Integrated Pollution Control (IPC)

Overview

IPC objectives, which also form the foundation of IPPC, are to: prevent or minimise the release of prescribed substances, to render harmless any such substances which are released and to develop an approach to pollution control that considers discharges from industrial processes to all media in the context of the effect on the environment as a whole.

Under section 7 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA 90), the Environment Agencies (of England and Wales and Scotland (SEPA) must make sure that:

• Any plant on a site that is subject to IPC/IPPC control must operate under the Best Available Techniques (operating methods and technology) Not Entailing Excessive Cost (BATNEEC), to prevent or, where this is not practicable, to minimise the release of prescribed substances and render them harmless. This will be shortened to BAT (Best available technique) in the forthcoming IPPC regulations.
  
  
• The authorised releases will not breach any instructions imposed by the UK government to implement EU Directives or any international obligations that relate to environmental quality standards and objectives.
  
  
• Where the authorised process is deemed to release wastes into more than one medium for example, into water, then the EA must ensure that the Best Practicable Environmental Option is deployed to minimise the environmental effect of the pollutant on the entire environment.