Integrated Permitting System and Waste Sector: An Analysis of Mediterranean Regions

Abstract

Integrated permits address every aspect of a facility's operation that has an environmental impact. Permitting industrial facilities is a key tool for regulating environmental pollution in many nations across the globe. In Europe, the integrated approach on environmental pollution is based on the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive (61/1996), recently replaced by Industrial Emissions Directive (75/2010). The Directive covers about 50,000 facilities in Europe. The implementation of the Directive could differ greatly among European regions due to the different competent authorities involved. The study aims to assess how the IPPC Directive impacts the management of industrial landfill companies. The aim of the paper is to investigate how the implementation of the Directive in six European regions could have a different impact on companies in the same sector. This objective is pursued through the analysis of 61 permits issued in six different Mediterranean regions In addition, this study also includes the analysis of fees that companies have to pay for the administrative and control procedures. Results of the study show that some of the differences in the implementation of the IPPC Directive cannot always be justified by the flexibility provided by the legislation.These differences affect the application of the Directive in different ways, causing differences in the subsequent prevention of pollution, the key principle of the Directive. The results show how a higher level of coordination among the different competent authorities could be a solution to overcome this situation.