County Waterford, Ireland
Solvents Regulations
The Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds from Organic Solvents Regulations (referred to as the Solvents Regulations) were introduced in Ireland in November 2002. This legislation requires a large section of Irish business, which use certain quantities of solvents or solvent containing materials as part of their operation, to determine if the regulations apply to them, and if so, obtain a Certificate of Compliance by October 31st 2007. The following business sectors come under the remit of the regulations:
- Dry cleaning;
- Vehicle coating and vehicle refinishing;
- Coil coating;
- Winding wire coating;
- Other coating, including metal, plastic, textile, fabric, film, leather, wood, and paper surfaces;
- Wood impregnation;
- Footwear manufacture;
- Wood and plastic lamination;
- Adhesive coating;
- Rubber conversion;
- Vegetable oil and animal fat extraction and vegetable oil refining activities;
- Manufacturing of pharmaceutical products;
- Manufacturing of coating preparations, varnishes, inks and adhesives;
- Surface cleaning using compounds with risk phrases R45, R46, R49, R60, R61, or R40 and halogenated compounds;
- Other surface cleaning;
- Printing.
Each activity category is assigned a solvent consumption threshold in tonnes/year above which the Regulations apply. In some cases e.g. printing activities, the consumption thresholds are all greater than15 tonnes/year and would already be subject to IPPC licensing by the EPA. In other cases, e.g. surface cleaning, the consumption thresholds are below 10 tonnes/year and may require the extension of control to previously unlicensed activities. However in the case of dry cleaning operations, there is no consumption threshold specified so all such activities are included, regardless of size.
Solvent records
All solvent users must determine if the regulations apply to their specific operation (see last paragraph above). This depends on your business sector, and the type and amount of solvent you use in a year. At least 12 consecutive months of solvent purchase records are required to determine if the regulations apply to you. Should you exceed the annual solvent consumption threshold for your sector, your operation comes under the remit of the regulations, and you will be required to achieve compliance by October 31st 2007.
Accredited Inspection Contractor
In order to attain compliance, an Accredited Inspection Contractor (AIC) must review your operation, and produce a report on the level of compliance with the regulations. This report will state if you are in compliance or otherwise with the regulations. A list of approved AICs is available from the Irish National Accreditation Board ( (01) 607 3003) on their website at www.inab.ie.
Certificate of Compliance
An AIC report demonstrating compliance with the regulations must be submitted to Waterford County Council, together with the completed registration form and a fee of €50. On the basis of this documentation, Waterford County Council will make a decision on the issue of a Certificate of Compliance for your operation. Certificates of Complaince must be renewed on an annual basis by the operator.
Please note that it is advisable to arrange an AIC inspection as soon as possible in order to carry out any remedial works which may be required to achieve a compliant AIC report.
Queries
If you have any queries in relation to the Solvent Regulations please contact the Environment Section, Waterford County Council at 058 22000.
Related Websites
Further information on the Solvents Regulations and the use of solvents can be found on the following websites:
EPA website:
http://www.epa.ie/whatwedo/advice/air/solvents/
Department of the Environment website:
http://www.environ.ie/
Enterprise Ireland website:
http://www.envirocentre.ie/envirocentre.asp?id=24#2
Application Form
