Detailed Review of Selected Non-Incineration and Incineration POPs Elimination Technologies for the CEE Region

Detailed Review of Selected Non-Incineration and Incineration POPs Elimination Technologies for the CEE Region

3 Public Barriers

The establishment of e.g. an elimination facility includes a number of planning processes independent of technology choice and modality (stationary or mobile). Historically, establishment of treatment facilities for hazardous substances have contributed significantly to the overall change of approach to public participation and awareness rising. A still increasingly number of scheduled elimination projects have either been delayed or actually stopped due to increasingly public resistance basically generated by 2 overall factors;

increasingly awareness among the general public on possible environmental and human impacts generated from elimination processes due to e.g. local Agenda 21 and general increasing NGO organisations; and
development of mandatory planning processes involving public hearings (e.g. EIA and IPPC procedures).

During recent years, most authorities, contractors and consultants have recognised the outmost importance in addressing public barriers in advance and all way through the scheduled planning process. Furthermore, the overall development of still more and more internationalised NGO movements/organisa-tions has contributed significantly to the general perception on how to tackle and incorporate public barriers and acceptance.

Within the CEE Region, in parallel to other regions, the following main features of public barriers have been identified:

general public resistance to "non popular" political decision due to historic reasons;
increasingly public interest involving society development and priorities (e.g. local Agenda 21);
still un-mature political systems with relatively large room for political fractions based on "stand alone cases";
still lack of public information on high-end technologies and their impact on potential and preventive actions;
non-mature planning process instrumented on e.g. EIA and IPPC, which include public hearings as an integrated part of both the planning and permitting process.

Taking into account the fact that the establishment of local, regional or national elimination capacity is not an "off the shelf commodity", but a highly complex process involving not only economic and technical considerations, but to a still larger extent mandatory obligations for proper public information and involvement, makes the process still more complex in nature and implementation.

Experiences show that from the final political decision on the establishment of elimination capacity to actual operation of the facility in full scale, 5-10 years should normally be scheduled. First of all, time is needed for feasibility and business plan development, local, regional and national political approving processes, preparation of tenders and tender process, planning process with site selection process, EIA, IPPC and Seveso II Directive assessment running in parallel and/or continuously. Furthermore, all preparatory activities related to civil work, infrastructure and supply line support etc have to be designed, planned, contracted and implemented. Finally, decisions on operational responsibility and commissioning conditions must be determined and agreed upon. In addition to the formal planning procedures, supplementary actions devoted to avoid the generating of public barriers must be scheduled, facilitated and constantly updated.

From a planning process point of view, the preparation of a Communication Strategy Paper (CSP) is advisable. The paper takes into account all available nation specific communications means and respond groups and factor in which principles and strategic activities is mandatory for making the process overall public participatory. Based on the CSP - detailed public awareness (brochures, pamphlets etc), media strategies are to be developed linking up with the overall themes and principles of the mandatory planning actions.

All above descriptions refer to pre-installation activities (prior to on-site installation of actual elimination capacity). However, the numerous defined and by experience potential implementing-dealing barriers have also to be considered in the post-installation phase. As soon as the actual erection of a plant facility has merged, the challenge is to perform continued public participation and awareness. Within e.g. existing EU territory, which from May 2004 also covers a large part of the former CEE Region, a number of international and/or EU Community based binding instruments must be compiled into the operational picture. First of all, the Århus Convention on public access to environmental data and mandatory reporting requirements in e.g. obtained IPPC permission is an essential part of the public access avoiding the built up of public resistance.

Lessons learned from e.g. Poland and Latvia on the scheduled activities related to e.g. test incineration of obsolete pesticides in cement kiln (Poland) and establishment of national elimination capacity (Latvia) based on a semi-mobile incineration unit have clearly shown the various difficulties obtaining public acceptance as pre-conditional for a successful planning and ultimately elimination process.

The general perception of public barriers has a significant negative effect on the commercialization of the market sector for establishing treatment facilities. No major commercial investors find the sector attractive for investment projects which, at the same time, are closely related to these objects due to initial needs for large capital cost investments related to the various technologies and built up infrastructure. Subsequently, all major establishments recorded within the CEE Region (Cyclone technology development in Russia, Cement kiln testing in Poland, Semi mobile incineration unit in Latvia and non-incineration facility (GPCR) unit in Slovakia) are all characterized by minor input from private investors thereby almost solely rely on a combination of international and/or bilateral funds and grants supplemented by a minor proportion of national funds. Opposite the commercialized waste sector in general, the sector for elimination of POPs and obsolete pesticides face difficulties securing sufficient investment for actual establishment of objects leading to a still increasing stockpiling of obsolete products.

Attractiveness to private investors into the sector is crucial securing a continuous development of the area related to POPs and obsolete pesticides elimination. There is no doubt that already scheduled activities in e.g. Latvia and Slovakia will prompt further development to the market platform. However, it is of importance that gained experiences with public barriers are disseminated in order to facilitate the process leading to further establishment of eliminating capacities diminishing the environmental and human impacts from the extensive amount of stockpiled products in the CEE Region.