces over 1920 t/year of plastic packaging for the food industry was selected for detailed analysis. The material and energy flow analysis shows that VOC emissions from the main technological processes reached 112.2 kg/t of production, and a considerable amount of energy (up to 771.6 kWh/t of production) was used. Three integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) alternatives of the five analysed in this study were selected and implemented within the company to reduce its VOC emissions and energy consumption. The results indicate that after the implementation of the three suggested economically reasonable IPPC alternatives (replacement of solvent-based with water-based inks; modernisation of the ventilation and lighting system), the VOC emissions decreased to 8.4 kg/t (92.5%) and the total energy consumption for the production of 1 t of flexible packaging decreased to 605.6 kWh/t (21.5%). This study shows that IPPC methods not only significantly reduces VOC emissions from flexible packaging printing processes, but also saves energy and raw materials, and reduces costs.

Chapter 8 - Water Quality and Regulation

In August 2000, health authorities in England and Wales became statutory consultees for permits issued to industry by the Environment Agency as part of the implementation of EU directives. This responsibility has since been delegated to Primary Care Trusts. To assess health authority responses to applications made under the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) regulations, we collected data from public registers during the first 12 months of this new regulatory regime. There was evidence of 27 applications, of which 59 per cent had substantive comments from health authorities. There was wide variation in the length and content. Responses were from Consultants in Communicable Disease Control (57 per cent) or Directors of Public Health (43 per cent). Only two health authorities had a dedicated resource for responding to IPPC applications. Capacity and capability are lacking and require resources invested for consistent, effective public health input to the process of permitting potentially polluting industries.

Integrated pollution prevention and control—the Finnish approach

The principles introduced by the Directive Concerning Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) (currently known as the Industrial Emissions Directive (2010/75/EU)) are innovative and have raised interests in the framework of the literature debate on environmental regulation. Many articles describe and analyze the application of the Directive in European countries, but only a few articles focus on how the interest for the Directive’s principles, including the integrated approach, have reached countries outside the European Union. This paper aims to contribute to this topic, describing the experience of the authors in carrying out an EU-funded project on transferring the IPPC approach and Best Available Techniques (BAT) concepts to three Arab countries, i.e., Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. The paper presents the experience referring to two sectors falling within the scope of the IPPC Directive: the textile and dairy sector. The objectives, methodologies, activities and experiences are described and can be used and valorized to integrate the IPPC approach and BAT concepts in the current environmental legislation of the three countries.

This paper describes how Directive 96/61/CE -- Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) has introduced the principle of pollution prevention and control by using the Best Available Techniques (BAT). The necessity to revamp the plants according to the highest European standards is also discussed. The definition and identification of what can be considered the BAT for an existing plant is a very complex and difficult process. In order to identify environmentally critical aspects and impacts a detailed plant and process performance analysis is needed; a complete benchmarking with European and BREF performances is also needed. TRR in order to meet these requirements has developed a methodology that has been tested on several Italian plants in IPPC authorization request: Pollution Reduction Analysis (PRA). PRA will be described in this paper, showing some application examples. The PRA is a detailed process and emission parameter analysis allows one to pinpoint the instruments to meet the emission targets defined by BAT, choosing between the different alternative technologies proposed. The analysis allows one to pinpoint deviations/anomalies, causes and technical interventions that can produce useful results for the environment, for consumption reduction and an optimization of the resources used.