This book offers a comprehensive snapshot of key environmental trends in OECD member countries since the early 1990s. It is organised by issues such as: climate change air pollution biodiversity and water resources waste water wastewater The report reveals big differences in environmental trends in different countries. It confirms that much more needs to be...

The EU Waste Framework Directive provides the legislative framework for the collection, transport, recovery and disposal of waste, and includes a common definition of waste. The directive requires all member states to take the necessary measures to ensure waste is recovered or disposed of without endangering human health or causing harm to the environment and includes permitting, registration...

Don’t shoot the messenger – We have listed below the position presented in an article which we saw on the European Parliament website.  Whats your view? “New EU-rules on public procurement will ensure better quality and value for money when public authorities buy works, goods or services, thanks to new award criteria which will put...

The EPA has prepared Guidance on the Authorisation of Direct Discharges to Groundwater. This proposed guidance addresses direct discharges to groundwater from point sources that may have the potential to cause pollution. It supplements the earlier report published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) entitled “Guidance on the Authorisation of Discharges to Groundwater” (EPA, 2011) which...

Does anybody know of a business in the current economic climate which is not conscious of cost.  Many businesses are unaware of how significantly waste can impact on their bottom line. Whereas, all businesses should always strive to get the best possible contract from their suppliers, they should also be aware of legal liabilities which...

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has invited interested parties to comment on a number of proposals for harmonised classification and labelling (CLH) for 10 copper compound substances, all of which are active substances in biocidal products or plant protection products and are widely used as fungicidal and bacteriostatic substances in both agricultural and marine environments....

To all our blog followers  The problems relating to the follow button on our blog have been resolved. We apologize for any inconvenience caused. The ECOS blog is on our website and can be found at https://www.ecos.ie/news/ Thanks you for your interest and support over the past few years and we look forward to hearing from you on...

A new data viewer from the European Environment Agency (EEA) allows users to access data on urban wastewater and treatment plants. The new data viewer, part of the Water Information System for Europe (WISE) has been developed to facilitate the use and display of data already reported under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD). The new UWWTD data viewer...

The EU-funded project EUCERTPLAST (‘European certification of plastics recyclers’) has developed a common certification scheme for post-consumer plastics recycling in Europe. Such a scheme helps recyclers and waste collectors, who would be able to guarantee that the plastic waste they collect is actually being recycled (rather than traded) and that this is done in a...

How important would it be to your business if certain key raw materials were no longer available to you? Would your business be viable or what would you do if your product range decreased dramatically due to the regulations governing the manufacture and application of products? (eg. from from 26 products supplied to many clients...