WRITTEN QUESTION E-4184/97 by Karla Peijs (PPE) to the Commission (21 January 1998)

Subject: Salting of hides - environmental problem

Slaughterhouses in Europe treat their hides by salting them. This is a potential source of pollution as the salt removed inevitably ends up in the tannery effluent. Wet-salted hides can cause problems of salinity in our surface and ground waters. Is the Commission aware of the pollution caused by the salting of hides for preservation within the EU?

Does the Commission agree that within the EU we must avoid salinification as much as possible?

Is the Commission aware that this environmental problem could be tackled by preserving the hides by other means than salt, for example by the fresh processing of hides, a process which has the support of most tanners in many European countries?

Why is the salting of hides going on in Europe as it is a source of pollution and alternative ways of preserving them from decay for the benefit of the leather industry exist?

What is the Commission going to do to end the salting of hides?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (12 March 1998)

As regards the environmental dimension of the problem of salinification, the Commission agrees entirely with the Honourable Member. The Commission adopted on 17 February 1998 an amendment concerning annex V ((COM(98) 76. )) to the proposal for a water framework directive ((COM(97) 49. )). This requires measures to prevent adverse impact from salinification. For inland freshwaters, salinity is one of the parameters which must be considered in relation to any body, and the Member State would be required to set standards such as to ensure the functioning of the ecosystem and the occurrence of a biological community deviating only slightly from that normally associated with the ecotype under undisturbed conditions. The Member State would then have to establish, under article 13 of the framework directive, measures to ensure that those standards are observed. For groundwater, the proposal for annex V establishes the parameter of conductivity, and requires that it be monitored to ensure that there is no saline intrusion or other anthropogenic trend in the salt concentrations of the water body. This should cover protection of all water bodies with respect to saline contamination.

On the question of control for point sources of saline contamination, the Commission draws attention to Council Directive 96/61/EC concerning the integrated pollution prevention and control of industrial activities ((OJ L 257, 10.10.1996. )), which requires Member States to introduce an integrated permitting system for various industrial installations, including slaughterhouses and tanneries, when their production capacity exceeds certain thresholds. The permits have to contain emission limit values for all relevant pollutants based on best available techniques (BAT). The permits shall require stricter measures if this is necessary to comply with environmental quality standards.

Pursuant to Article 16 (2) of Council Directive 96/61/EC the Commission has established a system of information exchange on BAT. As a result of this information exchange, reference documents will be prepared which identify the environmental impact of each sector and recommend BAT-based process requirements. When the BAT reference documents for the two sectors mentioned in the question are prepared, appropriate measures to avoid salination, including the possibility of substitution by alternatives, will also be considered.

The provisions of Council Directive 96/61/EC have to be implemented for new installations as from the date of 30 October 1999 and for existing installations as from 30 October 2007.

If the exchange of information pursuant to Article 16 (2) of Council Directive 96/61/EC or any other evidence identifies the need for Community action for the abatement of saline contamination from the two sectors mentioned above, the Council will set emission limit values for industrial discharges acting on a proposal from the Commission, as indicated in Article 18 of the Directive.