2.1 Legal framework: the Industrial Emissions Directive
The Industrial Emissions Directive (2010/75/EU) (European Parliament and Council, 2010) is the primary EU legal instrument to regulate industrial emissions and aims to achieve significant benefits for the environment and human health, in particular through the application of Best Available Techniques (BAT) whereas ensuring a level playing field for industry.
The scope of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) covers a large spread of industrial sectors and activities (e.g. combustion plants, production of cement, lime and magnesium oxide, intensive rearing of poultry and pigs, waste management), usually over a certain capacity threshold, specified for individual sectors and activities. All these industrial sectors and activities as well as their respective capacity threshold (if relevant) are defined in Annex I to the IED.
The IED regulates pollutant emissions to air, water and soil, and aims to prevent the generation of waste and promote the efficient use of resources from about 50 000 industrial installations across the European Union (EU). These industrial installations generate almost a quarter of the total EU emissions to air and water. It is estimated that they account for around 23 % by mass of emissions to air. For emissions to water, the situation is less clear, but it is estimated to represent 20 % to 40 % of emissions of heavy metals and 30 % to 60 % of pollutants other than nutrients and organic carbon (European Commission, 2017).
The installations covered by the IED must be operated in accordance with a permit granted by the relevant competent authority in the Member States. The technical basis for national competent authorities in EU countries to set permit conditions for industrial installations is the BAT conclusions. BAT conclusions cover a variety of environmental issues such as emissions to air and to water, waste generation, energy efficiency and water consumption (European Commission, 2012).
Permit conditions must be based on the use of BAT, with the BAT conclusions adopted by the European Commission serving as the reference for setting these conditions. BAT are defined as established techniques which are the most effective at achieving a high level of protection of the environment as a whole and which are developed on a scale that allows implementation in the relevant sector under economically and technically viable conditions taking into account the costs and advantages (European Parliament and Council, 2010).
The techniques listed and described in the BAT conclusions are neither prescriptive nor exhaustive. Other techniques that ensure at least an equivalent level of environmental protection may be used. The selection of (a) technique(s) to prevent or reduce a specific pollutant at installation level is a decision that depends on various factors, such as the technical configuration of the installation, the raw materials used, economics, sector legislation or safety issues (European Commission, 2012).
An individual BAT conclusion with BAT-associated emission levels (BAT-AELs) will contain a numerical range of emission levels. The units, the reference conditions (e.g. flue-gas oxygen level, temperature, pressure) and the averaging period (e.g. hourly/daily/weekly/monthly/yearly average) for a given BAT-AEL must be unambiguously defined. If considered necessary, and if the data available allow for doing so, BAT-AELs may be expressed as short-term and long-term averages (Giner-Santonja et al., 2019b). The Member States’ competent authorities shall set emission limit values that ensure that, under normal operating conditions, emissions do not exceed the emission levels associated with the best available techniques (European Parliament and Council, 2010).
Environmental performance levels (BAT-AEPLs) other than emission levels can be associated with certain BAT. Examples include consumption of material, water or energy, the generation of waste, abatement efficiency on pollutants and duration of visible emissions.
According to the IED, the Commission should organise an exchange of information with Member States, the industries concerned and non-governmental organisations promoting environmental protection in order to draw up, review and, where necessary, update BAT reference documents (hereafter BREFs). That exchange of information shall, in particular, address the following (European Parliament and Council, 2010):
- the performance of installations and techniques in terms of emissions, consumption and nature of raw materials, water and energy consumption, and generation of waste;
- the techniques used, economic and technical viability and developments therein;
- best available techniques.
A best available techniques (BAT) reference document (BREF), resulting from this exchange of information, is a document drawn up for defined activities describing, in particular, applied techniques, present emission and consumption levels, techniques considered for the determination of BAT as well as BAT conclusions and emerging techniques (European Commission, 2012).
In more detail, ‘BAT conclusions’ are defined as the parts of a BREF laying down the conclusions on BAT, their description, information to assess their applicability, the emission levels associated with the BAT, associated monitoring, associated consumption levels and, where appropriate, relevant site remediation measures. The BAT conclusions are adopted through the procedure referred to in Article 75(2) of the IED. They shall be the reference for setting permit conditions for the installations covered by the IED (European Parliament and Council, 2010).
Best available techniques (BAT) are defined as the most effective and advanced stage in the development of activities and their methods of operation, to reduce emissions and the impact on the environment as a whole (European Parliament and Council, 2010):
(a) ‘techniques’ includes both the technology used and the way in which the installation is designed, built, maintained, operated and decommissioned;
(b) ‘available techniques’ means those developed on a scale which allows implementation in the relevant industrial sector, under economically and technically viable conditions, taking into consideration the costs and advantages, whether or not the techniques are used or produced inside the Member State in question, as long as they are reasonably accessible to the operator;
(c) ‘best’ means most effective in achieving a high general level of protection of the environment as a whole.
The BAT conclusions document for a specific industrial sector contains several individual conclusions, each of them addressing an environmental objective related to the prevention or reduction of one or more pollutants. The IED permits should make reference to one or a combination of the techniques listed in the corresponding BAT conclusion(s). The IED sets the objective to review each BREF every 8 years in order to reflect technical progress.
The reviews of BREFs are coordinated by the European Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Bureau (EIPPCB), part of the Joint Research Centre that belongs to the European Commission. Evidence-based decisions on BAT and BAT-AEPLs are taken with the consensus of the Technical Working Group members (see Section 2.1). The information collected during a BREF review is shared among the TWG members through an online platform called BATIS (BAT Information System). Whilst an evaluation based on quantitative data is preferable, qualitative information, such as stakeholder opinions and criteria, is an important complement to quantitative data.
Food, drink and milk industries are covered by points 6.4 (b) and 6.4 (c) of Annex I to the IED. Specifically, these points state the following (European Parliament and Council, 2010):
''6.4 (b) Treatment and processing, other than exclusively packaging, of the following raw materials, whether previously processed or unprocessed, intended for the production of food or feed from:
(i) only animal raw materials (other than exclusively milk) with a finished product production capacity greater than 75 tonnes per day;
(ii) only vegetable raw materials with a finished product production capacity greater than 300 tonnes per day or 600 tonnes per day where the installation operates for a period of no more than 90 consecutive days in any year;
(iii) animal and vegetable raw materials, both in combined and separate products, with a finished product production capacity in tonnes per day greater than:
— 75 if A is equal to 10 or more; or,
— [300 - (22.5 × A)] in any other case,
where ‘A’ is the portion of animal material (in percent of weight) of the finished product production capacity.
Packaging shall not be included in the final weight of the product.
This subsection shall not apply where the raw material is milk only.
6.4 (c) Treatment and processing of milk only, the quantity of milk received being greater than 200 tonnes per day (average value on an annual basis).''
2.2 The procedure for KEI and data collection
A technical working group (TWG) was created to discuss the key environmental issues and the data collection process from FDM industries. The Technical Working Group (TWG) is the main source of information for the drawing up and reviewing of a BREF. It is comprised of relevant technical experts from Member States, industrial organisations and non-governmental organisations for the protection of the environment (European Commission, 2012).
The reactivation of the TWG for the review of the FDM BREF took place in early 2014, and it consisted of around 180 technical and regulatory experts. The TWG for the review of the FDM BREF held its Kick-off Meeting (KoM) in Seville, Spain on 27 to 30 October 2014.
Around 80 experts representing national competent authorities, industrial organisations and non-governmental organisations attended the KoM. Experts covering a large diversity of the food sector (e.g. dairies, breweries, sugar manufacturing, starch production, animal feed, oilseed processing and refining, meat production) were present at the KoM. This representativeness was extremely important, taking into account the diversity of the sector and the numerous different applied processes and techniques.
The meeting focused on the key environmental issues (KEIs) of the FDM sector, on the most effective arrangements for exchanging and gathering information on best available techniques (addressing the basic features required by Article 13 of the IED), on the definition of the scope of the FDM BREF and on issues related to the data and information collection.
KEIs are a tool to focus the TWG resources on a manageable number of issues. It is important for KEIs to be identified at the beginning of a BREF review process with the intention of deriving BAT-AELs or other BAT-AEPLs for these KEIs.
The following criteria have been proposed by the European Commission for the identification of KEIs (European Commission, 2015):
- the environmental relevance of the (air, water, or soil) pollution caused by the activity or process concerned, i.e. whether it may cause an environmental problem;
- the significance of the activity in terms of number of installations, their geographical spread and their contribution to the total (industrial) emissions in the EU;
- the potential of the BREF review for identifying new or additional techniques that would further significantly reduce pollution;
- the potential of the BREF review for defining BAT-AELs that would significantly improve the level of protection of the environment as a whole in comparison with the current emission levels.
In order to assist the discussions during the KoM, a background paper detailing the main items to be discussed was prepared by the European Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Bureau (EIPPCB) and sent to the TWG members in advance of the meeting. The items had been derived from about 1 000 initial positions sent by the TWG in advance of the KoM. Initial positions are preliminary suggestions and comments provided by the members of the TWG.
Around 2 800 European FDM installations are covered by the IED (Giner Santonja et al., 2019a). The TWG applied several criteria for selecting plants for the plant-specific data collection via questionnaires, in order to ensure a balanced representation of the FDM sector:
- the environmental performance;
- the use of BAT and innovative techniques;
- the production capacity – both small and large;
- the age of the plant – both newer and older;
- the processes – single and multi-product processes;
- the FDM subsector;
- geographical distribution;
- products/processes that required a dedicated approach due to their environmental relevance;
- availability of data.
The data collection took place by using a tailor-made questionnaire (see Section 3.2). The questionnaire is an important tool for every BREF review process, since it should enable the efficient and comprehensive collection of representative data and contextual information for the derivation of technically sound BAT conclusions.
A first draft questionnaire template (in Excel form) was prepared by the EIPPCB and distributed to the TWG for their comments. Based on these comments, the EIPPCB updated the first draft questionnaire and a TWG meeting took place in Brussels to finalise it. The final draft questionnaire was tested by a limited number of FDM installations. Once the questionnaire was finished, it was distributed by EU Member States' representatives to the selected plants. The EU Member States' representatives were also responsible for collecting the filled-in questionnaires, checking the quality of the data and submitting the quality-checked questionnaires to the EIPPCB.
The questionnaire was designed in such a way that avoided requesting confidential data as much as possible. The only information considered confidential was the amount of energy consumed and raw materials used as well as the amount of products.
In parallel to the FDM data collection, the TWG collected information on the applied processes and techniques in the different FDM subsectors, on the techniques to be considered for the determination of BAT and on the emerging techniques. These techniques covered both pollution prevention and control measures, and the information included the following elements: technical description, achieved environmental benefits, environmental performance and operational data, cross-media effects, technical considerations relevant to applicability, economics, driving force for implementation, example plants and related reference literature. Around 100 contributions/sources of qualitative information were used to update the FDM BREF.
Based on the new information/data, a draft of the revised FDM BREF was produced and made available to the whole TWG for their comments. A major update was the inclusion of real-plant consumption and emission data for the identified key environmental issues (see Section 3).
The TWG members submitted 1 963 comments in relation to the draft FDM BREF. The majority of them (around 60 %) were on the BAT conclusions chapter of the FDM BREF. The EIPPCB assessed all the comments and made proposals which were then incorporated in the final draft of the FDM BREF.
An intense 5-day final meeting took place in Seville (Spain) between 14 and 18 May 2018, involving around 80 TWG members. The purpose of the final meeting is for the TWG to conclude the technical discussions and decide on BAT for the sector. The basis of the meeting was a background paper produced by the EIPPCB taking into account the TWG comments on the BAT conclusions section of the draft FDM BREF.
A consensus was achieved on the BAT for the FDM sector, consisting of 37 individual BAT conclusions. Of these, 4 covered general aspects including environmental management and monitoring practices, 8 related to energy efficiency, 3 to resource efficiency, 2 to harmful substances, 2 to water consumption and waste water discharge, 3 to waste, 10 to emissions to air, 2 to emissions to water, 1 to odour and 2 to noise.
Based on the outcome of the final meeting and the TWG comments on the draft FDM BREF, a pre-final draft was produced for the TWG to verify the decisions taken in the final meeting were brought on board of the BREF. The TWG comments on the pre-final draft were used to produce the final draft of the FDM BREF.
Further steps outside the remit of the TWG were followed, in relation to the opinion of the formal IED Forum (November 2018) on the final draft of the revised FDM BREF, the positive vote by EU Member States (decide by a qualified majority in June 2019) on the BAT conclusions, required to proceed with the legal adoption of the BAT conclusions by the Commission (European Commission, 2019). The revised FDM BREF is publicly available on the EIPPCB website (Giner Santonja et al., 2019a).