Before 1990, most of the legal measures used to enforce pollution control from business premises dealt with emissions to air or water. From 1990 onwards a system of integrated pollution control regulations (IPPC) were introduced. This applied to certain processes (known as prescribed processes), which were deemed to have the highest potential to pollute.
The scope of IPPC is much wider than its predecessor IPC, encompassing more industry sectors and requiring the company to demonstrate it has systems in place for managing waste, energy, risk, noise.
In 1999, this system was further refined in line with the European Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC). The new environmental pollution control system was extended to include other relevant issues, and the regulatory side was complicated by the involvement for certain sites of local environmental health officers. The new system commenced in 2000 and a long phase-in period was scheduled for completion in 2007.
EEF offers invaluable environmental pollution control advice to industry employers – members should contact their EEF HSE adviser to find out more.