Day: 1 February 1999

Comply with me…

According to recent statistics published by the Government, nearly 8,900 businesses are currently covered by the Producer Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations, and this number will rise significantly in 2000 when the turnover threshold test falls. Simon Thresh, strategic consultant at AEA Technology Environment, unwraps the packaging options: go it alone or register with one of a number of compliance schemes.

PM measurement spurs monitor development

Recent epidemiological health studies have implicated PM as one of the critical air pollutants affecting public health. This has lead to stringent world-wide PM regulations and objectives. With this comes the need to better identify and control PM emissions from stationary and other sources.

BIOTECHNOLOGY CUTS COSTS IN VOC ABATEMENT

The use of biotechnology is becoming widely recognised as an abatement strategy which endorses the concept of “best available technology not entailing excessive cost” (BATNEEC), according to Sutcliffe Croftshaw Ltd.

Monitoring of VOC Emissions keeps industry on the right side of the law.

Leading UK specialist in gas analysis, Servomex Group, which has featured in the Government White Paper, “Our Competitive Future: Building the Knowledge Driven Economy,” as an example of best practice in British industry, explains in this month’s Air Quality: Stack and Process Emissions feature, how gas analyser systems for monitoring VOC emissions can ensure that industry complies with increasingly tough regulations.

MAJOR HIRER OFFERS WIDE-RANGING CHOICE OF KIT

According to Instrument Hire, which is a BS EN ISO 90002:1994 quality certified concern, and part of the Building Services Research and Information Association BSRIA) at Bracknell, there has been a steady and significant growth of companies providing instrumentation for hire or rental.

Environmental information put to the TESS

TESS (The Environmental Skills Store) is a partnership between ECUS (Environmental Consultancy, University of Sheffield) and Pixel Fountain, providing a new integrated approach to environmental information, knowledge and training provision.

DTA downstream demonstration

The Direct Toxicity Assessment (DTA) Demonstration Programme, a collaborative R&D project involving regulators and regulated industry to assess methods and practicalities of ecotoxicological assessment based on ecological quality rather than just chemical criteria, has been undergoing trial in the UK since October 1997. Last month, the Demonstration Programme Steering Group, consisting of representatives from both regulators and industry, reported on progress so far.

SWIG w&wt s&a q&a

More than 60 people attended a recent Sensors for Water Interest Group (SWIG) workshop to review the various UK and European initiatives on standards and accreditation for on-line monitoring in water and waste treatment. There is, reports Michael Scott, secretary and director of the Cambridge-based Group, a clear need for standards at a national level, and it appears difficult to escape the need for European consensus.

Going underground

There is increasing evidence that groundwater, which provides around 35% of the nation's drinking water, is polluted beneath a large number of industrialised areas. (In the Birmingham and Coventry areas alone, over 80% of boreholes sampled showed evidence of pollution of trichloroethylene, a solvent used in manufacturing.) Europe says it has got to stop. And under new Groundwater Regulations to be enforced by the Environment Agency and SEPA, companies have just six weeks to comply.

Massive savings achieved in joint project

Another waste minimisation project, sponsored by the Vale of White Horse District Council and the Environment Agency, has helped 11 businesses to save over £600,000 in the last year. These findings are outlined in a new booklet, Saving thousands.

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