Food for thought

The UK food and drink sector is already tightly controlled by an abundance of legislation and regulation.

You only need to download the latest 98-page Food Law Guide from the Food Standards Agency (www.foodstandards.gov.uk) to get some idea of the scale - and that document doesn't take into account the environmental legislation. According to a European Environment Agency report, there are now more than 100 major pieces of legislation in place covering the entire spectrum of environmental issues.

It is, however, the introduction of one specific piece of legislation which will be of particular interest to process control professionals - the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations(IPPC).

IPPC has been introduced throughout the EU through the IPPC Directive 96/61/EC, and is being progressively implemented over an extended period to 2007, with the food and drink industry coming on-stream June to August 2004.

IPPC covers more sectors, and more activities wihin them, than the Integrated Pollution Control provisions of Environmental Protection Act 1990. It adopts a more holistic approach to industry's impact on the environment, emphasising the reduction of waste at source, minimising consumption of raw materials, utilities and energy and preventing and minimising emissions.

Central to IPPC is the requirement for specified installations to be issued with a permit that not only controls effluent discharges, emissions to air, solid wastes and noise, but also takes into account how the installation is operated and managed. Companies applying for permits will have to demonstrate how they will not cause significant pollution and also how they will prevent or minimise waste production, prevent accidents or minimise their effect, ensure that closure of the installation does not leave residual pollution, use energy efficiently and apply Best Available Techniques (BAT).

BAT is defined as the best option for minimising environmental pollution to the environment as a whole from the specific installation. It includes best use of equipment and management techniques. The company and regulator must also take commissioning dates for any new equipment into account.

Permit conditions agreed with the regulator must include emission limit values for pollutants, measures to be taken for the protection of soil, groundwater, and the management of waste. The permit conditions will also include requirements for monitoring, will oblige the company to supply the data for checking compliance, and to detail measures relating to events such as accidents, start-up conditions or closure of the facility.

While IPPC has major implications for process control in the food and drink sector, many companies are no longer viewing environmental legislation as a burden but as an opportunity. They increasingly see environmental performance both as a core part of their business and as a route to obtaining competitive advantage.

EnviroWise, the government-funded programme to improve environmental performance throughout UK industry, endorses this view. Its work with food and drinks companies has demonstrated that improvements in process control not only benefits environmental performance, but it can also significantly reduce costs and have a real impact on the bottom line, Overall production costs can be reduced by up to 5 per cent, and some companies have saved up to £100,000 per year by improving process control.

EnviroWise will be exhibiting at next month's et2003 show at the National Exhibition Centre (8-10 April), which is colocated with the International Clean Up (ICU) exhibition.

Anticipating the requirements of legislation is not easy, however. For process engineers looking to find out more, et2003 will feature free briefing sessions from Environment Agency specialists about the complexities of environmental regulations - including hazardous waste, contaminated land, environmental management systems and the IPPC regime itself. The Environment Agency's online resource which provides business with industry-specificenvironmental information, NetRegs, will also be in operation.