The European Federation of Bottled Waters (EFBW) has announced the adoption of a new instrument for the assessment of the environmental impact of bottled water throughout its life cycle.  EFBW’s Product Category Rules – or PCR – have been specifically designed to allow bottled water operators to accurately measure their environmental footprint, hereby enabling them...

Members of the European parliament’s environment committee have voted overwhelmingly in favour of passing the compromise text into law Following negations between the European commission, parliament and member states in November and December, amendments were made to the commission’s proposed new EIA Directive. On 12 February, members of the parliamentary environment committee voted in favour of...

Anaerobic Digestion Capacity >75 tonnes per day will be subject to the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) from 2015.  A review of EU industrial pollution guidance for waste treatment plants has begun. The existing technical reference document (BREF) was adopted by the European Commission in 2006. It outlines the best available techniques (BAT) and associated emission levels...

The publication of Regulation (EU) No 736/2013 extending the biocide active substance review programme and the implementation of the new EU Biocides Regulation 528/2012 (EU BPR) on 1 September 2013, will have a significant impact on the expiry dates of COPR-approved products (both new and existing). The European Commission has published Regulation (EU) No 736/2013...

Member state diplomats have approved a compromise struck with MEPs on new social and environmental reporting rules for companies. France, which is understood to be unhappy at the extent to which the proposed corporate social responsibility (CSR) directive has been weakened, insisted that the type of companies covered should be reviewed in future. Other member...

Here are 5 thoughts for the day which are relevant to most of us – Start-up and Established Businesses, Entrepreneurs and Implementors, SME’s and Multinationals, Home and Family Life. Never tell people your troubles. Half of them are not interested and the other half are glad you’re getting what’s coming to you. – Tommy Cooper...

Member state representatives in Brussels have approved a series of reforms to the 2006 groundwater directive after a review of two of its annexes last year but the EU-wide quality standards have not changed. The European Commission decided there was not enough information available to set new quality standards, which means that nitrates and pesticides...

The European Food SCP Round Table has taken a major step forward towards supporting informed choice as it launches the ENVIFOOD Protocol version 1.0. The ENVIFOOD Protocol is the first sectoral framework methodology to build on both global (ISO) and EU (Product Environmental Footprint – PEF) approaches in order to provide specific guidance for conducting environmental...

The European IPPC Bureau publishes a range of reference documents on Best Available Techniques (commonly known as Bref Documents or Brefs). A review of the reference document on Best Available Techniques for waste treatments (WT Bref) has commenced. The Bureau will be assisted by a technical working group (TWG) comprising representatives from the EU member...

The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Biological Agents) Regulations 2013 ( S.I. No. 572 of 2013) sets down the minimum requirements for the protection of workers from the health risks associated with biological agents in the workplace. The regulations must be applied to any activity where workers are actually or potentially exposed to biological agents as...