The 11 EGF Concessionaires are aware of the environmental responsibility that comes from the public service they provide. Therefore, they work rigorously in the measurement, control, evaluation and mitigation of the main environmental impacts resulting from the treatment of urban waste from the facilities in operation.
Monitoring meets the requirements set forth in the respective Environmental Licenses of each facility, in accordance with the regulations imposed by the Portuguese Environment Agency and / or inspection entities.
The compliance with the emission limit values applied by the current legislation is a purpose for EGF operations to be in line with what is expected by the community and with what is necessary for environmental sustainability.
The municipal waste treatment facilities are industrial in nature and subject to integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC), with strict legal obligations arising from the environmental licensing of the installations, as well as the sectoral legislation in force.
ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL
Below we list some of the major concerns manifested by communities in the intervention areas, as well as mitigation and mitigation measures
1. Monitoring of the units in the exploration phase and after sealing / closing
- Execution of the monitoring and control program approved by the official entities;
- The analytical operations of the control and monitoring processes and / or the necessary analyzes shall be carried out by accredited laboratories;
- Periodically, the environmental control reports are submitted to the official entities with all the elements inherent in the exploration.
2. Leachate control
- Leachates from urban wastes treated at our facilities, due to their characteristics, are conveniently contained, collected, pre-treated and monitored. This monitoring is carried out through periodic analyzes of leaching waters, groundwater and wastewater and rainwater.
- Depending on the indications of the licensing entities, an analytical control program for leachates.
3. Noise control
- Urban waste treatment facilities, due to their industrial characteristics, have technologically sophisticated machines and equipment that can affect local noise. EGF is attentive to this possibility and therefore conducts, before and after the beginning of the operation of the installation, on a regular basis, noise assessment studies with the sensitive receivers most exposed to noise from the installation activity, for verification by an accredited entity of the compliance with the criterion of maximum exposure and the criterion of discomfort.
After ensuring compliance with the maximum exposure criterion and the discomfort criterion, new monitoring is carried out whenever necessary, in particular in the following cases:
- Registration of noise complaints;
- Alteration in the installation that may have direct interference with previously existing sound levels;
- The management of the equipment used in the activity will be carried out taking into account the need to control noise.
4. Odor and dust control
- Migration of gases from waste treatment facilities to the atmosphere can cause odor.
- The odors that occur in a facility may be caused by 3 factors: waste, biogas release and leachate.
Therefore, there are several measures to control this drawback:
- The release of the gas must be controlled primarily by the way the waste is compacted and covered.
- Inspection routines and maintenance of air conditioning and deodorization systems for indoor installations.
Another possible drawback of urban waste treatment is dust, which appears when there is no precipitation - when this happens, the access to the work front is provided with the necessary frequency, in order to avoid the formation of dust clouds in the passage of discharge vehicles.
ANNUAL IMPLEMENTED MONITORING CAMPAIGN
In order to respond to the legal obligations and to the effective environmental control of the units, a monitoring program is carried out annually, which includes all the impacts described above and others.
