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Screening categories and rationale for classification
The
construction and operation of a new particleboard production facility is
associated with limited direct environmental, health and safety impacts, which
can be readily identified and assessed as well as efficiently mitigated with
modern technology and project design. The new plant would be constructed on
current agricultural land located adjacent to the national road DN17A. The
distance between the site border and the closest permanent residential
buildings is approximately 300 m. There are no known environmentally or
archaeologically valuable or sensitive areas in the vicinity of the site. For
the above mentioned reasons, the EBRD has classified the project B/0,
requiring an Environmental Analysis.
Information reviewed during the environmental appraisal
The
Environmental Analysis has been prepared in accordance with the EBRD's
requirements by independent environmental experts. The investigations have
been based on a site visit and review of the location, data provided by Egger
and a previous Environmental Impact Assessment report developed in 2005 for a
similar production facility in UK, as well as on site-specific local data
collected and interviews with local authorities held in October 2005. The
study also compared the planned production facility with the Best Available
Techniques (BAT) used in European Union.
Key environmental issues and mitigation
The investigations
showed that the Project will be structured to meet Romanian environmental,
health and safety (EHS) requirements and EU environmental standards, including
BAT and that the direct environmental, health and safety impacts during the
construction and the operation of the new particleboard plant would be
insignificant and efficiently mitigated. The new plant will introduce
state-of-the-art technology and environmental protection measures will be
fully incorporated in the project design.
All construction activities on site will be controlled through operational
procedures for pollution prevention, waste management, emergency response and
incident reporting. A traffic management plan will be developed in relation
for construction traffic.
During the operation, applicable standards limits for air emissions, water,
soil and noise will be respected. The combustion air from gas and wood dust
fuelled boilers will be purified from particulate matter by bag filters.
Exhaust gases from the particleboard process will be cleaned in a Wet
Electrostatic Precipitator (WESP) ensuring that dust and formaldehyde
emissions to the atmosphere will be below BAT standards for particleboard
manufacturing. All industrial and cooling water will be circulated in closed
loops and no industrial wastewater will be discharged. Fresh water is needed
only to make up for the evaporation losses. Minor amount of household
wastewater purified on site. Storm water from the site surface will be
collected into a separate network and discharged into a sedimentation basin to
be recycled for platform cleaning. Clean storm water collected from the roof
will be also collected in a separate system and re-circulated into the
process. The amount of waste will be limited, because bark and other wood
wastes will be used as a fuel for the plants heating and steam generation.
Small amounts of waste oils and other hazardous waste will be collected by a
licensed waste management company.
The main worker health and safety impacts of indoor noise, workplace dust and
potential formaldehyde fumes will be mitigated by appropriate encapsulation
measures, by the efficient operation of the exhaust and ventilation systems,
and/or use of personal protection equipment. It is envisaged that all work
processes will be enclosed and provided with adequate extraction and
ventilation. All buildings and work areas will be equipped with portable fire
extinguishers, a centralised fire water hydrant network with local sprinklers
and automated fume detector and warning system.
The particleboard products will be of classification E0 or E1, which can be
safely used without causing elevated concentrations of formaldehyde in indoor
air.
Wood procurement
The plant will use up to 700,000 m3/year of
round wood. A substantial part of that will consist of low grade round wood,
which have little or no commercial value and which is currently mainly
disposed of. In addition, saw dust and sawmill residues will be used to reduce
the amount of round wood needed. To mitigate the adverse impact of the wood
procurement and to ensure the wood is of legal origin, the Company will
implement wood procurement procedures that are based on principles of
sustainable forest management, ensuring that:
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the wood does not originate from statutory protected forests, forest areas
included in nature conservation programmes or sites which have been notified
by the authorities to be excluded from felling;
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the origin of the wood is monitored;
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suppliers operate according to the principles of sustainable development, in
compliance with the legislation currently in force and under the supervision
of state authorities; and
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the biodiversity and the functions of the forest ecosystem are maintained in
accordance with internationally and nationally approved principles.
Egger has had group Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) chain-of-custody
certification for its wood supply covering all its mills since 2002 and will
introduce the system at the Romanian plant, subject to availability of
certified wood and market conditions.
Disclosure of information and consultation
In accordance with
Romanian law, the project is likely to be a subject to formal public
disclosure and public consultation under an Environmental Impact Assessment
procedure for obtaining the construction permit. In the context of EBRD’s
potential participation in the project, the Company has released locally this
summary describing the relevant environmental issues associated with the
project and the mitigation measures.
Monitoring
Egger will systematically monitor and report its
environmental and health and safety impacts to ensure it complies with
Romanian and EU environmental standards. The EBRD will monitor the project's
compliance with the applicable environmental and social requirements during
the lifetime of the project by reviewing Egger’s annual environmental reports
(AERs) on the project.
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