_ 52 »
171. As far as air pollution is concerned, the Canadian federal government is moving towards protective management of the environment, through legislation aimed at laying down uniform air quality objectives for the whole country. This legislation will also establish long-term objectives and will determine clean and polluted areas. The air quality objectives will be set at three levels, known as "desirable",
"acceptable", and "tolerable" in terms of increasing concentration. The long-term national objective is to bring all regions of the country into the "desirable"
category ; meanwhile this approach provides a base for an anti-degradation policy in the unpolluted areas and provides a long-term target for urban areas.
172. For the moment there are no federal or local regulations dealing specifically with air pollution from the pulp and paper industry. However, the control of air pollution from industry in general is covered under a large
number of headings in provincial legislation.
53
regulations which must themselves meet the requirements of the Water Court with respect to effluent. Current legislation (Act on water) dates from 1962. Certain amendments to this Act are now being prepared.
175• The regulations do not set any specific standards.
Evaporation and burning of the waste liquor has been a common practice in Finland already before the strengthening of the legislation at the beginning of the 1960's. For this reason it was only natural that one of the main lines of promoting the water pollution control has been to require a higher degree and a better efficiency of these methods. This has
also led to a general emphasis of the internal measures, e,g. on improving the recovery rate by developing the washing system. The requirements based on these methods are handled individually so that the BOD goals presented by the Water Courts are generally following individual possibilities to accomplish these internal measures.
Thus the different stages of modernization of a certain mill and measures taken for the sake of pollution control may be difficult to separate.
176. The claims in decisions of Water Courts for sulphite recovery rate are either 90 % or 85 % depending on circumstances by the end of 1973 at the latest.
177. Guidelines for specific BOD-load requirements in
the middle of this decade in existing mills have been stated as shown in the table below (Table 3-3) • 178 The application of modern techniques in primary
treatment began in the middle of 1960's Guidelines for specific suspended solids load requirements in the first half of this decade in existing mills have been stated as shown in Table 3-3.
179. The criteria on which the permits are based refer to the effluent rather than the receiving water. The main pollutant factors taken into consideration are
suspended solids, BOD and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus). Special attention is given to the
eutrophication of lakes, which might result from the careless application of biological techniques to waste waters from the pulp and paper industry.
180. As regards air pollution, legislation is being prepared.
54 - TABLE 3-3
1 A • B. Jft- * *•' •*« J t - •»- - >
Specific Pollution Load in Effluents (kg/tonne produced)
-Guidelines used in drawing up discharge permits - (Finland)
1 8 1 .
182.
3 . 1 . 5 FRANCE* • , • „ * , . ^ * , - J
As far as water pollution is concerned, French policy laws and regulations are based on the following
general principles:
(a) polluters pay a charge based on the amount of pollution they discharge. The charges collected are then used to help pay for pollution control;
(b) minimum discharge standards are fixed in a uniform manner;
(c) stipulations stricter Imposed in individual local conditions.
than these minima are cases in the light of Item (a) results from the Act of 16th December, 1964 which introduced economic measures as a supplement to regulatory ones for resolving the quantitative and qualitative problems of water management. This economic aspect lies mainly within the province of the "agences financieres de bassin" (Basin Financial Agencies). A development programme Is drawn up for
.
I . I I . I I I . IV.
v.
VI.
Type of p r o d u c t i o n
^"•>""¥ • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • » . % • ^ • " • B f r H I I I M I H • • • • • • • • "• • " • • • • • • • • • I V l ' W ^ W ^ W P ¥ ' ^ V ^ hJi " ^ • ' * •^•"•"••••J • • • • • ^ • • • ' ^ • • F • • • • • • • • • ^ • • • • ^ • • • • • • • • i i •"•"•••"• .-.HaB^aB aF-at>P"B^B>a>a>a-U"f"aaAaBBaVaaaBBaaaakBBBaaP>>laaa>B>aV^"l"BBa|taHU-T»^PHk-*P*P>*fcl * • » * • ^ " ^ * # " * ^ " » ^ " H"P
Semi-chemical p u l p S u l p h i t e p u l p
S u l p h a t e p u l p Newsprint
Other p a p e r and "board F i b r e "building h o a r d
Suspended s o l i d s
i
BOD leg/tonne k g / t o n n e
• • # • • • • ^ • • » " i " f V ' ' B " ; r - t 1 W P i • • H M • " • w i k ' B n V • * • • • * - • ^ • f • p *," " ^ p v v i a H H P n • • • • ^ ^ • • • • • I M • • * • • * " - " i " « ^ B t ^ "p- ' ^ • " • a W « • • • • • • - • • • • • • • - • • - • • • • • • i B F ^ •••"•">•"•• •*¥ai
3-12 15-25 10-18 5-10 3-12
_
60-00 26-35 8-10 4-10
9-10 |
each hydrographic basin, giving objectives as regards both quality and quantity. It also provides for
financial aid to public or private persons carrying
out works which come within the scope of the development programme. This aid is financed exclusively from the charges the same persons pay when they draw consume or pollute the water (see Chapter 5.2). The pollution charge is completely separate from the administrative discharge permits ; it is neither a sanction on the polluter, nor does it give a right to pollute.
183. All industrial establishments must obtain a permit
prior to construction. Under an Act of 1917, industrial establishments are classified into three categories according to the disamenities they are likely to cause.
An instruction issued in 1953 specifies the conditions in which discharge permits may be granted to "classified establishments" taking account of the particular
circumstances of each establishment. In most cases
permits are granted by the Prefet of the Departement ; however, if waste water is discharged into the public sewerage, the decision then rests with the local
authorities.
184. Current legislation is based upon enactments of 1917 (Act on "Classified Establishments"), 1953 (Instruction concerning discharge of waste water from classified establishments), 1964 (Act relating to the water
management and distribution system and to the control of water pollution ), 1970 (Circular concerning water pollution by industry, in particular the pulp and paper industry). No changes are in view at present; however, minor amendments are now being made to the regulations from the procedural and technical standpoints.
185. In July, 1972, the Minister for the Environment and the Chairman of the French Confederation of Paper, Board and Cellulose Industries signed an Agreement covering a programme to reduce pollution from existing chemical and semi-chemical pulp mills. A similar
agreement is in preparation for the paper industry.
186. In this Agreement, each mill is defined in terms of : - its position within the relevant hydrographic
basin ; in the light of the development policy decided upon by the basin authorities, this plant is given a "geographical priority" of I, II or III which reflects the importance of the area in which the mill is situated as regards water supplied from the basin ; - the nature (kraft, sulphite, semi-chemical)
and amount (in tonnes per day) of its production.
56
187. The different stages for reducing pollution are listed as follows :
188,
A - reducing the amount of suspended solids B ~ reducing the amount of oxydisable matter C - eliminating sludges and solid wastes D - colour reduction
v - elimination or utilising spent liquor Stages A and B are defined "by a maximum amount of
pollutants in effluent, expressed in kilograms per tonne (at 90% dryness) of daily production (see Table 3-4 below)• Stages C, D and X will be defined later.
TABLE 3-4
Maximum amounts of pollutants in effluent (France)
189. Pollution by the various mills should be reduced so that the residual amounts of pollution comply with certain deadlines ranging from 1973 to 1976 (see Table 3-5 below).
57
Schedules for pollution reduction*
(France)
1 - K raft pulp (bleached or -unbleached) TABLE 3-5
- 58 -
190* The control of air oollution has been a feature of French legislation xor a considerable tine. However, there are no specific regulations concerning the pulp and paper industry. Among the Acts in force is that
of 19th December, 1917 classifying industrial establish- ments, already mentioned, and the Act of 2nd August,
1961 dealing with all sources of pollution. Various implementing decrees have been issued during the last ten years J amongst other things they govern the
construction of chimney stacks according to the amounts of sulphur dioxide and particulates emitted, and deal
with the creation of specially protected areas. Industrial establishments must obtain a permit which is granted
by the Prefet after consultation with the Health Board of the Departement and other official bodies. Efforts are being made to strengthen and harmonize the
enforcement of the regulations.