DAUGAVPILS REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECT
Subproject 2
Final Report
SUMMARY
2001
Japan
Special Fund
REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER
for Central and Eastern Europe
Country Office Latvia
Measures for improvement of overall environmental management in enterprises
Environmental action plan for Daugavpils City Central Hospital
Daugavpils is the second largest city in Latvia (116,000 inhabitants). It is an industrial city with such production branches as electric and chemical industry, mechanical engineering, metal-working and food processing.
The main environmental problems in the region are the following:
Industrial and hazardous waste management.
Industrial wastewater connections.
Environmental problems in enterprises: solid waste generation, management and final disposal, industria wastewater discharges into municipal treatment plants and air emissions. Oil-contaminated solid waste and sludge from wastewater treatment plants particularly seem to be among the main concerns.
Final disposal of residual sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants.
Daugavpils regional environmental project was initiated in 1998 with an aim to address some of the identified environmental problems of industrial enterprises, municipal wastewater and treatment plants. Project was divided into 2 subprojects:
Subproject 1: Regional Industrial and Hazardous Waste Generation and Management Study;
Subproject 2: Environmental Action Plans for Industries.
Subproject 2 was implemented by the Regional Environmental Centre for Central and Eastern Europe Country Office Latvia (REC Latvia) in co-operation with Daugavpils City Council, local experts and specialists from the enterprises involved.
Project beneficiaries are:
Daugavpils City and region
Daugavpils Regional Environmental Board (REB) of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development
5 selected industrial enterprises and Daugavpils City Central Hospital
The Final Report consists of 2 parts:
Part 1 - comprising:
summary of the project procedure and results (including the whole implementation period from September 2000 to March 2001);
summary table of the results of Environmental Audits and Environmental Action Plans for all enterprises involved in the project.
Part 2 of Final report contains 6 independent documents: Environmental Audit Report and Environmental Action Plan for each industrial enterprise and City Central Hospital.
The project implementation period is September 2000 – March 2001.
The overall objective of the project is to improve the quality of land and water environment and promote environmentally sustainable development in Daugavpils region through addressing some of the most urgent environmental problems of industrial enterprises.
The specific purpose is to assist in pollution reduction efforts in the region by:
performing Environmental Audits of 5 selected industrial enterprises and Central City Hospital located in the Daugavpils Municipality, and
producing specific solutions and proposals for the main problems identified – Environmental Action Plans.
Project tasks are as follows:
Arrange an introductory seminar on cleaner production, waste minimisation and environmental management systems for participating enterprises, municipal and environmental authorities and other involved parties in Daugavpils.
Perform an environmental audit in each participating enterprise. The audit should embrace environmental management structure, consumption of raw materials, manufacturing processes, products, hazardous chemicals, liquid and gaseous emissions, solid waste, compliance with environmental laws, regulations and management policies etc.
Prepare an Environmental Action Plan for each enterprise. The plan shall identify the potential and necessary measures for the reduction of adverse environmental impact. Analyses on achieving cleaner production shall be the basis for the plan. Suggestions on treatment processes shall be based on the Best Available Technology.
Prioritise the measures and prepare technical specifications and cost estimates to the level which is sufficient for discussions with potential financiers.
Identify potential financing sources for selected solutions.
Arrange concluding presentation of the project results.
Environmental audit is a systematic procedure for the assessment of the existing situation and identification of the potential areas for improvement.
The task is to prepare a comprehensive environmental audit of each enterprise with a focus on environmental impact and possible cleaner technologies in respect to the present use of technology and economic situation. Environmental audit shall form the basis for a possible prioritisation of the best solutions in order to address and eliminate the most significant environmental problems in each enterprise. Environmental audit will therefore comprise the description of the use of raw materials including hazardous chemicals, production processes, products, hazardous waste, solid waste, air emissions, waste water, compliance with environmental laws and regulations and management policies.
Environmental analysis will be based on the existing documents and reports obtained from the persons responsible for environmental matters in the enterprises and supplied with diverse data, including input-output analysis and site visits.
The Environment audit to be carried out in Daugavpils enterprises has two objectives:
firstly, environmental situation of each enterprise should be thoroughly inspected, assessed and the efficiency of the existing environmental activities evaluated;
secondly, several potential areas for improvement for which specific action programmes will be worked out should be determined.
The best specialists in Latvia with a long-term experience in the implementation of similar projects have been involved in the audit teams. In accordance with the agreement entered into, the chief specialists or persons responsible for environmental matters in the participating enterprises will be also actively involved in the audit process.
In order to maintain a coordinated audit procedure and ensure efficient results, questionnaire forms of different activity/production levels were developed by the Project management team.
It is important that the environmental manager from each enterprise is highly motivated and actively involved in the preparation of the Action Plan. The dialogue between the consultant/auditor, environmental manager and the highest level management of the enterprise is essential for the achievement of successful and sustainable results. The task of the project team is to facilitate this dialogue.
The proposals for the necessary measures identified in the Action Plans will focus on the most urgent environmental problems. High priority will be given to solutions on hazardous waste, oil-contaminated sludge and waste. Air emissions and wastewater are also important issues. The use of energy and safety is very important, but will not be high priority issues in this particular project unless related to environmental problems existing in the enterprise or causing adverse effects in the surrounding environment.
The action plan will focus on some of the most urgent environmental problems identified in each enterprise. One of the objectives is to identify problems, which might be solved jointly by several enterprises. Another challenge is to find compliance of the selected solutions with the results of Daugavpils Regional Environmental Project's Subproject 1 feasibility studies and recommendations.
Measures and proposals for sustainable solutions will be discussed in the following order of precedence:
cleaner technology with the purpose of preventing hazardous waste generation or changing the existing environmental impact to less hazardous one;
waste minimisation by optimising the existing technologies and procedures;
waste sorting in order to reduce the amount of hazardous waste fractions;
treatment plants, improvement of the existing pre-treatment facilities or proposing solutions for new treatment plants (BAT).
In order to prioritise the problems identified, generally accepted assessment criteria will be used – the amount of emission, danger, prevalence, national and regional significance etc.
The Action Plans will operate with short and long-term investment plans for achieving sustainable cleaner technology. The investment plans will take into consideration the character and nature of environmental problems on the one hand and the economic situation of the enterprises on the other hand. Estimated costs for measures and technical solutions shall be included in the Action Plans. Financing possibilities for each measure will be identified.
The objective of the project has not been to execute a detailed review of environmental legislation in Latvia, nevertheless identification of specific laws and regulations was necessary to provide reference for the audit. A brief overview of laws and regulations relevant to the activities of enterprises is presented in below.
|
Title, date of adoption |
Regulated issues |
|
The Law on Environmental Protection, 06.08. 1991 (with amendments made by 7 July, 2000) |
The law provides legal instruments and issues, e.g. basic rights for individuals, different environmental protection tools, institutional arrangements, competencies of administrative authorities, enforcement mechanisms and sanctions. |
|
The Law on State Environmental Impact Assessment, 14.10.1998 |
The law contains some basic operational principles, which require the evaluation to be based on the integration of effects, the aggregate effects on the surrounding environment and international obligations. |
|
The Law on Natural Resource Tax, 14.09.1995 (with amendments made by 27 April, 2000) |
The law includes an approach to environmental policy, e.g. a system, yet undeveloped in practice, for a licensing market. |
|
The Law on Waste Management, 14.12.2000 (effective from 1 March, 2001) |
The law provides legal instruments and issues for the waste management; defined competence of administrative authorities and responsibilities of private or juridical persons, dealing with waste management. |
|
The Law on Hazardous Waste, 30.03.1993, effective to 1 March, 2001 - (with amendments made by 3 January, 1997) |
The law provides legal control of activities with hazardous waste, applies to different categories of hazardous waste. |
|
The Cabinet of Ministers’ Regulations No. 298 on the Classification of Hazardous Waste and Criteria for Dangerousness, 12.08.1997 |
The Regulations classify hazardous waste by its dangerousness. |
|
The Cabinet of Ministers’ Regulations No. 353 on the Order of Preparing Documents for Activities with Hazardous Waste, 17.09.1996 |
The Regulations specify details of preparing documents for activities with hazardous waste. |
|
The Law on Municipal Waste, 15.10.1998, effective to 1 March, 2001 |
The law contains requests, dealing with municipal waste (collecting, sorting, processing, transporting, storing), defines competence of administrative authorities. |
|
The Cabinet of Ministers’ Regulations No. 39 on the Classification of Municipal Waste 09.02.1999 |
The Regulations include the classification of municipal waste. |
|
The Cabinet of Ministers’ Water Use Permit Regulations No. 155, 22.04.1997 (with amendments made by 17 November, 1998 |
The Regulations provide detailed requirements regarding the information to be included in the application. |
|
The Cabinet of Ministers’ Regulations No. 219 on Air Quality, 15.06.1999 (with amendments made by 17 September, 1998) |
The Regulations provide standards for air quality, include protection measures against air pollution and littering. |
|
The Cabinet of Ministers’ Regulations No. 154 on the Evaluation, Elimination, Restriction and Control of Emission from Stationary Sources, 25.04.2000 |
The Regulations apply to stationary sources of air pollution, determine the border value of emission and specify details of issuing permits/licenses for emission. |
|
The Law on Municipalities, 19.05.1994 (with amendments made by 15 June, 2000) |
The law defines the competence of administrative authorities, enforcement mechanisms and sanctions in relation to environmental protection. |
|
The Law on Subsoil, 02.05.1996 (with amendments made by 7 September, 2000) |
The law specifies the procedure of the use and protection of mineral resources and groundwater, administration of the subsoil fund. |
|
The Law on Chemical Substances, 01.04.1998 |
The law provides legal control of activities with chemical substances and chemical products; prevents and diminishes possibility of causing harm to human health, property and environment; defines competence of administrative authorities. |
|
The Cabinet of Ministers’ Regulations No. 415 on the State Environmental Monitoring, 16.12.1997 |
The regulations define the framework of environmental monitoring. |
As the result of the audit procedure, several significant environmental problems were identified in each of the audited enterprises. In order to evaluate significance of a certain problem, generally accepted criteria were used – amounts of emission, dangerousness, possibility and rate of prevalence, as well as the national and regional significance of the problem. Evaluation criteria and prior problems have been discussed with the main specialists of enterprises.
Summary of the audit results revealed that several Daugavpils enterprises share the same environmental problems. For example, solid hazardous waste – a large amount of oil-contaminated chips and rags is accumulated in Jsc “Locomotive”, SJsc “Latvian Railways” Daugavpils locomotive roundhouse and Jsc “Daugavpils Driving Chains Works”.
Starting with 2000, a new problem emerged in several Daugavpils enterprises – accumulation of used oils.
Common environmental problems clearly identified the necessity to assess and prioritise the problems common for the audited Daugavpils enterprises. For prioritisation the method of the collective expert evaluation, based on integrated criteria has been applied.
Significance of a particular problem was assessed according to five criteria:
significance of the problem in the enterprise;
actual environmental impact;
technical possibility to solve the problem;
resources necessary for solution;
relation to other Daugavpils enterprises.
Significance of a problem in an enterprise was assessed by the leading audit expert of the particular enterprise. In order to evaluate significance of environmental impact, most attention was paid to the point whether the particular problem under the current management conditions causes direct threat to environment and people1.
Technical possibility to solve environmental problems, as well as the amount of financial investment needed for that are very significant prioritisation criteria.
The last assessment criterion is the relationship of defined problems with regard to other enterprises- beneficiaries of the project.
As the result of the collective assessment performed by the REC Latvia expert team, the following problems obtained the highest score:
|
Priority |
Environmental problem |
Enterprises involved |
|
1. |
management of solid hazardous waste |
Jsc “Locomotive”, SJsc “Daugavpils locomotive roundhouse”, Jsc “Daugavpils Driving Chain Works”, “DauER D” Ltd |
|
2. |
management of used oils |
Jsc “Daugavpils Driving Chain Works”, “DauER D” Ltd |
|
3. |
consumption of water |
“Rhodia” Ltd |
|
4. |
management of hospital waste |
Daugavpils Central Hospital |
In order to clarify the opinion of the specialists from the Daugavpils Regional Environmental Board (REB), similar assessment of priorities was carried out.
Prioritisation of environmental problems identified during the audit procedure at the enterprise and city level revealed that the improvement of environmental action to be implemented in Daugavpils enterprises should be related more to the problem of waste management.
On the investigation of alternatives, specific solutions will be offered to each enterprise individually, as well as the possibility to participate in the implementation of the project that is common to all interested enterprises.
Projects for pollution prevention are less important. This is mainly due to the technical complexity of the prevention of environmental problems identified, as well as the scarce financial resources that enterprises are ready to invest in the projects for cleaner technologies.
Nevertheless, research into effective utilisation of water resources and reduction of the amount of steam consumed by SJsc “Latvian Railways” Daugavpils locomotive roundhouse, and reduction of electrolyte loss in “DauER D” Ltd is in progress under this project.
Environmental action plans for the period 2001 – 2010 were prepared for all enterprises involved in the project and approved by the top management thereof.
Environmental action plans comprise short-term solutions to be reached during the period of the next two years at a maximum, and a set of long-term solutions to be implemented over the period of ten years, by 2010.
Preparation of Environmental action plans was based on the results of environmental audits performed in all enterprises during the first stage of the project and the results of the problem prioritisation process
The proposals for the necessary measures identified in the action plans focused on the most urgent environmental problems. High priority was given to the solutions concerning hazardous waste, oil-contaminated sludge and other types of waste. Air emissions and wastewater were considered as important issues, as well.
All Environmental Action Plans comprise the following major chapters:
1) Measures for improvement of overall environmental management
2) Measures for pollution prevention and minimisation
3) Measures for waste utilisation
4) Economic analysis
5) Summary
At the end of each Environmental action plan for a particular enterprise, an overview of problems, proposed solutions, time schedule, cost estimates are summarised in the table.
In order to systematise activities to be executed by an enterprise in the field of environmental protection, it is recommended to develop and implement environmental management system in accordance with ISO 14001.
It would help the enterprise to perform systematic environmental impact assessment of its activities and prioritise the most significant environmental aspects.
System procedures would assist in establishing environmental objectives and tasks with technical and economic justification, as well as obtaining the Integrated Licence of Environmental Pollution Prevention and Control in accordance with the new LR “Law on Pollution” adopted in March 2001.
During the implementation of environmental management system, considerable attention should be paid to the management of human resources.
The top management of each enterprise should establish a common environmental policy and set strategic goals to reduce adverse environmental impact.
Two of the audited enterprises – “DauER D" Ltd and Jsc "Daugavpils Driving Chains Works" have agreed to participate in a project financed by Danish government paying for consultancy services in order to implement Environmental management systems in the enterprises in accordance with the requirements of ISO 14001.
Implementation of Environmental management systems will help the enterprises with a systematic environmental impact assessment of their activities and prioritisation of the most significant environmental aspects. System procedures will be applied for the development of technically and economically reasonable environmental aims and objectives in order to reduce pollution and improve environmental performance on an ongoing basis.
The other enterprises will continue to rely on the environmental audit procedure for the identification and prioritisation of the relevant environmental problems and evaluation of economically reasonable solutions. As an example, "DauER D" Ltd has established an audit group to proceed with the work on waste recording, investigation into the causes of waste accumulation and recording of power consumption. The top management of "Rhodia Industrial Yarns" Ltd. has decided to improve the framework of the enterprise, as well as to develop and confirm its environmental policy to promote more efficient management of environmental aspects of its technological processes.
The top management of Jsc “Locomotive” intends to implement certain measures of general management.
Experience of foreign and lately also Latvian enterprises has proved that adverse environmental impact of technological processes may be considerably reduced by motivating employees. Besides, such results may be achieved by comparatively small investment.
Identification of environmental problems in the process of hazardous waste utilization is recognized as a significant outcome of the environmental audit performed in Daugavpils central hospital. The main problem there is the double disinfection and sterilization process as required by the currently effective regulations on medical waste management. Hospital management has undertaken the preparation of new internal regulations – Operations with substances and waste harmful to environment and health and their coordination with supervisory institutions.
The enterprises involved in the project are generating large volumes of such types of waste which cannot be incinerated or utilised in Latvia (sewerage slime, galvanic waste and oil-contaminated slime). Hazardous waste landfill in Daugavpils will not be in operation before 2005. As a result most attention was paid to waste minimisation solutions (reducing production of waste through BAT and minimising the existing volumes) and safe disposal of certain types of waste which cannot be utilised otherwise.
Integrated approach regarding certain solutions of environmental problems is of high importance. As an example, the measures for the reduction of water consumption are related to the reduction of energy consumption and minimisation of waste generation.
Evaluation of the appropriateness of solutions was based on the following criteria:
existence of adequate technical solutions,
compatibility with the existing technology,
complexity of implementation,
implementation and maintenance costs,
economic efficiency and payback period
Thermal processing in the gear shop of Jsc “Daugavpils Driving Chains Works” results in particularly hazardous emissions. In order to prevent emissions, the outdated thermal processing equipment will be replaced with an advanced oxidationless thermal processing facility in 2001 already. In order to reduce the level of air pollution, "DauER D" Ltd. intends to use natural gas for the thermal capacious forging processes and shop heating.
Jsc “Locomotive” intends to perform environmental audit procedures to identify technological operations and particular locations where soil is intensively polluted. Later on specific measures will be developed for the prevention and maximum reduction of soil pollution with oil products. The enterprise has undertaken investigation of options for the utilisation of slime from washing machines. In case of positive solution, the risk of ground water pollution will be prevented.
Daugavpils city central hospital may considerably reduce air pollution by ceasing the incineration of chemically disinfected pathogenic waste in its furnace. The other option is a safe collection of pathogenic waste and delivery to the crematorium furnace so that it could be incinerated in the hospital furnace without preliminary chemical treatment.
Implementation of new technologies results in the reduction of water consumption, as well as the volume of waste water and energy consumption.
Installation of water meters in shops and departments of some enterprises could improve the monitoring and increase efficiency of water consumption (economising on approximately 3%)
There are several potential measures for economising on water in Jsc “Daugavpils Driving Chains Works”, but the total projected amount economised is not substantial – approximately 5%. Much more considerable economy on natural resources could be provided by the installation of the local gas heating system in the main building of the enterprise. It would reduce the total amount of thermal energy consumed in the enterprise by 40%.
"DauER D" Ltd. has intended to replace the old production equipment gradually, in order to reduce the amount of machine oil consumed. Whereas the amount of energy consumed per one production unit could be considerably reduced by the introduction of two-shift working regime.
Jsc “Locomotive” has started testing new detergents. If the forecasts prove true, the enterprise could reduce the amount of water consumed during the washing process 2 to even 8 times, and the amount of energy consumed – three times. The enterprise could omit the whole washing liquid heating process at best which would enable the enterprise to reduce the total amount of electric energy consumed by 2750 MWh.
SJsc “Latvian Railways” Daugavpils locomotive roundhouse uses steam for the production of distilled water. Improvement of the distillation process could recover part of thermal energy which is now flowing away together with the cooling water. The enterprise may economize on water resources during the locomotive washing process. It could be achieved by the improvement of work organisation or the purchase of new washing equipment.
The process of saving water and energy in Daugavpils central hospital should be started with the improvement of consumption recording. Even the installation of water meters usually encourages economical behaviour by the staff of the enterprise. Rational use of water is the most significant environmental problem in "Rhodia Industrial Yarns" Ltd. The enterprise has intended to reconstruct completely its cooling system by the introduction of a closed water cycle.
One of the proposed measures for the reduction of energy consumption is the optimisation of the heat supply system including possible construction of boiler houses within the enterprise territories.
The following options pertaining to incineration with the recovery of energy were reviewed :
Incineration plant outside the city;
Incineration plant within the city including two alternatives:
1) the enterprise is incinerating its own waste only;
2) the enterprise is incinerating both its own waste and the waste generated by several other enterprises.
Options for the waste utilisation of Daugavpils enterprises and approximate costs have been identified during the project implementation. Since there is no common hazardous waste management system developed in Latvia, the enterprise may choose between the storage of this waste in its territory in a way which causes no harm to environment or delivery to specialized waste recovery enterprises.
Several Daugavpils enterprises share a common problem of solid hazardous waste management. Produced waste has such a high energy value that, for example, Jsc “Locomotive” can fully cover the amount of thermal energy consumed by the incineration of this waste.
Current management of this waste in Demene landfill is very harmful to environment.
The project includes consideration of both individual management methods – specialized furnaces, and expensive projects, such as the offer made by Latvian subsidiary of the English company Compact Power. The main advantage of the project proposed by Compact Power Latvia Ltd. is the investment by the English company for the purchase of incineration equipment and construction works. The enterprises interested in the proposal are invited to become shareholders of the waste burning company.
Daugavpils central hospital has prepared recommendations for the sorting, sterilization and incineration of waste. Information on pathogenic waste incineration furnaces offered by different companies has been collected within the project. Daugavpils central hospital may also participate in the project of the establishment of high-power waste incineration enterprise offered by the company Compact Power.
Regardless of activities with hazardous equipment and chemicals performed in the enterprises, the number of accidents and injuries is not substantial. This is an evidence for a sufficient level of risk management. The most significant risk factors in the enterprises are safe working conditions and compliance with safety requirements by employees.
Most of recommendations prepared for Daugavpils City Central Hospital pertain to the area of good housekeeping practices and a change of regulations to be observed by the personnel for improved waste handling in accordance with the criteria of hazardousness, adequate management and safety at work.
The project experts have undertaken drafting hospital regulations on the necessary actions in compliance with Environmental protection requirements for a medical institution, as well as regulations for the operations with substances and waste harmful to environment and health.
Assessment of implementation costs and pay back periods of several options has been performed in regard to the most important measures included in the Environmental Action Plans. Estimates included the amount of investment needed for the purchase of new equipment or the modernisation of the existing one, value of raw and auxiliary materials, value of the necessary energy resources, labour cost and other specific management costs.
Selection of a particular option is not based on economic considerations only. The enterprise may be interested in other issues, as well, such as the change in the process quality, compatibility of the innovation with the existing technology, complexity of implementation, etc. Therefore the experts’ duty it to offer and compare in a detailed way different options, but the final decision is a prerogative of the enterprise. As an example, there are 7 different options for the improvement of the washing process in Jsc “Locomotive”.
Total results of the project can be considered from the point of view of the enterprises involved and Daugavpils municipality.
Benefits of enterprises:
obtaining understanding and knowledge of the environmental audit procedure
receiving an extensive ecological report on the environmental performance and problems of the particular enterprise
prioritisation of the identified environmental problems in co-operation with experts
preparation of technically and economically reasonable Environmental Action Plans
implementation of Environmental Action Plans will reduce the adverse environmental impact by the enterprise
Benefits of Daugavpils municipality:
identification and summarization of environmental problems in major Daugavpils enterprises
obtaining information on environmental problems in the prevention and management of which several enterprises could be involved
preparation on recommendations for solving common problems
implementation of Environmental Action Plans will reduce the adverse environmental impact by enterprises and promote the introduction of principles for continuous production development in Daugavpils enterprises
The Parliament of Latvia (Saeima) passed the Law on Pollution in March 2001 which complies with the requirements with the EC Directive 96/61/EEC for Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control.
3 of the enterprises involved in the project, as well as approximately 130 companies and enterprises in Latvia shall abide by this law. Therefore ongoing improvement of environmental management systems is essential
For example, all audited enterprises store their galvanic sewage waste in special tanks preventing accumulation of heavy metals in environment. As a result, environmental impact of this hazardous waste has been assessed with two points only – it has small significance.