Archived press release

Pollution Data for 10,000 Companies in EU Published Today

23 February 2004

New figures out today identify the UK as home to some of Europe's biggest industrial polluters, topping emission league tables for a number of chemicals, including greenhouse gases, acid rain gases, chlorinated solvents and metals.

The information is released on a new European Commission web site (www.eper.cec.eu.int), launched today in Copenhagen, containing pollution data for around ten thousand of the largest industrial sites in the EU, along with large poultry and pig farms. The European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER) lists the year 2001 emissions to air and water of 50 pollutants for sites in the EU and Norway. It includes information from steel plants, chemical plants, power stations, incinerators, landfill sites and paper mills [1].

Friends of the Earth's safer chemicals campaigner Mary Taylor, who is speaking at the launch, said:

"Simply providing pollution data to the public puts pressure on companies to clean up. This right-to-know information is a huge step forward for most countries, and for the first time we can begin to build a detailed picture of industrial pollution across the EU. But each country should also take efforts to develop its system, increase the information available and involve the public in planning improvements for the future."

She added:

"The first question for the general public is always 'what does this mean for my health?'. It is not easy to answer that question given the wide variety of pollutants and range of sources. This data is important, but is still only part of the picture."

The EPER web site shows that individual sites around the UK (2002 data) topped the league tables for a number of pollutants to air or water [2].

• AES Drax, Selby: nitrogen oxides - linked to acid rain - 49,600 tonnes (to air)
• BP Oil, Coryton Refinery: copper - may affect soil micro-organisms - 15.5 tonnes (to water)
• Carpenter, Glossop: dichloromethane - may cause cancer and genetic damage - 513 tonnes (to air)
• Esso, Southampton: phenols - water pollutant - 23.4 tonnes (to water)
• Glaxo, Ulverston: dichloromethane - may cause cancer and genetic damage - 64.9 tonnes (to water)
• Huntsman, Redcar: BTEX - water pollutant - 36.7 tonnes (to water)
• INEOS CHLOR, Runcorn: trichloroethylene - may cause cancer and genetic damage - 138 tonnes (to air)
• INEOS CHLOR, Runcorn: trichloromethane - may cause cancer - 41.9 tonnes (to air)
• INEOS CHLOR, Runcorn: dichloroethane - may cause cancer and genetic damage - 714 tonnes (to air)
• Magnesium Elektron, Manchester: sulphur hexafluoride - a potent greenhouse gas - 31.6 tonnes (to air)
• Sevalco, Bristol: hydrogen cyanide - very toxic at certain concentrations - 50 tonnes (to air)
• Talisman Energy, Stromness: benzene - may cause cancer - 295 tonnes (air)

The web site also produces league tables of countries, ranking the national contribution to the total output of each pollutant. Overall, the UK was number one for benzene, chlorine and inorganic compounds, dichloroethane, hydrofluorocarbons (greenhouse gases), hydrogen cyanide, nitrogen oxides, VOCs (volatile organic compounds which contribute to smog and respiratory problems), phenols to water (a diverse group, toxic to aquatic organisms), and sulphur hexafluoride.

It is not clear that all the required data has been reported by all countries however. While the UK has reported data from over 1100 poultry and pig units, France has only 3 records in the list, which seems an unlikely figure. There may well be other errors in the data.

Friends of the Earth's campaigner Mary Taylor added:

"There are many more important pollutants which should be reported. Information which would relate pollution amounts to production levels of the industries is missing. We should be able to judge which are the cleanest, most efficient industries."

Friends of the Earth first published data of this sort on the internet in1995 (England and Wales data). More comprehensive data is already collected for England and Wales and is published in the

Environment Agency's Pollution Inventory
(http://216.31.193.171/asp/1_introduction.asp) [3].

Scottish data is also available on the web site of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (www.sepa.org.uk/data/index.htm).

Notes

[1] EPER is not a totally comprehensive source of pollution information. Bulk wastes are not reported, only emissions to air or water of 50 pollutants. Only larger industrial sites have to report, and these emissions are subject to a threshold. Certain sectors, such as the nuclear industry or mining operations, are also not part of the system. Contributions from so-called "diffuse sources" such as transport are not included.

[2] 2002 data is available for the UK industries; the EPER web site has only one year's worth of data for all countries, mostly 2001 data we understand.

[3] All EU countries have signed a new international treaty which will result in the improvement of the data under the UNECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (Kiev, 2003). This will increase the number of pollutants listed (to 86), expand the sectors reporting to include mining operations and ship yards for example, and will include reports on overall quantities of waste sent off-site for further treatment or disposal. This is unlikely to occur before 2007, and the new data may not be published until the end of 2009. [the next set of EPER data is due to be collected this year, 2004.]

An example of the data:

EPER records total emissions of 128,000 tonnes of fine particulate matter (PM10s) which is known to contribute to respiratory problems and even premature deaths. 24% of this total is attributed to

Spain, followed by Germany (17%) and the UK (14%). A plant in Belgium (COCKERILL SAMBRE SA ) wins the dubious distinction of having the greatest emissions of PM10s at 3,730 tonnes.

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