EU polluters named and shamed

The EU’s biggest industrial polluters are identified in a new Brussels report.

The report which reviews the performance of EPER, the recently introduced European Pollutant Emission Register, reveals that the UK, Italy, Spain and France are the worst polluters of industrial emissions to air and water.

Based on data submitted by the old 15 EU member states plus Hungary and Norway, the report concludes that for many pollutants a high proportion of industrial pollution is caused by a few single plants.

Familiar names such as Atofina, Glaxo, BASF and Solvic top a list of European industrial installations responsible for more than ten per cent of total reported EU emissions.

The report shows that pig and poultry farms are mainly responsible for ammonia emissions into the air, and Mercury, which is classified as a dangerous substance in other legislation, is directly discharged into water mainly by the chemical industry and the metal industry

But time may be running out for these ‘big polluters', as a 1996 Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC), which tackles pollution from industrial and agricultural activities is due for EU wide enforcement by October 2007.

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