The Danish authorization system for enterprises is an integrated system corresponding to that which will soon be required of all EC Member States. This means that all aspects of pollution will be dealt with under one and the same environmental authority. However, the present degree of integration is influenced by the fact that the system was created in 1972, at which time waste was just something one disposed of. Thus separate regulations have since developed for hazardous waste and ordinary waste. Neither was energy a problem in 1972. Nowadays attempts are made to influence enterprise energy consumption through levies (see Chapter 12). It should also be mentioned that neither the EC nor Denmark consider enterprise placement as part of the integrated authorization system. The EC has an EIA system and Denmark has a special system for town and country planning.
Environmental requirements are usually set forth as the requirement to comply with a limit value (e.g. maximum level of substance y in mg/l effluent, maximum noise level in dB(A) at the enterprise boundary between 07.00 and 18.00, maximum level of substance z in mg/m3 air, etc.) rather than a requirement to use a particular technology. The limit values are based on the knowledge of a technology (BAT) able to provide the required result. However, the enterprise is free to use another suitable technology if it knows of one.
Some examples will be given of the most usual environmental requirements found in Danish rulings. For further details, however, the reader is referred to the relevant Guidelines.
In drawing up environmental requirements no distinction is made between the authorization situation - which is the most common - and the injunction situation. An environmental requirement has the form of a condition in a consent or a section in an injunction. While they are in theory equivalent, in practice the contents of an injunction can be less stringent. There are two reasons for this. The first is that while new enterprises are built from scratch, and should therefore be able to live up to modern environmental requirements relatively cheaply, established enterprises can be so unfortunately outfitted or located that it is practically impossible to bring them up to modern standards. The injunction may then go as far as is justifiable when taking into consideration the doctrine of proportionality. The second reason is that consents are valid for 8 years, during which time additional requirements cannot be imposed. It is therefore necessary to be quite sure that the requirements give due consideration to the surroundings.
Environmental requirements are an expression of the environmental authorities’ weighing-up of the relationship between the enterprise and the surroundings. The enterprise itself has to pay the cost of complying with the requirements. In return the neighbours have to accept the residual nuisance when the requirements are complied with. They cannot attain compensation if the enterprise acts within the bounds of the authorization.
5.3.1. Placement:
The EC does not stipulate rules as to the placement of enterprises. However, the EC’s EIA Directive (Environmental Impact Assessment), 85/337, lays down a number of rules as to how the decision-making process prior to placement shall proceed.
The EIA Directive is inspired by France and influenced by the USA’s EIA procedure. The fundamental concept is that an overall environmental assessment is to be undertaken before decisions are reached on major projects if they can have a significant impact on the environment. The Directive encompasses two lists: List I, which comprises facilities that have a particularly great impact on the environment (e.g. oil refineries, power stations, steel works, motorways, airports, major harbours and facilities for the disposal of toxic and hazardous waste), and List II, which comprises a large number of polluting enterprises. EIA has always to be undertaken in the case of List I projects, while in the case of List II projects, it is to be undertaken if the nature of the project so warrants.
The EIA Directive stipulates a number of elements of the decision-making process: A non-technical summary of the project and its environmental impact is to be drawn up. The environmental impact is to be evaluated in its entirety, i.e. both pollution, planning, nature protection, etc. Alternative placement is to be evaluated and the public is to be involved before the environmental authority reaches its decision.
In the case of Member States (including Denmark) who pass certain construction projects directly by law, e.g. motorways and major bridges, Article 1.5 of the Directive stipulates that: This Directive shall not apply to projects the details of which are adopted by a specific act of national legislation, since the objectives of this Directive, including that of supplying information, are achieved through the legislative process.
In Denmark distinction is made between legislation on town and country planning and pollution. Decisions as to an enterprise’s placement are made in the planning system. For this reason EIA rules are incorporated in Danish town and country planning legislation, even though this is a complicated solution. In the first instance Denmark had attempted to simplify the EIA rules. However, this resulted in problems in relation to the European Commission, and in complications at the national level, as illustrated by the following case:
A power station in Aalborg wanted to expand with a new coal-fired 400 MW unit, and the expansion was accepted by Parliament’s Energy Policy Committee. In accordance with the Danish EIA rules of the time, the County drew up a brief amendment to the Regional Plan. After expiration of the public hearing the objections were overruled and the County passed the amendment to the Regional Plan. The station then began to call for tenders and enter into contracts. However, the Danish Society for the Conservation of Nature submitted a complaint to the Nature Protection Board of Appeals that the amendment did not consider alternative placement. After having studied the EC Directive itself the Board of Appeals concurred with the Danish Society for the Conservation of Nature. The Board of Appeals took the opportunity to remark that they could not imagine that the Danish Parliament had wanted to act in breach of an EC Directive19. The station therefore had to cancel its contracts and the process started over again.
In 1994 a new set of EIA rules was introduced in Denmark that is in accordance with the Directive20. The principles are as follows: Denmark has an Annex 1 register of facilities where EIA is obligatory in cases where new facilities are established or where major changes are made to existing facilities that can be compared to establishing new facilities. The Danish Annex 1 is more comprehensive than Annex 1 of the Directive. This is possible because the Directive is a minimum Directive. Special note should be made of the fact that pig and poultry farms containing 250 or more Livestock Units21 shall undergo EIA. This has great practical significance in Denmark, and it is therefore expected that 50-100 cases of this type will arise each year. Denmark has also an Annex 2, which in principle corresponds to Annex II of the Directive. With new facilities encompassed by Annex 2 a decision has to be made as to whether EIA is necessary. Five elements can each necessitate undertaking EIA:
| If the facility according to the town and country planning legislation triggers a requirement for a local plan (i.e. if the district was not previously designated for that purpose). |
| If the guide levels for noise are exceeded. |
| If the guide levels for air pollution are exceeded. |
| If water quality deteriorates markedly at waste water outfalls. |
| If there is a serious risk of groundwater pollution. |
To put it simply, only those enterprises that place themselves in previously designated industrial districts and which comply with all guide levels can escape EIA. Thus all problematic placement of enterprises will now necessitate EIA.
There are no figures available that precisely show the impact of Danish placement practice. However, for approx. 50 years it has been Danish planning practice to separate industry and housing, as is also reflected by Danish towns: Apart from the old town centres, where activities can be rather mingled, the separation of housing and industry has been undertaken relatively consistently. Nevertheless, areas can be found where houses have been permitted in association with small enterprises, and there are examples where the distance between industrial and housing districts has become too short.
5.3.2. Trade effluent:
In principle, industrial enterprises can dispose of their trade effluents in 4 ways: The first is that the enterprise establishes an outfall to the sea (or to a watercourse). This solution is most commonly used by the very large enterprises situated along the coast. A total of approx. 100 enterprises have such direct discharges, and their combined pre-treatment level of discharge corresponds to 5 million PE. The second possibility is that the enterprise discharges its trade effluent to the sewerage system. This is the most common solution, and trade effluents of this type correspond pre-treatment to 4 million PE. The third possibility is spreading on agricultural land, which can be employed if the effluent is nutrient-rich and free of environmentally hazardous substances. This solution is employed by approx. 60 potato flour factories, dairies, etc., the total discharge corresponding to 0.5 million PE. The fourth possibility is discharge of the effluent to the groundwater, for example through percolation. As far as I am aware, this solution is not employed in Denmark, only the percolation of household sewage having been permitted.
The EC, in continuance of the framework Directive on the aquatic environment (76/464), has issued seven daughter Directives concerning a number of very toxic substances (cadmium, HCH, mercury, DDT, pentachlorophenol, chloroform, trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene, etc.). Further Directives concerning an additional 150 substances are intended to follow. The requirements in the seven Directives are directly translated to requirements in Danish Statutory Orders. However, only a few Danish enterprises discharge the substances encompassed by the Directives22. The EC has also regulated emissions from the titanium oxide industry, but there are no such enterprises in Denmark23.
The EC does not regulate discharges to the sewerage system. However, as I will return to in Section 6.4, the EC does lay down standards for sewage treatment plants.
The spraying of trade effluent on farmland is not regulated by the EC.
EC Directive 80/68 on the protection of groundwater forbids or restricts the discharge of a number of substances to groundwater. Under Danish law, the discharge of the substances in question is quite simply forbidden.
The premise on which Danish regulation of direct discharges is currently based is requirements corresponding to BAT; prior to 1987, in contrast, the discharge of almost completely untreated trade effluent was widely permitted. Direct discharges require individual consent from the County25. Following the adoption of the Action Plan on the Aquatic Environment in 1987, a systematic examination was undertaken of all major sources of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) discharges, and treatment criteria were set. During the same period, most Counties forced major industrial sources of effluent to accept the treatment criteria. The greatest source of trade effluent is now the fish products industry because it was the last one to initiate effluent treatment. Of the total direct industrial discharges of nitrogen (2,600 tonnes N per year) and phosphorus (250 tonnes P per year), the fish products industry accounts for 62% and 66%, respectively26.
Effluent consents stipulate not only the limit values, but also the analysis method to be used. The analyses have to confirm compliance with the conditions stipulated in the consent, and the enterprise cannot plead analytical uncertainty since this is taken into account in the consent conditions.
In the case of discharges to the sewerage system, consent has to be issued by the Municipality27. The Municipality has to base its decision on what the sewers can bear, and what the treatment plant at the other end of the sewerage network can cope with. Enterprises discharging highly polluting effluent are usually required to subject the effluent to treatment prior to its discharge into the municipal sewerage system. The Municipalities try especially hard to avoid the discharge of effluents containing heavy metals because they would like to ensure that the heavy metal content of the sewage sludge is so low that the sludge can be used as fertilizer on agricultural land.
Danish strategy in this area is inspired by the division in Directive 76/464 of substances into List I substances (the most hazardous) and List II substances (hazardous). A three-fold division has now been chosen: List A comprises substances which have a high acute toxicity to aquatic organisms, which bioaccumulate or which have incurable deleterious effects on human health. List B comprises substances that are not easily biodegradable, while list C comprises other substances. One hundred and eighteen common pollutants are categorized according to these criteria. In the case of list A substances, the long-term goal is that they be eliminated completely. As a general rule consent criteria are based on an evaluation of BAT, although with the aim of ensuring compliance with the recommended limit values. Examples of limit values set in the current Guidelines28 are the following:
Cadmium 3 µg/l Chromium 300 µg/l Cyanides (total) 1 mg/l Lead 100 µg/l Mercury 3 µg/l Mineral oil 50 mg/l Silver 250 µg/l pH 6.5-9.0
The values given are in some cases somewhat more stringent that those previously
applicable.
Danish criteria regulating the spreading of trade effluent on agricultural land aim to prevent effluent being spread in a too concentrated form29. The main criterion is that it is not permitted to spread more than 50 kg N per hectare between harvest time and 15 February. At one of the major potato flour factories the nitrate content of the groundwater is currently too high, this being attributable to the amount of effluent previously spread per hectare being too great.
Our knowledge of progress on direct discharges is only fragmentary since none of the branches have been followed throughout the time the Environmental Protection Act has been in force. Nevertheless, the following figures indicate the trends:
In the case of the chemicals industry (broadly defined, including among others the pulp industry) data are available from the beginning, this being because the industry rapidly became the focus of attention. From 1975 to 1980, the figures increased as follows: COD: from 35,000 to 96,000 tonnes; N: from 1,700 to 2,600 tonnes; and P: from 2,300 to 3,500 tonnes. My interpretation of these figures is that since effluent was allowed to be discharged untreated into the sea, the amount increased with increasing production. Over the period 1980 to 1985, the figures levelled off; thus COD was constant at 96,000 tonnes and N at 2,600 tonnes, while P fell from 3,500 to 2,400 tonnes30. My interpretation of this is that the introduction of treatment measures in 1980-85 counterbalanced the increase that would otherwise have accompanied the increase in production.
After 1984, data is available for a group of 57 large Danish enterprises with outfalls discharging directly into the aquatic environment. The group includes most of the major sources, but no food processing enterprises. In 1984, total emissions amounted to 4,300 tonnes N, 3,200 tonnes P and 41,300 tonnes BOD5. The corresponding figures for 1989 are 4,100 tonnes N, 1,000 tonnes P and 36,000 tonnes BOD5. The tendency was therefore towards a slight fall, this probably being due to the improved treatment and perhaps also to improved enforcement. Subsequent figures include all enterprises, i.e. including the food processing industry. The figures for 1993 thus show total emissions of 2,600 tonnes N, 250 tonnes P and 26,000 tonnes BOD5. When the Action Plan on the Aquatic Environment has been fully implemented in industry in 1995, there will have been a considerable further reduction. One should not be surprised that there is an 8-year time-lag between the political decision on treatment and its full implementation by the enterprises - the procedural aspects take several years, as do the subsequent construction and running-in phases.
Emissions of environmentally hazardous substances by this same group of 57 enterprises are shown in the adjacent table:
1985 1988/89 1995* tonnes tonnes tonnes
Heavy metals 19 11 8 Phenols 528 86 14 Non-chlorinated aromatics 370 304 11 Non-chlorinated aliphatics 6,200 4,063 332 Chlorinated aromatics 80 40 2 Chlorinated aliphatics 26 17 0.1 Absorbable organic halogens 14 4 1
*predicted maximum values
If one has to summarize this with a single figure, one could point out that direct discharges of trade effluents correspond to 5 million PE prior to treatment. The 1993 figures correspond to a treatment level of 75% such that emissions to the environment therefore amount to 1.2 million PE. 5.3.3. Air pollution:
In Directive 84/360 on combating air pollution from industrial facilities the EC set forth some very framework-like provisions: Member States shall introduce consent criteria for new or modified facilities enumerated on a list, and the enterprises should employ BAT. Specific requirements regulating atmospheric emissions were subsequently stipulated in the Directive concerning large combustion plants (see Section 6.3) and in the Directive concerning waste incineration plants (see Section 6.5). There is also a Directive that stipulates stringent limits for the emission of asbestos (87/217).
Under Danish law, Directive 84/360 has not led to any changes because an approval system was already in operation and because it was based on the requirement to use BAT. The asbestos Directive has been implemented under Danish law35, but the two enterprises which used asbestos (in one case for brake linings and in the other for roofing material) have substituted asbestos with less hazardous materials.
The decisive implement in Danish administration of the industrial air pollution problem is the Guidelines on Industrial Air Pollution Control, no. 9/92. The Confederation of Danish Industries was originally very worried about this Guideline, but intensive negotiations eventually led to a reasonable degree of acceptance by the industrial sector. However, there will continue to be considerable expenses - the estimate is DKK 2,000 million - as the requirements are gradually imposed on enterprises.
The crux of the air pollution Guidelines is the subdivision of substances into two groups: group 1, which comprises particularly hazardous substances and group 2, which comprises hazardous substances. If the emission exceeds a certain size, the enterprise has to purify the air. The limit value is usually 0.5 g/h for group 1 substances and 25 g/h for group 2 substances, except that the limit is 500 g/h in the case of SO2 and NOx.
For those enterprises required to undertake purification, several requirements apply. Firstly, there are limit values for emissions - usually 0.1 mg/m3 for substances in group 1 or below, 5-300 mg/m3 for organic solvents, 20-300 mg/m3 for dust and 500 mg/m3 for SO2 and NOx. Secondly, there is a limit value for the enterprise’s contribution to the ambient concentration of the substance in the surrounding air (measured 1.5 m above ground level). Examples are 0.005 mg/m3 for ethylene oxide (group 1), 0.00001 mg/m3 for nickel (group 1), 0.08 mg/m3 for dust, 0.25 mg/m3 for SO2 and 0.125 mg/m3 for NOx. In the case of organic solvents the limit value depends on the solvent in question. The limit for the contribution to the ambient concentration can be complied with by constructing a sufficiently high smokestack.
The air pollution Guidelines also include detailed directions on the formulation of consent criteria. One of the more elementary is that an averaging time has to be stipulated for the values, i.e. the period over which the measurement is to be made shall be stipulated in the consent (e.g. 0.5 h, 1 h or 24 h). Only in this way can ambiguity in the measurements be avoided.
A special part of the air pollution problem is that of odour. Odour is something easily registered by neighbours. The problem lies in measuring odour in an objective manner. The nearest one can come to this is to make use of an odour panel. This consists of six persons with a normal sense of smell. Under laboratory conditions they smell various concentrations of the emission in question. When the odour is so strong that half of the panel registers it, this is defined as 1 odour unit. The problem with this method is that it is extremely costly. In everyday practice one instead stipulates consent conditions of the type "The enterprise must not cause significant odour problems", and then let the opinion of the relevant inspector determine whether the enterprise is in breach of the consent condition. Breaches are not immediately followed by legal proceedings, however, but instead by the stipulation of further requirements aimed at odour abatement.
Progress on industrial air pollution has not been reckoned up37. One can presume that industry contributed to the reduction in the dust content of the air as early as the 1970s. Hundreds of cases of odour problems have also been solved. Nevertheless, efforts to combat industrial air pollution in Denmark have not been as intense as those directed at water pollution, and the progress made is probably less in comparison. However, if the requirements specified in the air pollution Guidelines are implemented in the "pre-74" enterprises over the next 10 years, the fall in emissions will be considerable. Danish Steel Works Ltd, which is the largest industrial air polluter (lead, etc.), is expected to be able to comply with the requirements stipulated in the Guidelines around the year 2000.
5.3.4. Noise:
The EC has harmonized noise requirements for certain products, e.g. motor vehicles, construction plant and equipment, lawnmowers, etc. The relevant Directives have been directly incorporated into Danish law.
In the case of noise from enterprises, there are no EC rules in force. The rules described below are therefore purely Danish rules.
External noise from enterprises is regulated by a Guideline, and this is very closely adhered to in specific rulings concerning either new enterprises to whom environmental authorization is to be given, or enterprises upon which a noise abatement injunction is to be served following complaints from neighbours.
The requirements in the Guidelines depend on the type of district, i.e. the purpose for which it is actually used. In commercial/industrial districts, enterprises may generate noise levels of up to 70 dB(A) around the clock. In commercial/industrial districts in which potentially bothersome enterprises are prohibited the limit is 60 dB(A) around the clock. In mixed housing and commercial districts, however, e.g. town centres, the limit is 55 dB(A) during the day (Monday to Friday 07.00-18.00 and Saturday 07.00-14.00), 45 dB(A) during the evening (Monday to Friday 18.00-22.00, Saturday 14.00-22.00 and Sunday 07.00-22.00) and 40 dB(A) at night (22.00-7.00). The corresponding limits in housing districts comprised of blocks of flats are 50, 45 and 40 dB(A), while those in suburban residential districts are 45, 40 and 35 dB(A), respectively.
It is of no importance to the environmental authorities’ ruling which party was in the district first. It is rather common that noise cases against existing enterprises in the mixed districts are initiated by newcomers to the district.
If the costs to an existing enterprise of undertaking noise abatement will be disproportionately great, the limit may be augmented by 5 dB(A), and in exceptional cases, 10 dB(A). The Danish enterprises generating most noise are probably Copenhagen Airport in Kastrup (see Section 6.7) and Danish Steel Works Ltd in Frederiksværk. The local population in Frederiksværk have not submitted complaints, despite the fact that the noise guide level is exceeded by more than 10 dB(A). The town subsists off the works, which provides approx. 1,200 jobs.
Noise abatement will be undertaken in the next few years at the initiative of the environmental authorities; however, as the economic aspects have to be realistic, and as other environmental requirements are also being imposed, the enterprise will continue to generate much more noise than the guide levels.
Progress in noise abatement has not been reckoned up. However, the environmental authorities have probably processed several thousand noise complaints from neighbours since 1974, and there are grounds to believe that conditions have improved for many of them. This notwithstanding, there are still many older enterprises that generate too much noise, but where neighbours have not submitted complaints.
5.3.5. Hazards:
In response to the 1979 Seveso accident in Italy the EC adopted Directive 82/501 on major-accident hazards of certain industrial activities in 1982. The Directive defines certain industrial processes and certain stores of substances as being encompassed by the Directive. Moreover, it stipulates that existing enterprises shall be scrutinized with a view to the prevention of major accidents, and that new enterprises shall give an account of their safety precautions when applying for environmental authorization. The Directive is under revision, and new requirements concerning planning in the vicinity of enterprises and systematic supervision may be appended. The idea of an EC-determined safety zone has been dropped during the process.
Pursuant to the Seveso Directive, Denmark took stock of its high-risk enterprises in 198940. The most dangerous facilities in Denmark are large storage tanks of liquid ammonia and LPG gas (liquified petroleum gas, bottle gas). The risk of a person dying due to an accident is of the order 1 per 10,000 working years, which is 100 times greater than in the Danish chemicals industry. At present, however, no limit has been set for how high a risk is acceptable, neither in Denmark nor in the EC.
One of the high-risk enterprises was a chlorine factory in Copenhagen. It was the object of considerable attention in the 1980s, initially because of active neighbours - it lay only 300 m from a large housing district - and subsequently because it became the centre of a political dispute. In accordance with the wishes of a parliamentary majority, a Bill was brought before Parliament aimed at the enterprise’s closure; however, the enterprise was saved at the last minute by a change of government. The following year, the Danish EPA’s nationwide scrutiny of high-risk enterprises revealed that the enterprise was in fact no more dangerous than other Danish chemical enterprises. Three years later the enterprise closed down, it no longer being economically viable.
With regard to progress on high-risk enterprises, the most important result of their scrutiny in the 1980s is that many of the enterprises changed their manufacturing processes or stocks so that they would no longer be encompassed by the Directive. The first time such enterprises were reckoned up 65 were encompassed by the Directive; however, by 1989 their number had fallen to 36 and by 1994 it was only 22. Of those enterprises that are still encompassed by the Directive, conditions have been improved at a few. For example, an ammonia storage facility in Fredericia has been replaced by a new tank located several km out of town, one in Nørresundby has been closed down and one near Holbæk is expected to be closed down by the owner within the next few years.
5.3.6. Waste oils and chemicals:
What in EC terminology is referred to as hazardous waste is in Danish terminology referred to as waste chemicals. However, while the range of substances covered is basically the same, it is still uncertain whether the exact delineation of the two terms is identical. With regards to waste oils, the terminology used in Denmark and the EC is the same.
The EC requires Member States to have systems for the sound disposal of waste oils (Directives 75/439 and 87/101) and hazardous waste (Directive 91/689, previously Directive 78/319). A list of hazardous waste is associated with Directive 91/689 (Council Decision 94/404). The EC has regulated transfrontier transport of hazardous waste since the mid 1980s, but this has now been superseded by a general Regulation on the export of waste. It will be dealt with in this section, but in fact applies to all forms of waste.
The Danish system for the disposal of waste oils and chemicals is centred around the waste processing firm Kommunekemi A/S in Nyborg. This is the only firm authorized to receive waste chemicals from industry and other sectors. It is an incineration facility specializing in this type of waste and is based on adequate incineration technology and purification of flue gasses. The facility also includes a special depository for the disposal of the cinder from the incineration plant and waste that cannot be disposed of by incineration. There are 20 receiving stations distributed around the country to which enterprises can deliver their waste oils and chemicals41. The rules on waste chemicals are administered by the Municipalities, although the Counties have supervisory responsibility in respect of the (a)-marked enterprises (see Annex 1).
Upon application, the Municipalities can grant dispensation from the duty to deliver such waste to receiving stations, in which case the waste does not have to be forwarded to Kommunekemi A/S. Such cases usually concern waste oils suitable for incineration in district heating plants42. In addition, dispensation has been granted in respect of some other types of waste chemicals that can be recycled at facilities other than Kommunekemi A/S. A special recycling system exists for lead accumulators.
Administration of the rules about waste chemicals is subject to difficulty on two accounts. Firstly, definition of the term waste is unclear. An enterprise can maintain that a depot of drums containing production waste is a "secondary raw product" that they will utilize themselves or sell to another enterprise. The environmental authority for its part can surmise that the enterprise is trying to augment its liquidity by omitting to hand in its waste since the enterprise has to pay a disposal fee averaging DKK 2,500 per tonne for ordinary waste chemicals, and up to DKK 25,000 per tonne for the most difficult kinds. In such cases, the environmental authority has the power to force a showdown by issuing the enterprise with an injunction to deliver the waste to a receiving station. In the last resort the courts will have to determine whether the environmental authority acted reasonably.
Second, there can be disagreement as to what is encompassed by the term waste chemicals. Although there are lists accompanying the EC rules and the Danish rules, these are not exhaustive. Situations therefore arise that demand a professional evaluation based on the nature, concentration and amount of the substance. The decision rests with the Municipality, although they can seek guidance from the Danish EPA. In the last resort, the question will have to be decided by the courts.
Current EC regulations on the export of waste, Regulation 259/93, apply to all kinds of waste. This Regulation supersedes previous rules which only applied to hazardous waste43. The EC is quite consistent in regarding waste as a commodity. Nevertheless, the Regulation does show some respect for the proximity principle, i.e. that waste should be disposed of as near to the source as possible. In this connection the waste disposal plans of the individual Member States are respected. The rules encompass two main operational principles: One is that the waste producer shall complete some documents that are to be forwarded to the environmental authorities in the recipient country, with copies to the country of origin. The recipient country can refuse to receive the waste if there are objective reasons of the kind mentioned in the Regulation (e.g lack of processing capacity). This control system does not apply to waste included in the Regulation’s "green" list if the waste will benefit another Member State; in this case there are only rules about the accompanying documents. The other main principle is that the country of origin is responsible for its enterprises. If an enterprise unlawfully exports waste, the recipient country can request the country of origin to retrieve the waste again. The first principle is known from the old EC rules, while the second principle emanates from the 1989 Basel Convention.
Regulation 259/93 has been directly applicable in Denmark since 6 May 1994. Among the streams of waste across Denmark’s borders, one could mention that Danish mercury-containing waste is deposited in Harzen in Germany and that Danish car batteries are recycled in Germany or Sweden. The waste processing firm Kommunekemi A/S receives organic solvents from Germany to be used in the incineration process, and Danish soil treatment plants process contaminated soil from Germany. Danish enterprises that transfer waste abroad are required to provide security to the Danish EPA, currently DKK 3,000 per tonne.
Progress on the waste oils and chemicals front is illustrated in the figure below44.
My interpretation of these trends is as follows:
In the case of waste oils, the growth in the amount of waste handed in for disposal up to 1986 is attributable to new rules taking effect, while the subsequent decline is due to the increasing - legal - incineration of waste oils at suitable district heating plants. This tendency increases in the following years in step with the improvement in air pollution abatement measures at the district heating plants. Kommunekemi A/S might also have promoted this trend by having reduced the sum that the enterprise paid for waste oils.
In the case of waste chemicals, the increase in the amount of waste handed in for disposal is similarly explicable, except that the peak was not reached until 1991. During the final part of the learning curve - 1987-91 - it probably helped that the enterprises were supervised. After 1991 the trend follows industrial production: For example, 1993 was a poor year, whereas there was an upturn in 1994. The long-term trend is probably cleaner technology with declining amounts of hazardous waste. The increasing fees demanded by Kommunekemi A/S also contribute.
These figures say nothing about whether once common industrial sins have ceased, e.g. burial of drums containing waste chemicals, pouring containers of used organic solvents on the ground, pouring liquid waste into the sewers and burning waste oils in a polluting manner. However, from routine supervision it would seem that enterprises understand and respect the rules on waste chemicals. Nevertheless, it cannot be ruled out that waste oils are sometimes burnt and that photographic chemicals are poured into the sewer.
On the whole, however, I would judge the efforts made to deal with waste oils and chemicals to be a success. As discussed in Chapter 10, it will cost approx. DKK 25,000 million to clean up the sins of the past with respect to waste oils and chemicals. The value of sound handling of waste oils and chemicals is therefore considerable.
Progress on controlling the import and export of waste has not been so marked, however. In 1989, a major Danish enterprise was involved in a case where filter dust (which is hazardous waste) was on its way to Brazil, but was returned to Europe again. During the case it transpired that very few persons in Denmark were familiar with the rules, which at that time had been in effect for two years, and that the enterprise interpreted the rather difficult text somewhat differently than the authorities. The affair led to a greater awareness of the rules, though, and serious Danish enterprises have since complied with them45. The problem with the EC concept, however, is that it is non-effective in the case of infringers who do not complete the documents. With the establishment of the EC Internal Market, there is no longer any border control of goods. Thus anything can be transported across the borders in lorries. There have been a couple of major cases of illegal import of hazardous waste from Germany. However, as the cases took place before the Regulation entered into force, Germany cannot be made accountable for the resultant damage.
5.3.7. Non-hazardous waste:
In both the EC and Denmark, regulation of ordinary industrial waste is undertaken using the same rules as apply to other types of non-hazardous waste, e.g. household waste. Total annual waste production in Denmark is around 9.6 million tonnes (1993 figure), of which 80% is derived from the industrial, construction, energy and sewage treatment sectors.
The original EC requirement under Directive 75/442 was that Member States should have suitable systems for the disposal of waste. This was amended by Directive 91/156, which stipulated considerably more detailed requirements to Member States: They shall register the amounts of waste and supervise waste disposal in various ways. In Decision 94/3 the Commission established a detailed list of wastes pursuant to Directive 75/442 - the "European Waste Catalogue".
The Danish rules accord the Municipalities considerable influence on waste handling in Denmark. The basic concept is that the Municipalities are legally bound to instruct how all waste produced in the municipality is to be disposed of. They can instruct that the waste be forwarded for recycling, to incineration plants or to landfills. The enterprises are bound to make use of the suggested means of disposal. The system was introduced in 1989, but tightened up in 1993. The rules are still administered rather loosely by the majority of Municipalities, thus enabling industry to continue using the means of waste disposal used hitherto. To a certain extent, however, the Municipalities use these powers to redirect the waste stream so that more is recycled, a practice which gives rise to conflicts with industry because of the increased costs of handling waste.
As an incitement to reduce the amount of waste, levies have been imposed of DKK 195 per tonne upon deposition and DKK 160 per tonne upon incineration.
Since 1990, the Municipalities have been legally bound to implement recycling arrangements for cardboard and paper from businesses, and for waste food from industrial kitchens.
A market-based system for recycling scrap iron has existed for many years. The central element is Danish Steel Works Ltd in Frederiksværk. The system recycles 700,000 tonnes scrap annually.
Progress on waste disposal in Denmark reflects the fact that for many years attention was solely directed at ensuring sound waste disposal practices. This has largely been achieved because the Danish Municipalities - and the joint ventures they have established - have got hold of the waste and ensure that it is processed in accordance with the environmental requirements. Unlawful waste disposal does sometimes take place, but the amounts are seldom very great.
In contrast, it was not until the end of the 1980’s that attention was directed towards the increasing amount of waste. It is therefore not possible to present time-series data. Nevertheless, it can be stated that the measures implemented have led to 80% of the 1.9 million tonnes building and construction waste produced in 1993 being recycled. Awareness of suitable technologies (selective demolition, pulverization) together with the high waste levies (see Section 12.2.2) are undoubtedly responsible for this trend. The same year, 300,000 tonnes paper and cardboard were collected from business and 17,500 tonnes waste food was collected from industrial kitchens.
5.3.8. Internal control:
Internal control is understood to mean that enterprises are legally bound to keep records or undertake measurements such that the environmental authorities can base part of their supervision on internal control by the enterprise. The requirement for internal control can be stipulated in a Statutory Order or can form part of an environmental authorization or an injunction.
From the authorities’ point of view, internal control offers the advantage that it places much of the expense of undertaking measurements on the enterprise, a practice much in accordance with the polluter pays principle. In addition, well-run enterprises can be expected to react as soon as they observe conditions that are in breach of environmental requirements. Internal control and environmental management are well suited to being combined - the better the enterprise’s environmental management, the less will be the need for inspection by the authorities.
The EC Directives on emissions from industrial plants, power stations and incineration plants stipulate detailed requirements on internal control, and these requirements have been implemented in Danish law through the relevant Statutory Orders.
In Danish practice, requirements on internal control are also stipulated in environmental consents. A very common consent condition is that within three months from the initiation of production the enterprise has to undertake noise measurements in order to document compliance with the consent conditions. Requirements concerning record keeping are also very common. Enterprises with major emissions are further required to undertake analyses at suitable intervals or continual measurements. In the case of such requirements, proportionality has to be maintained between measurement costs and the environmental significance of the emission that is to be measured.
A few individual cases of fraudulent internal control have taken place, and have been dealt with under the criminal code49; however, the enterprises in which this has taken place have or have had an outsider position in Danish industry.
5.3.9. Environmental accounts:
With effect from 1996 Denmark has introduced a requirement for the
majority of listed enterprises to draw up environmental accounts. The environmental
account shall contain figures for raw material and energy inputs into the
enterprise’s production, for outputs in the form of goods, for discharges to the
aquatic environment and emissions to the air, and for waste. The environmental account
should be drawn up each year and accompany the financial account, such as have been done
by individual pioneering enterprises51. The environmental account will thereby also become
publicly available. However, the enterprises will have the possibility to protect
commercially sensitive information, corresponding to the principles in the Directive on
access to environmental information (Directive 90/313) and the Danish rules on freedom of
information. The requirement for an environmental account is as yet specifically Danish,
but is inspired by the environmental management systems and the voluntary EC
eco-management and audit scheme (Council Regulation 1836/93).
