Focus by Country

TITAN

< Serbia

Granting Integrated Pollution Prevention Control (IPPC) permits (Kosjeric cement plant, Serbia and Usje cement plant, F.Y.R. of Macedonia)

Integrated Pollution Prevention Control (IPPC)  is a licensing regime for certain types of industrial activities, including cement production. The purpose of the process is, through an integrated approach (one permit), to:

  • regulate impacts on the environment caused by industrial activity as a whole, preventing transfer of pollution from one environmental medium to another,
  • implement the best available techniques,
  • set conditions for each individual case, taking into consideration the local conditions and
  • allow/encourage public participation and public involvement in the decision ma­king process.

In compliance with its high standards and vision of doing less harm and endeavo­ring to do more good, TITAN makes every effort to comply with the most stringent regulations, like that of IPPC, even in areas where the local legislation is lacking such provisions. In many cases, TITAN provided the local authorities with its knowledge and helped them build up their law in accordance with European standards. This was the case at the Usje cement plant, F.Y.R. of Macedonia and the Kosjeric cement plant in Serbia.

In 2011, both plants were issued their IPPC permits. It was a long process, starting back in 2007 for the Usje plant and 2009 for the Kosjeric plant. At the Usje plant a total of over €2.5 million was invested in implementing measures and specific solutions mandated by the adjustment plan, with about 80% of the activities foreseen being completed in the period 2007-2011, while the Kosjeric plant invested over €15 million in the field of environmental protection, in line with the best available techniques and Group best practices.

It is worth mentioning that both the IPPC were among the first to be issued in each country. In fact, the Kosjeric plant was the first and, so far, only company to obtain a permit of this kind – among the 177 companies in the industrial sector in Serbia loo­king to obtain an IPPC permit by 2015.