OVAM Activities Report
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OVAM Activities Report
pages 4-7 Foreword
pages 8-17 1. Managing tomorrow's raw
materials today
pages 18-27 2. Working on liveable cities
• InterviewwithAdministrator-GeneralHennyDeBaets
• OVAMcelebratesits30thbirthday
• Historicdecreegiveslegalbasistosustainablematerialsmanagement
• Aroundthetableforagreencirculareconomy
• RoadmappointsthewaytotheefficientuseofrawmaterialsinEurope
• Ecodesign.link:newwebsiteonsustainableproductinnovation
• Newchallenge:landfillmining
• Soilcontaminationinthecityrequiresingeniousapproach
• HoedhaarsiteinLokerendemonstratessustainableremediation
• Soilremediationcoloursgreener
• CityChlorfindsEuropeananswertourbanpollution
• Aalst,MechelenandKortrijktestnewtypeofpartnershipwithOVAM
Colophon Editorinchiefandpublisher:
JanVerheyen
Editorialboard:ElsDePicker,SofieDeKeyser,VeerleDeRidder,
AnneD’Haese,ElsGommeren,PeterNagels,ElsVanCamp,
AnneVandeputte,JohanVanerom
Concept,copywritingandlayout:Pantarein
Photography:JanCaudron,Derbigum,LievenVanAssche,OVAM,IOK
Paper:cover:macosilk300gFSCMix(FSC-QGS-CO6-004006),insidepages:
macosilk135gFSCMix
Legalregistrationnumber:D/2012/5024/10
OVAM,Stationsstraat110,2800Mechelen
Index
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pages 28-35 3. A healthy living environment today
and tomorrow
pages 36-41 4. Realising breakthroughs with custom
solutions
pages 42-49 5. Good governance
pages 50-61 General overview of the year 2011
• Gasworksremediationprogrammetakesshape
• OVAMpinpointshigh-riskactivitiesindrinkingwaterextractionareas
• Clusteredremediationofasbestosandzincuptospeed
• NewEuropeandirectivereducesenvironmentalfootprintofindustry
• Closingmaterialsupplychains:sustainablematerialsmanagementreachesfeverpitch
• Newapproachtoremediationsavesabandonedbusinesssites
• OVAMimprovesitseffectiveness
• Digitaleraforsoilinventorydefinitivelyarrives
• Wastemanagementtoolsscrutinised
• Personnel
• Complaintsmanagement
• Financialdata
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Mrs. De Baets, after 30 years, the Waste Decree made way for the new Materials Decree. The transition from managing waste to management that targets the sustainable use of materials and raw materials is now anchored in law. A milestone?
“The new Materials Decree replacestheWasteDecreeof1981.Thischangemarks theendof anera, andheraldsa completely new approach to wasteproducts and materials based on theinsightsthathavebeenobtainedinre-centyears. In theeighties, theWasteDecreewas aheadof its time, andatthattimeindeedbroughtordertothechaos.Inthetwenty-firstcentury,how-ever, the challenge is quitedifferent.For decades, waste was considered a‘burden’.”
“Today,wasteisnolongeraproblem,but rathera rawmaterial forproduc-
ingnewproducts.We increasinglyaremonitoring the environmental effectsthroughouttheentirelifecycle,acyclethat startswith theextractionof rawmaterialsandstopswhenaproduct isfinally disposed of. This integral viewofthematerialchainisthecentralfo-cusoftheMaterialsDecree.Anextstepis thenew implementing order,whichreplaces the previous waste preven-tion and management implementingorder,VLAREA.Thisorderwillcontaindetailed regulations with respect toimplementing good materials man-agement.”
“It is a major challenge: evolving to-ward a green circular economy inwhichwasteproductsarereused.Thisisnotanoption,butanabsoluteneces-sity. Neither the government nor thebusiness world can realise this break-throughalone.Toimplementthisformofmanagement inpractice, all actorsmustjumponthebandwagon:design-ers, companies, researchers, consum-ers,producers,wasteprocessingfirms,andsoon.Newpartnerships,conceptsand business models will be needed.This new partnership dynamic is al-ready strongly present in Plan C, themulti-actorplatformthatismadeinde-pendentviatheMaterialsDecree.”
“The fact that all actors understandtheneedforcollaborationcanbeseeninthelargeturnoutattheround-tablediscussionsheldonSustainableMateri-als Policy that took place last year inJune at the initiative of Flemish Min-isterforEnvironment,NatureandCul-tureJokeSchauvliege;withmorethan200 participants from almost all rel-
evantsectors, itwasamajorsuccess.This round table was a symbolic mo-ment,becauseallparticipantssignedadeclarationofintenttoworktogetherinrealisingsustainablematerialsman-agement. Thus, all are pulling in thesame direction. We will take anotherstepforwardinthecomingyearwithaMaterialsPact.Thiswillcontainagree-mentsonconcretetargets,timeframesandspearheads.”
The Flemish government has made sustainable materials management one of the thirteen major societal challenges within its Flanders in Action (ViA) programme. OVAM is the pioneer in this ‘transverse’ theme. How are you giving concrete form to meeting this challenge?
“Wefind it a good thing that sustain-able materials management has beendesignatedasatransversetheme.Thisinfactmeansthatweallbelievethatthistheme,togetherwithtwelveotherthemes, will place us among the topinEurope.Atransitionrequiresvision,action and research. Plan C preparesavision for the future,and theMate-rials Pact will result in actions basedon concrete campaigns and projects.Finally,theSustainableMaterialsMan-agementCentre,whichwasestablishedthis year,will conduct policy relevantresearch for four years into the pre-conditionsneeded to realise the tran-sition to a material-efficient, circulareconomy.”
➜ Foreword
OVAM turned thirty in 2011. Henny De Baets has been at the helm since 2005. “Like all government agencies, we are only credible when we offer appropriate answers to society’s questions. Thus, we must remain alert, and – with our sights trained on society – continually in motion.”
Interview with Administrator-General Henny De Baets
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“Working on this transverse theme infact is an OVAM-wide endeavour. Oneof these umbrella projects is LandfillMining (LFM), a concept for sustain-ably mining of landfill sites. Becauseaspects of waste, materials and soilmanagement converge here, all OVAMdepartments are participating in thisproject. The integration of almost allofourexpertiseisnecessarytodetect-ingthepotentialformining,executingconcreteprojectsintheframeworkofex-officioremediation,anddevelopingthe right preconditions to ensure theconcept’s sustainability. In short, tomakeLFMafeasibleandrealisticcon-ceptovertime.”
How important is innovation, both now and in the future?
“Itisclearthatingenioussolutionsareneededtounravelproblemsthatatfirstglance perhaps appear unsolvable. Inthepastyears,OVAMhasbeenconduct-ing pioneering work in this area. Takefor example the chain managementprojectrelatedtocarpets.Thesetypesof breakthrough projects, that emergefrom and are initiated together withthe sectors,will largelydetermine thesuccess of materials management. Forthatmatter,wearenowintheprocessofrollingoutthismethodologytoothersectorssuchasplasticsandfood.Iviewinnovationprimarilyasameansatourdisposal to concretely implement thetransition.”
“This,however,doesnotmeanthatweneedtoreinventthewheelineachcase.Wecanalsolearnfromtheinitiativesof
others, forexample from foreignpart-ners. The European project Cradle toCradleNetwork, forexample, containsnolessthan160casesrelatedtochainmanagement. Methodologies or tech-niques that work well elsewhere canalsobeappliedtotheFlemishcontext,and vice versa. Four of our networkpartners forexamplewill beusingourEcolizer,ahandytoolfordesignerswhowishtomakeuseofsustainablemateri-als.Anicebenefitofthisprojectisthatitisalsoasourceofcross-fertilisation.”
“It is for good reason that we signeda co-operation agreement with VITOlast year. We committed ourselves toworking together on a green, circulareconomy. Each based on its own ap-proach: VITO as research centre withexpertiseinmaterialsandsoilmanage-ment,OVAMaspolicymakerwithconsid-erable experience with these themes.The goal: offering Flemish companiesconcrete projects, tools and platformstoincreasetheireco-efficiencyandeco-innovation.”
Sustainable materials management is a hot topic, and the object of considerable attention. Does this mean that waste policy will fade into the background?
“Certainly not. The efficient manage-ment ofwaste streams, even if theseshrink in size, remains essential.Wastemanagement,however,willalsochange under the impulse of the newvision. For this reason, a number ofour tools are in need of revision. Re-
finementofthetoolsrelatedtowastepolicy–levies,acceptanceobligations,subsidies, the list goes on – is one oftheactionitemsweinitiatedlastyear.Withmodifiedandpossiblynewinstru-ments,wewillsoonbebetterequippedtoimprovetheresultsofourwastepol-icy.LastyearatFlemishlevelweagainachievedthegoalofmaximum150kilo-gramsofresidualwasteperresident.In
itselfthisisagoodresult,butstagna-tion is somethingwe prefer to avoid.Forthisreason,inthecomingyearswewill be focusing on themunicipalitiesthatare laggingbehind, tohelp themrealise better results with respect towastemanagement.Tackling litter,aneyesoreformanycitizens,isalsoahighpriority. The Tidiness network mustbecome the linchpin in an integratedlitterpolicy.Thetoppositionwehaveachievedinternationallywithourwastepolicy, must certainly be nourished.However,wehavealsosetthebarhighfor materials policy: we also wish toquicklybecomeanexcellentstudentinthe European class in this new policyfield.”
“We can also learn from the initiatives of others,
for example from foreign partners”
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➜ Foreword
Materials policy is a classic example of a policy that develops alongside societal trends. How is the other OVAM arm – the sustainable management of soil – keeping pace with new evolutions?
“Soil remediation previously was aproblem,plainandsimple.ButbecausespaceinFlandersisbecomingincreas-ingly scarce, another perspective wasneeded. Today we view soil remedia-tionasanopportunitytogiveneglectedsitesanewfunction:forhousing,work-places, for the care sector, as play-ground,thelistgoeson.Soilremedia-tionaslever:basedonthisvision,theway inwhichwehandleourex-officioremediationprojectshasevolvedsub-stantially. We adapt our work to theplans of developers asmuch as possi-ble. It isalsoaquestionofefficiency:whydigthesameholetwice,whenyoucanco-ordinate thediggingwitheachother?OnCompanyOpenDoorDay,wepresented two of these positive sto-ries:theremediationofCarcoke(Zee-brugge)andHoedhaar(Lokeren).”
“For the difficult cases, the so-calledblackfields where the redevelopmentcostexceedsthevalueoftheland,lastyearweestablishedSaninvesttogetherwithFlemishventurecapital companyPMV. This new funding mechanism isintended to help us clean and give anew future to urban eyesores that noone wishes to tackle. The first seriesoftestcaseswillbestartedduringthecomingyear.Wealsowishtofacilitateandacceleratetheremediationeffortsofothersites.Thereare,forexample,companies, government institutionsandorganisationsthatmanagenumer-ous contaminated grounds.With com-pany specific agreements, we offerthemamulti-yearactionplaninwhichthe remediationwork is spreadout intimeandprioritised.Lastyear,wecon-cludedsuchagreementswiththeRoadsandTrafficAgencyandwiththeMinistryofDefence.”
“Another theme close to our heartis thequalityof life inourcities.Forexample, the programme that we es-tablished around the remediation ofgasworksisfocusedonthisaspect.TheEuropeanprojectCityChlorthatwearecoordinating, is seeking solutions tospecific soil remediation needs in cit-
ies,aproblemthatoccurs throughoutEurope.Whatisthetechnicalsolutionto such a complex problem, but also:how should one communicate aboutthis, andwhat types of organisationalefforts are required? These types ofnew methodologies help us to dealmoreefficientlywithurbancontamina-tionandobtainabetterresult.”
Is OVAM well equipped to handle all of these new challenges?
“Itisachallengeinitselftopermeateall of our departments and activitieswith the new philosophy behind thismaterialspolicy.Notonlywithrespectto substance,but also in termsof or-ganisational structure. The switch tomaterials policy demands a change inmentalityatalllevels.Amaterialsap-proach after all, more so than wasteproducts, requires open collaboration– both internal and external. OVAM isstrongly dependent on other sectorsfor realising the objectives related tosustainablematerialsmanagement. In2011,allmanagersfollowedaculturalprogramme to inculcate the new phi-losophyinallbranchesofourorganisa-tion.Overtime,eachOVAMemployeewill follow this cultural programme.Suchachangeinculturewillnottakeplaceovernight.Itwilltaketime.”
“Good governance is a priority in anycase. We are continually working onprovidingefficientandqualityservicesto our target groups. We have sub-scribedtotheFlemishmultiannualpro-gramme ‘Competitive Government’,but also place the same emphaseswithin our own projects. An efficientapproachtoex-officiosoilremediation,therecoveryplanforthesoilremedia-tionsector,optimisationofthemunici-palsurveysrelatedtohouseholdwasteproducts,providingsoilcertificatesandreports indigital formwithMistral ...Thankstoournewplanningandmoni-toringtool,wealsohaveamuchbetterviewoftheprogressofprojects,oftheeffortofpersonnel.Wearealsoration-alising the support processes. We forexample have examined our manage-mentsupportservicesthoroughlywithaviewtowardcostsavings.”
“Ourmaturityscoresshowthatweareon the right track. The Flemish gov-
ernment aims to be among the bestperforming, effective and efficient inallofEuropeby2020.Inthiscontext,allentitiesoftheFlemishgovernmentmustobtainamaturity scoreof threebytheendof2011.OVAMobtainedthisscore across the line, and for a num-ber of themeswe even surpassed thegoals,withascoreoffour.Thisplacedus fifth in the Flemish government, aniceresult.”
OVAM can boast of 30 years of experience. Does history give you confidence as you look into the future?
“Most certainly, I look to the futurewithfullconfidence.Eventhoughtherewill be challenging times. In the pastyears,we laid the foundation for sus-tainable materials management. Nowwe have tomake it happen, togetherwith our partners. In the summer, 30organisationswillconcludetheMateri-alsPactandthuscommitthemselvestoconcreteactions.Ihavenoillusions:atransitionisagradualprocessandthereisstillmuchworktodo,regardingthedevelopmentofourpartnershipandinworkingtogetherwiththesectors.”
“Mymottois:standingstillisthesameas moving backwards, and our driverfor change is societal relevance. Theexpertiseandexperiencethatwehavegained in the last 30 years gives us asolidbasetodeveloptherightsolutionsforthenewissuesoftomorrow.”
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46 companies opened their doors around the theme of ‘Materials in Movement’
Thefestivitiesbeganon2October2011onCompanyOpenDoorDaywith a fo-cusonthethemeof‘MaterialsinMove-ment’.
IntheOVAMofficesinMechelenandattwo of the largest remediation sites,visitorscouldlearnalltherewastoknowabout sustainable materials manage-ment.Nearlyfiftycompaniesparticipat-edandopenedtheirdoorstothegeneralpublic.At the sites ofHoedhaar in Lo-kerenandCarcokeinZeebrugge,visitorssawwiththeirowneyeshowsustainablesoilremediationisexecutedinthefield.OVAMwelcomednolessthan1,500visi-torsatthethreesites.
Intherun-uptoCompanyOpenDoorDayandOVAM’s 30 year celebration, Flem-ishMinisterforEnvironment,NatureandCultureJokeSchauvliegepresentedthe‘MaterialsinMovement’Award.Thejurypraised construction company BeneensandSonsfromOlenfortheintegrationofclosedmaterialcyclesinitsoperations.The audience award went to the VanGansewinkelGroup.Thewasteservicesprovider and raw material and energyproviderfromEvergemstrivestoconvertallwasteproductsbacktorawmaterialsand, inpartnershipwith companies, totakemaximumaccount, already in thedesign phase, of their recycling at theendoftheproductlifecycle.
International congress
‘Howtobuildabridgebetweenthelast30yearsandthecoming30years?’Thiswasthecentralquestionattheinterna-
tionalcongress‘InnovationandPartner-shipinWaste,SoilandMaterials’heldon6October2011.30yearsofwasteandsoil policywas reviewed based on filmfragments and presentations. Togetherwith its partners and 300 attendees,OVAMreflectedonthefutureofwaste,materialsandsoilpolicyinFlanders.
30 years of OVAM in a book
Notthefuture,butthehistoricalback-groundtotheestablishmentofOVAM,isthecentralthemeofthebook‘DeOpen-bare Vlaamse Afvalstoffenmaatschappijin historisch perspectief [OVAM in His-toricalPerspective]’.TorstenFeysoftheInstituteforPublicHistoryatGhentUni-versity sketches the social backgroundand theever-evolvingunderstandingoftheproblemofwasteandsoilcontami-nation.Theresultisawell-writtenbook
that can be downloaded via the OVAMwebsite.
On the occasion of its birthday,OVAM also inaugurated the websitewww.30jaarovam.be. In an interactiveexhibition and timeline, video frag-ments,photos,articlesandtestimonialsofpartnersevokememoriesofthepast30years.Inasingleglance,visitorsareabletoviewthemilestonesinwasteandsoilpolicyofthepast30years.Aworthyhistorical document that makes a linkbetweenthevisionthenandtheinsightsoftoday.
All info: www.30jaarovam.be
For OVAM, 2011 will enter the history books as a pivotal year. OVAM celebrated not only its thirtieth birthday last year, but also the birth of the new Materials Decree, which drastically redefined our approach to waste products and materials. This double birthday was celebrated in style at OVAM with a festive programme featuring many themes close to our heart.
OVAM celebrates its 30th birthday
Fromlefttoright:AnnVanDoren(DirectorofCompanyOpenDoorDay),HennyDeBaets(Administrator-General OVAM), Karel Beneens (Managing Director Beneens and Sons, and laureate of the ‘MaterialsinMovement’Award),WimGeens (GeneralManager of VanGansewinkel, laureate of the ‘Materials inMovementaudienceaward),FlemishMinisterforEnvironment,NatureandCultureJokeSchauvliege,MarcVandenBosch(AdviserFlandersChamberofCommerceandIndustry,ChairmanMINACouncilandChairmanofthe‘MaterialsinMovement’jury)
11Materials are literally the buildingblocks of our society: we need themto live,tocommunicate,totravel, toworkandtorelax.Materials,however,are finite, and growing demand hasdriven prices sky high. Only a greencirculareconomy, inwhichmaterialsare reused, can ensure enough rawmaterialsforthefuture.OVAMtakesupthechallengeandworkstogetherwithdesigners,producers,research-ers and consumers on the sustain-able materials management of to-morrow.
Historic decree gives legal basis to sustainable materials management
Around the table for a green circular economy
Roadmap points the way to the efficient use of raw materials in Europe
Ecodesign.link: new website on sustainable product innovation
New challenge: landfill mining
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Crucial materials will become scarce,and this could happen faster than wethink. Rising raw material prices arealreadydrivingtheproductioncostsforcompanies sky high. Rudy Meeus, De-partment Head ofWaste and MaterialsManagement: “The new Materials De-creeshowshowwecanmeetthesechal-lenges.The startingpoint isno longer:howcanwemanagewasteproductswiththe least amount of damage to peopleand environment? The key question israther, how can we produce, use andconsume materials as efficiently andeffectivelyaspossible.Or:howcanweoptimally manage our material cyclessothatthesematerialscanberecycledpermanently?”
From extraction to disposal
John Wante, Unit Head Policy Innova-tion:“TheMaterialsDecreestartsfroman entirely newpolicy concept.Wherepreviously the focuswasonpreventingwaste and on environmentally friendlymanagement,wewillnowapproachma-terialcycles intheir totality.Thepointof departure is that we view productsacrosstheirentirelifecycle.Thisbeginswiththereclamationorextractionofarawmaterialandonlyendswhenamate-rialisdefinitivelydisposedof.Through-outthisentirecycle,theenvironmentalimpactmustbeassmallaspossible.”
“When,however,canwespeakofarawmaterial?Andwhendoesthisrawmate-rialbecomewaste?TheMaterialsDecreedefinesclearcriteriaforthis.Thedecreealsoconfirmsthematerialsmanagementhierarchy that Flanders hasmaintainedfor years concerning waste products.Prevention and reuse are given prior-ity over recycling.Material recycling ispreferabletohigh-yieldenergyapplica-tions.The latter in turnarepreferabletolowenergyefficiencyincinerationandlandfilling.Newisthefactthatproduc-ers are given broader responsibility. Inaddition to the acceptance obligationforwasteproducts,producerscannowalso be held responsible in other waysfortherecyclingorwasteprocessingoftheir product, for the sustainability oftheir design and production process”,saysJohnWante.
Living instrument
Paralleltothedecree,theFlemishgov-ernment approved the new VLAREMAimplementing order at the beginningof 2012. The decree and implement-ingorderwillcomeintoforceon1June2012. “VLAREMA replaces the earlierVLAREAandcontainsdetailedprovisionson(special)wasteproducts,rawmateri-als, selective collection, transport, theregistrationobligationandtheextendedproducer responsibility”, explains JohnWante.“Theorderisalivinginstrument,whichwillbegraduallyadaptedwhenthepractice of materials management re-vealsnewneeds.”
Innovativematerialspolicyrequiresmorethan regulation and levies, emphasisesJohn Wante. “Transition networks andprojectsinwhichcompanies,community-basedorganisationsandknowledgeinsti-
tutionsparticipate,areequallyessential.TheMaterialsDecreemakespossibletheindependence of Plan C.This transitionnetwork aims to make possible, via di-verse experiments and initiatives, con-cretebreakthroughstowardasustainablematerialssociety,andsoonplaceFlandersontheEuropeanmapasgreeneconomy.”
Download the brochure on the decree Sustainable Materials Management viawww.ovam.be/materialenbeleid
The new Materials Decree was ratified on 23 December 2011. The new decree ensures the young discipline of materials management a firm foundation in Flanders. Our approach to waste products and materials has thus been radically redefined.
Historic decree gives legal basis to sustainable materials management
4 spearheads of the new Materials Decree
Thenewdecree:1. Laysthefoundationfor
betterclosingthematerialcyclesinFlanders;
2. Makespossibleagreenpurchasingpolicyonthepartofgovernment;
3. GivesagreenlighttoPlanC,acooperativeventurebetweencompanies,knowledgeinstitutions,societalorganisationsandgovernmentagencies;
4. Closesthedooronexportingunsortedwasteabroad,whichcanhaveaharmfuleffectonFlanders'sownprocessingindustry.
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The ViA theme of Sustainable Materi-alsManagementisbeinggivenformviathreepillarsthatreinforceeachother:PlanC, an action programmeand theSustainable Materials ManagementCentre.
1. How will we be dealing with mate-rials in 2050? Thisisthekeyques-tionaddressedinPlanC,alearningnetworkaroundsustainablemateri-alsmanagementthatbringstogeth-er innovators fromall segmentsofsociety.Togethertheyaredevelop-ing a long-term vision and settingupinnovativeexperiments.
2. Shifting to a higher gear.Atamoreoperational level, a steering com-mitteeofpublicandprivateactorsisdevelopingtheFlemishMaterialsProgramme in a participative pro-cess. This is intended to quickenthechangetosustainablematerialsmanagement.
3. On 1 January 2012, the Sustain-able Materials Management Centre started operations. In the comingfour years it will be investigatingthe economic, policy and societalpreconditionsthatmustbefulfilledtorealisethetransitiontoamateri-al-efficientcirculareconomy.
Materials are strategically important to Flanders. Hence, the Flemish government has made sustainable materials management one of the thirteen major societal challenges within its Flanders in Action (ViA) programme. With OVAM as conductor, Flanders intends to belong to the European hit parade by 2020.
Around the table for a green circular economy
First Sustainable Materials Management round table
On6June2011,Flanderstookasymbolicstepinthetransitiontosustainablematerials management with a first Sustainable Materials Management roundtablediscussion.33organisationsfromgovernment,industry,researchandcom-munity-basedorganisationscommittedthemselvestoworktogethertodevelopinoneyear’stimeanambitiousprogrammewithadequatesupport.ThisplandescribesveryconcretelytheincentivesandactionsneededtoplaceFlandersontheSustainableMaterialsManagementmapby2020.Tobecontinued,be-causeatasecondroundtabletobeheldon6June2012,OVAManditspartnerswillpresentthisprogramme.Thisatthesametimewillbethestartsignaltobeginimplementationofthesemeasures.
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OVAMandresearchcentreVITOarenostrangers.Theyhavebeenworkingto-gether foryears in thefieldofwasteandsoilmanagement.Thispartnershiphas received a new dynamism withthe signingbyFlemishministers JokeSchauvliege (Environment) and IngridLieten (Innovation) of the new stra-tegic agreement between OVAM andVITO. Object of the agreement: in-creasing eco-efficiency and eco-inno-vationintheFlemishbusinessworld.
Tandem
Both partners will be executing pro-jects together and improving coordi-nation. While the enhanced collabo-rationbetweenVITOandOVAMisstillin the start phase, there are alreadya number of concrete initiatives un-derway within the framework of thenewagreement. Illustrative of this isthedevelopmentoftheOVAMEcolizer2.0, forwhich VITO provided the ba-sicscientificdata.OVAMandVITOalsoworked together on Company OpenDoor Day.Together, they presented a
documentaryonSustainableMaterialsManagement that attracted consider-ableinterestatbothlocations.
Eco-efficiency scan with follow-up
Anotherexample: the recentupgrad-ing of the eco-efficiency scans tai-loredtotheinterestedsectors,whichcompanies can have performed freeofcharge.Suchascanexamineshowcompanies can improve their perfor-mance economically as well as eco-
logically.Thecompanyreceivesa listwith possibilities for improvement,withwhichitcanthengotowork.Nowitcanalsooptforasubsidisedfollow-upphase,withconcreterecommenda-tionsonspecificmeasuresbyVITO.In2011,theshiprepairsectoraswellaschocolateandbiscuitcompaniescouldregister for the programme. Othersectorswillbeeligiblein2012.
Making the economy thoroughly sustainable: a commitment that OVAM cannot realise alone. For this reason, it is bundling its experience with the expertise of the other materials expert, VITO. A strategic cooperation agreement was signed on 4 May 2011.
OVAM and VITO to work together to implement green circular economy
“OVAM and VITO also worked together
on Company Open Door Day. Together,
they presented a documentary on
Sustainable Materials Management” HennyDeBaets(OVAM)andDirkFransaer(VITO)signthecooperationagreementinthepresence
ofFlemishMinisterforEnvironment,NatureandCultureJokeSchauvliegeandFlemishMinisterforInnovationIngridLieten.
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WiththeMemorandumofUnderstand-ing,OVAMandKECOformallyagreetoorganise a biennial workshop, to beheld alternately in Mechelen and inSeoul.At this forum and during com-panyvisits,bothpartieswillexchangeknowledge and information related tothesustainablemanagementofwaste,materialsandsoil.
Danny Wille: “The world economy isshifting unmistakably in the directionof Asia. Flanders may not miss thisboat.Withthismemorandumofunder-standing,weare raisingFlemishman-agement of waste, materials and soilto an international level. In KECOwe
havefoundanexceptionallyinterestingpartnerthatcansmooththewaytotheAsian market for Flemish companies.Flemishcompaniesinthewasteandsoilsectorareamongthebestintheworld.TheirexpertiseiswidelysoughtintheemergingeconomiesofAsia.Hencethispartnershipopensupmanyopportuni-ties. Important here is that the part-nersarecollaboratingonanequalfoot-ing and that both Flanders and SouthKorea are able to reap the benefits”,emphasisesDannyWille.“FortheSouthKoreans, it is importanttounderstandourvisiononwasteproductsandmate-rials,andgaininsightintotheEuropeanregulationsonproducerresponsibility.”
South Korea is a global manufacturerof electric and electronic consumergoods, and is eager for its productiontobemoreenvironmentallyfriendly.
Danny Wille: “Both KECO and OVAMstriveforsustainableconsumptionandproduction.LikeFlanders,andEuropein general, South Korea has experi-enced strong industrialisation and isfaced with an increasing shortage ofrawmaterials.Thuswearefacingsimi-larsocietalproblems,andgreatercol-laborationisalogicalstep.”
At the end of last year, OVAM and Korean Environment Corporation (KECO) – OVAM’s peer in South Korea – signed a Memorandum of Understanding. Danny Wille, General Manager of OVAM: “In KECO, we have found an equal partner that can open up the Asian continent to Flemish companies.”
OVAM and Korean KECO join hands
GroupphotoafterthesigningoftheMemorandumofUnderstanding
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Europe is faced with a twofold task:stimulating growth to create jobs andwell-beingforitscitizens,andensuringthatthisgrowthdoesnotendangerthesustainable futureofourchildrenandgrandchildren. For Europe’s economyto sustainably grow, its entire societymustfundamentallychange:energy,in-dustry,transport,consumerbehaviour,technology...
The Roadmap to a resource-efficientEurope shows how we can transformthesechallengesintoopportunities.
Charging for pollution and the use of raw materials
“The roadmap takes a broad view”,says Mieke De Schoenmakere, UnitHeadPolicyTeamEuropeatOVAM.Theroadmapindeeddoesnotspeakmerelyof reducing the use of rawmaterials,but also urges a more fundamentalrevolution inthewayweproduceandconsume.Governmentsmust shift thetaxburden from labour tocontamina-tion and the use of resources. Pricesneed to reflect the real costs of theuse of raw materials, including thecostsforenvironmentandhealth.Thisshouldstimulatecompaniestoinvestineco-innovationandecodesign,whichinturnwillpromptconsumerstopurchasesustainableproducts.
Cross-border collaboration
Hugedifferencesinwasteandmateri-alspolicyexistamongEuropeancoun-tries.While a country such asGreecestill disposes of the lion’s share of itswaste in landfills, Flanders recycles80%of itswaste. Somecountries thushavemuchworktodoinrealisingtheturnaroundtowardaresource-efficientEurope.MiekeDeSchoenmakere:“Yet,the benefits are enormous: by pro-cessingdemolitionwaste intobuildingmaterial,forexample,thesavingsarehuge. While our country has alreadytakensuchstepstodealmoresustain-ably with resources, we’re not thereyet. Resource efficiency after all, in-cludesmorethanthis.Iseeheremanyopportunitiesforcross-bordercollabo-ration, such as that which is alreadytakingplacetodayintheEuropeanC2Cnetwork.”
Transition to resource-efficient Europe
Inthepastyears,OVAMhasbeenabletoput itsexpertiseandexperiencetogooduseinthepolicypreparationsfortheroadmap.DuringtheBelgianpresi-dencyof theEuropeanUnion in2010,theFlemishRegionplaced sustainablematerials policy high on the agenda.Andnowthattheroadmapexists,OVAMis determined to continue topush forchange. “The European Commissionwill prepare appropriate policy andlegislativeproposalsto implementtheplan. Member States, however, musttakeactionatcountrylevel.Thismeanstakingnewmeasuresaroundthemoreefficientuseofresources,witheffortsfromthebusinessworldandcontribu-tionsonthepartofconsumers.Andthisis preciselywhatwearenowworkinghardoninFlanders”,concludesMiekeDeSchoenmakere.
On 20 September 2011, the European Commission presented its roadmap to make the efficient use of resources standard throughout Europe by 2050.
Roadmap points the way to the efficient use of raw materials in Europe
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Together with nine other European or-ganisations, last year OVAM completedtheInterregIVCproject‘CradletoCradleNetwork’ (C2CN). The project’s finale,however,wasbynomeansthelastword.
Instead of merely limiting waste andemissions,itismuchbettertoclosetheentireresourcecycle.Thisistheessenceof Cradle to Cradle (C2C): the gradualshiftfromeco-efficiencytoeco-efficacy.But isC2Cmore thana smartconcept?Howtointroduceit in industry,thede-sign world, the building sector, in spa-tialplanning?Andwhatchallengesdoesthis entail? Ten European organisationsareconvincedofthepowerofC2C,andshowedeachotherhowtheyeffectivelyimplementedinpracticeaconceptthathasbeendiscussedextensively.Fortwoyears, the ‘Cradle to Cradle Network’was a fascinating web of active C2Cactors, who exchanged inspiring casestudies.
Intelligent links
Buthowcanalloftheseideasresult ingreatereco-efficacyforFlemishcompa-nies?Lastyear,OVAMorganisedFlemishC2Cconsultations.AbroadandanimateddiscussionwiththeFlemishactorsontheresults of C2CN yielded an action planand a Flemish policy framework. Thegoal: to foster C2C actions in Flemishpolicy and the business world. What isOVAMplanningwithrespecttoC2C?
Walter Tempst, Project Manager PolicyInnovationatOVAM:“TheEuropeannet-workhassupplieduswitharangeofC2Cpossibilities, including not only techno-logicalinnovations,butalsonewformsofcooperation, processes and procedures.Bestpracticesareusuallycontextspecif-ic,meaningthata‘copy-paste’approachisgenerallynotpossible.Forthisreason,OVAMmadean intelligent linkbetweenFlemish projects already underway andtwo best practices from the network.OneprojectaimsatthebetterandmoresustainableuseofmaterialsinSMEsusingmaterialscans.Thesecondprojectcon-cernssettingupaplatformaroundwastestreams. The source of inspiration: theplatformcreatedbytheBritishNationalIndustrialSymbiosisProgramme(NISP).”
Practical guide
ToshiftC2C intoahighergear inFlan-ders,however,more isneededthan in-dividualprojects.“Wewishtostructur-allyincludeeco-efficacyintopolicyandthebusinessworld.Theactorstogetherdeveloped a policy framework, in facta practical guidewith reference pointsfor thosewhowish to takeaction.C2Cin education, knowledge developmentandfinancingarebutafewoftherec-ommendations.” To keep the Europeaninterchange alive, OVAM is presentlystudyingwaysinwhichtheC2Cnetworkcanbemadepermanentandembeddedinmaterialspolicy.
Identikit C2C Network
Period:2010-2011
C2CNetworkprojectpartners:ProvinceofLimburg(NL),OVAM(BE),Metropoli-tanMilanDevelopmentAgency(IT),DepartmentforEconomicandTourismDevelopmentoftheCityofGraz(AT),ARDIRegionalAgencyforDevelopmentandInnovationDesignCenter(FR),KanuunEtuLtd(FI),West-Transdan-ubianRegionalDevelopmentAgency(WTRDA)(HU),SuffolkCountyCouncil(UK),North-EastRegionalDevelopmentAgency(RO),GovernmentOfficeforDevelopmentandEuropeanAffairs(SI)
Budget:€2,479,234,ofwhich€1,905,167wasfinancedbyEurope.
www.c2cn.eu
“It is much better to close the entire resource cycle.
This is the essence of Cradle to Cradle (C2C): the
gradual shift from eco-efficiency to eco-efficacy”
European network results in Flemish C2C plan
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By taking account of the environmen-tal impact, and examining the entirelife cycle of the product (or service),designers can limit to aminimum theenvironmental burdenof their design.Ecodesign is high on OVAM’s agenda,and has already resulted in many re-markableinitiatives.Thedevelopmentof Ecolizer and Ecolizer 2.0, the or-ganisationoftheEcodesignAwardsforprofessional designers and students,conducting studies, and organisingworkshopsonecodesign:expertiseandexperiencehasgrownyearafteryear.This treasuretroveof informationhasnow been brought together on theEcodesign.linkwebsite.
All the target groups in the produc-tionchaincanconsultthewebsiteforaclearoverviewofallOVAMtoolsandknowledgearoundecodesign.Thesiteaims to inform organisations and de-
signers, but also to raise awarenessandfacilitatetheirworkaroundecode-sign.Atthesametime,Ecodesign.linkisthemotorforengaginginnewformsofcollaboration,conductinginnovativeresearchandsettinguppilotprojects.Hence,astronglinkwiththeneedsof,and feedback from, the target groupsisvital.Andthesiteattemptstoreal-isethis,amongothersviaanecodesigngrouponsocialnetworksiteLinkedIn.
Sustainable business
Also new is the ‘OVAM Sustainable In-novationSystemToolkit’.TheOVAMSISToolkit is an instrument to stimulatesustainable innovation and ecodesign,withinacompanyorwithinthedesignprocessofaspecificproduct.
The toolkit emerged from requests inthefield.Designersandcompaniesindi-catedarealneedforconcreteinforma-tiononsustainableproductinnovation:
notonlyconcerningtheenvironmentalimpactofproducts,butalsotoobtaininsight into the other advantages ofecodesign, including thefinancial,hu-man, social, natural and intellectualaspects. In addition, designers werealsolookingforadviceconcerninghowtocommunicatealloftheseadvantag-es,andhowtonegotiatewiththecli-entorthecommissioningauthorityfortheir project. Generally the financialaspecthastoppriority.WiththeOVAMSIS Toolkit, designers and companiesnow have a tool withwhich they canverifythattheirdesignmeetstheam-bitionandtheneedsoftheirclientatall possible levels: environment, com-pany,user,society.
OVAM is presently developing a pro-gramme to distribute the OVAM SISToolkit.
www.ovam.be/ecodesignlink
17 January 2012 was the official opening of the OVAM Ecodesignlink.be website. Here designers, educational institutions, entrepreneurs and companies can find information and instruments related to sustainable product innovation.
Ecodesign.link: new website on sustainable product innovation
“Ecodesign.link is the motor for engaging in new
forms of collaboration, conducting innovative
research, and setting up pilot projects. A strong
link with the needs of and feedback from the target
groups is vital”
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There are 1,700 old landfills spreadout across Flanders. It is estimatedthat half of thesewould contain use-ablematerials.Thesecanberecuper-atedor,iftherecyclingofmaterialsisnotpossible,usedtogenerateenergy.Thisapplication iscalledLandfillMin-ing(LFM).
What are the advantages of LFM?
Eddy Wille, LFM Project Coordinator:“Until recently, a landfill had a dis-tinctlynegativeconnotation.Giventheimpactonenvironmentandspace,thepractice of landfilling waste has beenincreasinglyabandonedduringthepastdecades.WithLFM,weturnthisvisionaround: how canwemake use of ex-istinglandfillsandmakethemcompat-iblewithourprimaryneedsconcerningspace,drinkablewaterandmaterials?”
Luk Umans, LFM Project Manager: “LFM is also viewed from a differentperspective.Whiletheremightbema-terials that cannot be recuperated orrecycled today, thismightbepossiblein the future. Soperhapsamore sus-tainableoptionistoonlyminecertainlandfillswhenthetechnologyexiststoproducehigh-gradeproductsfrom‘dif-ficult’ waste, instead of mining themtodaywhen they can only be used toproduce energy. From this point ofview, landfills are actually the store-housesoftomorrow.”
Eddy Wille: “In the present societaldebate, a tension exists between theimminent shortage of energy and theneedformaterials.Itisnotinconceiv-able that in the future, the materialshortagewillobtaintheupperhand.”
What role does OVAM aim to play?
Luk Umans: “LFM is a relatively newconcept,oneforwhichlittleexpertiseexists, also at international level. Forthis reasonwewish,togetherwithallplayers, to develop a long-term per-spective.OVAMaimstobethepioneer,toinvestigatetogetherwithstakehold-ershowwecanmakeoptimumuseoflandfills. InMay 2011,OVAM launchedaworkshop on LFM.More than eightyexperts from Belgium and abroadsearchedforpossiblepathstoafutureforLFM.”
Eddy Wille: “The fact that OVAM ex-pectsmuchfromLFMisalsoreflectedin the vision statement and the pro-ject structure proposal approved bythe OVAM board at the end of 2011.Thefirsttask:obtainingabetterviewofthepotentialforlandfills.Arethereexploitable waste products present,andisitfeasibletominethem?WewilltheninvestigatetheLFMpossibilitiesinanumberofpilotprojectslinkedtoex-officio remediation operations at oldlandfills.Thiswillallowustogetafeelfortheconcept.”L
Presentations and the report of the workshop can be viewed at www.ovam.be (keyword LFM).
A landfill is no longer the final stage, but rather a source of materials and energy. In 2011, OVAM further unravelled the concept of Landfill Mining (LFM), or the extraction of resources from old landfills. In the coming year, it will be looking for international partners to set up a research programme together.
New challenge: landfill mining
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Public transport, education, culture,climate ... A city's quality of life hasmultipleaspects,nottheleastofwhichis theenvironment.OVAMcontributesto healthy cities, cities inwhich it isgoodtoliveandwork.
Soil contamination in the city requires ingenious approach
Hoedhaar site in Lokeren demonstrates sustainable remediation
Soil remediation colours greener
CityChlor finds European answer to urban pollution
Aalst, Mechelen and Kortrijk test new type of partnership with OVAM
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Soilremediationinanurbansettingisoften a precarious undertaking. Pol-lutants are often present in city gar-dens,inaninnercourtyard,evenunderbuildings. In these cases, the tradi-tional excavation techniques provideno solution. “In cities, the process ofsoil remediation must push back itsboundaries”, says Anke Debeuf, FileCoordinator for Remediation Projectsand Disposals. “Remediation workersareusually required toemployanon-siteremediationtechnique.Theymustalsotakeaccountoftheresidents:pro-tractednoiseandvisualhindrancemustbekepttoaminimum.Forthisreason,insuchcases,innovationshouldbeen-couragedasmuchaspossible.”
Eddy Wille, Department Head Inter-ventions, Disposals and Remediations:“OVAM’s resolute choice to encourage
innovationfitsperfectlyintheFlemishandEuropeanpolicypicture.Stimulat-ing new soil remediation techniquesisoneof thespearheads in thepolicydocument of Flemish Minister for En-vironment, Nature and Culture, JokeSchauvliege. Moreover, innovation isoneofthepillarsofFlandersinAction,the programme that aims at injectinginnovationintotheFlemishknowledgeeconomy.”
Tip of the iceberg
ManycontaminatedgroundsinFlemishcitycentresareinhabited.Theseoftenarethesitesoffactoriesthathavelongsince disappeared, and whose preciselocationisunknown.Sincecontamina-tionintheseresidentialareascanen-tail risks, OVAM actively searches for
thesesites.Itdoessobyconductingin-ventorystudies itself,andbysupport-ingcitiesandmunicipalitiesinprepar-ingthemunicipalinventory.OVAMtheninitiatessoilsurveysontheidentified,potentially contaminated residentialareas,inordertogiveresidentsaviewof the quality of their soil. Some 600families benefited from this approachin2011.
Competition with jury
In2011,OVAMtestedseveralinnovativemethodson contaminated siteswhereremediation using the standardmeth-ods appeared to be impossible. Thisinnovationalreadybeginswiththepro-curement process. For remediation ofa site contaminated with organochlo-ridesat Sint-Laureisstraat inAntwerp,
Contaminated grounds saddle residents not only with health risks, but the needed soil remediation work often also entails nuisance. The good news: such a precarious situation can be the ideal breeding ground for ingenuity. This was demonstrated by OVAM in 2011 with a handful of successful remediation operations.
Soil contamination in the city requires ingenious approach
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OVAM took inspiration from the build-ingsector.Peter Nagels,StaffMemberInterventions, Disposals and Remedia-tions:“Inordertoattractasmanyre-mediation companies as possible, theprocurement process was in the formofacontest. Ina‘performancespeci-fication’, OVAM established only theremediationgoals.Thetenderingpartyitselfdecideshowthiswillactuallybedone. A jury with representatives ofOVAM and experts from the scientificworldjudgedtheproposals.Whilethisisacommonprocedureforconstructionprojects,itwasapremiereforex-offi-ciosoilremediationprojects.”
Eddy Wille: “Our country has a clearneed for innovative remediation tech-niques for contamination with VOCl,chlorinated solvents. Flemish compa-nies made diverse project proposalsbased on their own investigations orexperiencesabroad.Thisresultedinamultitude of innovative ideas relatedto soil testing as well as remediationtechnology.”
High-tech scan
This innovation could also be seen inthesoilremediationworkitself.Thus,thoroughgoing selective demolitiontechniques are increasingly being ap-pliedwhen dismantling and demolish-ing buildings. In Lokeren, the use ofan innovativemeasurement techniqueallowed the demolition to be donemore efficiently and more rationally.
Kathleen de Muer, Project ManagerEx-officioRemediations:“Forthedem-olition of the factory buildings at theHoedhaarsiteinLokeren,weidentifiedallthewasteproductsonthegrounds.Samplesgaveusinsightintothelevelofcontaminationofwalls,ceilings,floorsandotherinertmaterialsinthebuild-ings.We alsomade use of a portableXRFunitthatanalysesinlessthanoneminutewhether the soil or a buildingcontainsheavymetals.Thisallowsthecontractor to performmultiple scans,andthusarriveatamoredetailedviewofthecontamination.Armedwiththisinformation, the demolition could bedone inamoretargetedway,withoutmixing clean and contaminated build-ingrubble.”
In a built-on environment, excavationis also not always self-evident. Anke Van Noyen,ProjectManagerEx-officioRemediation: “At a former bus depotinBrecht,anundergroundstoragetankhadbeguntoleak.Themineraloilhadseepedintothegroundunderthepub-licroad,rightnexttoablockofflats.Wewereunabletousetraditionalexca-vationtechniquessincethegroundwasa tangle of cabling and pipes. More-over, the operation contained risks tothestabilityoftheapartmentbuilding.Thusweneededtofindanalternativeremediation method.” This presenteditselfintheformofasoilvacuumthatsucks up contaminated ground via ahose. “The advantage? The vacuumhose is very flexible and thus is alsocapable of excavating soil in difficult
toreachspacesoringroundscontain-ingmanyobstacles.”Agroundbreakingtechnology that allowed the remedia-tionworktobecompletedsafely.
Poisonous cocktail
Inthepast,amajorfiredevastatedthesiteofsolventprocessingfirmBiochimin Machelen.A highly poisonous cock-tailofthousandsoflitresofchemicalsenteredthesoilandthegroundwater.For the remediation of this complexand hazardous contamination, OVAMconducted a number of tests: on-sitevacuumextractionandselectiveexca-vationinaclosedenvironment.Tothisend,OVAMappliedforthefirsttimethecatalyticoxidation technique.Katrien Van de Wiele,ProjectManagerBrown-fields: “The contractor constructed atemporary hangar over the contami-nated ground inwhich the air qualitywascontinuouslymeasured,extractedand ventilated. The extremely highlevelsofcontaminationandtheassoci-ated danger of explosion necessitatedspecialsafetyandhealthmeasures.Forthisreason,duringtheexcavationandtransportwork,thezonecouldonlybeenteredbythosewearingacompressedair breathing apparatus. The harm-fulgasesreleasedwiththeexcavationwere incinerated immediatelyattem-peraturesbetween350°and500°.ThisprocessisuniqueintheFlemishsoilre-mediationsector,andinthefuturewillbeappliedagaintootherremediationoperations.”
From1900to1960,theanimalhairpro-cessing firm NV Hoedhaar in the cen-tre of Lokeren processed rabbit skinsforthehatindustry.Mercurywasusedtodetachthehair fromtheskin.Thissubstanceseeped intotheground,re-sulting in far-reaching contamination.The site layuntouched for years.Thestartof soil remediationwork in2011heralded the turnabout for this urbancancer.
Solar energy
In this remediationproject,OVAMde-molishedthebuildingsoftheoldcom-pany, removed the asbestos, and ap-plied chemical cleaning techniques tothe demolition waste. The old wasteproductswere given a new life as filland foundationmaterial or theywere
used togenerateenergy.All activitiesat the Hoedhaar site were fully pow-ered by solar energy and the site of-ficeswereheatedwithapelletstove.Thegreenenergy isusednotonly forallelectricaldevicesintheshed–fromcoffeemaker to computers – but alsoforlighting.
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Removing the contamination is one thing. Contemporary remediation, however, aims at much more: tailoring the work to the future intended use of the site, minimising the ecological footprint, involving disciplines such as archaeology, allowing people living in the vicinity to inspect the work ... At the Hoedhaar site in Lokeren, such a sustainable remediation project laid the foundation for a new, green residential site.
Hoedhaar site in Lokeren demonstrates sustainable remediation
Performance specification
Theremediationprojectwasunusualalreadyfromthestart.Forthefirsttime,thetenderforthegreenenergycomponentwasintheformofaperformancespecificationthatverypreciselydescribedtheintendedresultoftheremedia-tionwork.Ifthetenderingpartyfailstomeettheobjective,afinewillbeim-posed.Vincent KindtofOVAM:“Weforexamplestatedthatapartofthesitemustrunonrenewableenergyduringtheday,withoutsayinghowthecontrac-tormustgeneratethisenergy.Thegoalistoenhancethecreativityinthesoilremediationsectorbygivingtheremediationcompaniesthefreedomtopursueinnovativesolutions.”
SolarpanelsprovideenergytotheHoedhaarsiteinLokeren
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“Over time, the dilapidated buildings
and contaminated grounds will make
way for an attractive residential site, with
much attention for green spaces”
Sustainable remediation, however,goesfurtherthangreenenergy.Intelli-gentremediationavoids,forexample,double and thus redundant excava-tionwork,whichalsobenefitsthesur-roundings.“Hoedhaarisagoodexam-pleofanintegratedproject”,explainsVincent Kindt,UnitHeadRemediationProjects and Interventions. “Therewas the soil remediation work, andthere was the construction project,and bothwere optimally coordinatedwitheachother. Integratingremedia-tion and redevelopment allows us tosavetimeandresources.”
Thesustainableapproachtothereme-diationworkwill also be extended tothefinalintendeduseoftheHoedhaarsite.Overtime,thedilapidatedbuild-ings and contaminated grounds willmakewayforanattractiveresidentialsite, with much attention for greenspaces,wherepleasantliving,bicyclingand hiking will be possible. Theworkwillstartin2012.
Future plans
Let this be clear: with this new ap-proach to remediation, OVAM standswithbothfeetsquarelyplantedinsoci-ety.Thepublicisalsoinvolved.Forthisreason,theHoedhaarsitewasopenedtothegeneralpubliconCompanyOpenDoorDayheldinOctober2011.Visitorsreceived an explanation of the reme-diationwork and the future plans forthesite.Ascalemodel,themasterplanand a number of images of what thesitewill looklikeinthefuturegaveafirstglimpseofthesite’snewuse.
All of this ensures that the remedia-tion of the Hoedhaar site is broadly
supported. Three local partners areworking together with an integratedapproach to the project: the City ofLokeren,whichwishes toupgradethelargeareaaroundthesite, Interwaas,whichisownerofmostofthegrounds,andOVAM,whichishandlingthereme-diationwork.
Gallo-Roman farmhouse
OVAMworkedtogetherwithateamofarchaeologists during the remediationof the Hoedhaar site. During the ex-cavation work, they encountered theremains of a Gallo-Roman farmhousefromthesecondorthirdcentury.Col-laborationalsotookplacewiththelo-cal historical circle. In the twentiethcentury,Lokerenwastheworldcentreof animal hair processing, an industrythatputthecityontheeconomicmapand constitutes part of its collectivememory.TheobjectsfoundduringtheremediationworkareondisplaytodayattheLokerenCityMuseum.
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More sustainable remediation, thismeans:ensuring lowerCO2emissions,using renewable energy and the sus-tainableuseofmaterials.Buthowdoyou colour a soil remediation projectgreener?AttherequestofOVAM,VITObundled the existing insights on thelifecycleanalysisofasoilremediationproject.Life-cycleanalysisorLCAisaninternationallystandardisedmethodtothemapouttheenvironmentalimpactofaproductorprocess.Thegoalwastoobtainanoverviewofsustainablere-mediationvariantsandtheirimpactontheenvironment.OVAMnowwishestointegratetheseinsightsintotheexist-ingevaluationcriteriaforsoilremedia-tionprojects.
BATNEEC
When assessing a remediation tech-niqueinaspecificsoilremediationpro-ject,OVAMweighsthecostsandbene-fitsaccordingtotheBATNEECprinciples(BestAvailableTechniquesNotEntailingExcessiveCosts).Thisassessmenttakes
account of the technical criteria, thecostpriceandthelocalimpactontheenvironment. Especially the effect ofthe remediation on soil quality, emis-sionsofharmfulsubstancesandtheuseofrawmaterialsaretakenintoconsid-eration.
CO2emissionsduetotheuseofenergyandrawmaterialsarealsoanimportant(global)environmentaleffectofasoilremediationproject.Untilnow,noac-counthasbeentakenofthisintheBAT-NEECassessment.Forthisreason,VITOandOVAMtogetherwentinsearchofacalculationtool todeterminetheCO2footprintofaremediationproject.Theresearch centremade an inventory oftheavailabletoolsandexaminedwhichonesweremost suitable for Flanders.Comparing the total CO2 footprint ofdifferentremediationvariantsenablesustodeterminewhichisthemostCO2friendly.
Calculator sheds light
After translation to the Flemish con-text, theaim isalso to integrate theCO2 tool in theBATNEECassessment.CO2 emissions then become just oneof the elements that determine thechoice of a remediation variant. Thecalculator also sheds light on whichprocesseswithinaremediationvariantemithighlevelsofCO2.Theycanthenbe replacedby lowercarbonalterna-tives.
Lorries entering and leaving, excavators digging up contaminated soil, drills in action: soil remediation is often a radical and energy guzzling task. Can it be done in a more environmentally friendly way? OVAM together with VITO studied how we can reduce the ecological footprint of remediation projects.
Soil remediation colours greener
“More sustainable remediation, this
means: ensuring lower CO2 emissions, using renewable energy and the sustainable use of
materials”
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ChlorinatedsolventsorVOClswerefre-quentlyusedinthepastasasolventforgreasesandoilsinprinters,drycleaningoperationsandfillingstations.Tacklingcontaminationwiththesesubstancesindenselypopulatedareasandlargecit-iesisnotaneasytask.AllEuropeancit-ies are confrontedwith this problem.Forthisreason,in2009,ninepartnersfrom Flanders, Germany, the Nether-lands and France – with support fromthe European Interreg IVB programme–bundled forces in theexchangepro-ject CityChlor. “For Flanders, in ad-dition to OVAM, the cities of MortselandGhentarealsoparticipating”,saysProjectManager Veerle Labeeuw. “IntheNetherlands,Bodem+andthemu-nicipalityofUtrechtareparticipating.France is represented by INERIS andADEME. ITVA and LandeshauptstadtStuttgart are the German partners.Professional associations, experts andremediationfundsarealsoinvolvedintheproject.”CityChlorcoversaperiodof 3.5 years and has a budget of 5.2millioneuro.
Practical manuals
With anextensive study of the litera-ture,localpilotprojects,andtargetedstudies, CityChlor assembled knowl-edge and techniques for cleaning upcontaminated sites in urban environ-ments.Allofthisaccumulatedinforma-tionwasanalysedandbundledin2011.VeerleLabeeuw:“Wewillbeapplyingthis knowledge in 2012 to adapt theexisting codes of good practice. Thiswillresultinasetofpracticalmanualsthatwewillpresentatourcongressin2013.”
Theacquisitionofknowledgecontinuesunabated in themeantime.OVAM, forexample,isinvestigatingwhethergeo-thermal energy storage is feasible asremediationtechnique.Asecondstudyexaminedthesystematiccostoverrunsin remediation projects around VOClin the last 15 years, and formulatedrecommendations toavoid faultyesti-matesinthefuture.
Pilot projects
Three pilot projects were launchedin Flanders in 2011. In a large-scalesurvey, Ghent University collectedknowledgeon riskcommunicationandperception inremediationprojects. In2012,thesewillresultinrecommenda-tionsonthebestwaytocommunicateonaremediationproject.Twosoilre-mediationexpertsinturntesteddiffer-ent innovativeassessment techniques,with varying degrees of success. If atechnique appears to be successful, acode of good practice is drawn up sothat the methodology can be appliedelsewhereinthefuture.
Identikit CityChlor
Funding:InterregIVBprogrammeNorth-WestEurope
Participants:OVAM,CityofMortselandCityofGhent(Flanders);Bodem+andtheMunicipalityofUtrecht(theNeth-erlands);INERISandADEME(France),ITVAandLandeshauptstadtStuttgart(Germany)
Otherpartners:professionalassocia-tions,expertsandremediationfunds
Period:3.5years
Budget:5.2millioneuro,halfofwhichisbeingfundedbyEurope.
www.citychlor.eu
Cities throughout Europe are faced with soil or groundwater contamination with chlorinated solvents. The European cooperation project CityChlor exchanged knowledge on remediation techniques and joined forces in setting up pilot projects. The goal? To design a state-of-the-art methodology for tackling this difficult soil remediation problem in cities.
CityChlor finds European answer to urban pollution
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The fact that Flemish waste policyis among the best in Europe is largelythankstotheclosecooperationbetweenOVAM and the Flemish cities, munici-palities and intermunicipal groupings.Adirect linkalsoexistsbetweenthesegroupswith respect to soil contamina-tion. Local authorities, however, aresometimes still confronted with prob-lemsanddevelopprojects thatcannotbe included within the available pro-grammes: litter, urban eyesores, plansfor new city neighbourhoods ... Forthesespecificissues,problemareasandprojects,OVAMwouldliketoprovideanewformofsupport,tailoredtoacityormunicipality.
Danny Wille,GeneralManagerofOVAM:“Inthislearningphase,wearedevelop-ing a custompartnershipwith a seriesofmunicipalities.ThisOVAMpartnershipbundlespresentcasesandnewprojects,but also ideas for the future.There isacentralpointofcontactatOVAMforeach municipality who coordinates allprojects within the partnership. Wemeetwith the local government everythreemonthstoreviewtheprogressofallprojectsandongoingcases,butalsotodiscussnewideasandbottlenecks.”
Learning phase to 2013
FromaruralmunicipalitysuchasBertemto a large city like Ghent orAntwerp,from Limburg to West Flanders: themunicipalities OVAM selected based ontheprioritiescontainedinthematerialsandsoilpolicyareasamplingofFlem-ishcitiesandmunicipalities.On10June2011,OVAMinvitedthesemunicipalitiestoaninfosession.Thisalsomarkedthebeginningofthelearningphasethatwillextendto2013.Intensivediscussionsfol-lowedinthesubsequentmonthsontheconcreteelaborationofthepartnership.ForthecentralcitiesofAalst,MechelenandKortrijk,thiswillresultinthesign-ingofacollaborationagreement.
DannyWille:“Thegoal isforthisfirstset of projects to serve as examplefor othermunicipalities.Mechelen forexample wishes to examine how thecity’s purchasing policy can be mademoresustainable.Bypursuinganenvi-ronmentallyfriendlyacquisitionpolicy,thecityaimsnotonlytoinspireitsownresidents and companies, but also toshareitsbestpracticeswithothermu-nicipalities.Thisexchangeisextremelyimportant,sincelocalauthoritiesoftenface similar problems.This allows for
the more efficient use of resources.Aalst in turn wishes to examine howa project related to household wastecangivefreshimpetustoadilapidatedneighbourhood.Kortrijkfinallyislook-ing for a way to optimise selectivewastecollection.”
Municipal inventory of high-risk sites
Citizensmustbeable toobtain infor-mation from the municipality on thepresenceorabsenceofearliersoilcon-taminating activities at a given site.“Forthisreason,wearealsofocusinginthenewpartnershipsontheproperde-velopmentofthismunicipalinventory.”
Inthispilotphase,OVAMisprincipallyinterested inobtaininganoverall pic-ture.DannyWille:“Thegoal is toex-aminetheeffectiveness,efficiencyandqualityofthenewinstrument.Ifthepi-lotphaseissuccessful,wewillseehowthistypeofpartnershipcanbeofferedto all Flemish municipalities startingin2013.Animportantstepinrealisingtogetherthewaste,materialsandsoilpolicyinthefield.”
Cities and municipalities sometimes face complex problems that transcend municipal environmental policy. OVAM investigated whether partnerships with local authorities can offer a solution to contemporary social issues.
Aalst, Mechelen and Kortrijk test new type of partnership with OVAM
“In this learning phase, we are developing a custom partnership
with a series of municipalities”
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Eachcity,eachmunicipalityfacesspe-cificchallengesonthelitterissue.Forthisreason,localauthoritiesareanin-dispensable link in combating litter.Alitterpolicyrequiresacustomisedap-proach,tailoredtolocalsituations.
Whereisthemostefficientplacetoputwastecontainers?Howtoinvolveresi-dents in keeping their neighbourhoodclean? The goal of the Tidiness net-work:tohelplocalauthoritiesimprovetheirpolicyonlitter.
Best practices
The Tidiness network also wishes tostimulate interaction between localauthorities. The starting point is theability ofmunicipalities to learn fromeachotherbyexchangingexamplesofgoodpractice.TheTidinessnetworkfa-cilitates this collaborationbybringingmunicipalitiestogetheraroundtheta-ble,butalsobylearningfromsuccess-fulinitiativesabroad.
The Tidiness network was establishedon 1April 2011.The idea emerged intheLittersteeringcommitteemadeupof representatives from governmentand industry: representatives of ciga-retteandchewinggumproducers,thedistributionsector,OVAM,localauthor-ities(VVSG),FostPlusandthecabinetof Flemish Minister for Environment,Nature and Culture Joke Schauvliege.The members of this committee de-velopedan actionplan for theperiod2011-2015. This resulted among otherthings intheappointmentoftwoper-manentemployeesatOVAM.Theyarethepointofcontactfor localauthori-ties,helpwithquestions,givetraining,and stimulate the collaboration andexchange between municipalities andcities.
Beautiful and liveable cities, clean neighbourhoods, proper collection of waste, low-waste events: these are all very relevant themes. Local authorities, however, do not always know how to motivate residents to do their part. The new Tidiness network aims to help them in this.
Tidiness network joins forces with local authorities to combat litter
‘Litter. In the dustbin and nowhereelse.’Sogoes the familiarbaselineofthelittercampaignbeingconductedbyOVAM,FostPlusandthelocalauthori-ties.In2011,thebrand-newcampaignposters decorated the street scene.Withtheslogan‘Litterispassé:Acleanneighbourhoodthankstoyou’,theyre-mind each of us of our responsibilityto keep our living environment pleas-antandclean.Theunderlyingthought:
withabitofeffortonthepartofusall,wecangetridoflitteronceandforall.
Thenewcampaignposter canalsobeusedathome.Onthewebsitewww.in-devuilbak.be, you can personalise thelitterposterasyouwish.Withyourownposterinyourwindow,youcanappealtotheentireneighbourhoodtoworkto-getheronacleanneighbourhood.
More info: www.indevuilbak.be
Cigarette butts, apple cores, candy wrappers, chewing gum and cans. Litter is an eyesore for many. But we are on the right path: ‘Litter is passé’: this was the positive message of the campaign around litter that OVAM initiated in 2011.
New litter campaign presents positive message
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Goodhealthisourmostvaluableposses-sion.Environmentalpollution,however,increases significantly the chances ofhealthproblems.OVAMmakesaprior-ityofcleaninguphigh-riskpollutants.Inthis,thepotentialeffectsonhealtharedecisive.
Gasworks remediation pro-gramme takes shape
OVAM pinpoints high-risk activities in drinking water extraction areas
Clustered remediation of asbestos and zinc up to speed
New European directive reduces environmental footprint of industry
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From the nineteenth century throughthefirsthalfofthetwentiethcentury,towngaswasextractedfromcoalandusedamongothers for street lighting.Theproductionofthegasreleasedsuchtoxicsubstancesastarandcyanide.Asa result, the soil and groundwater atthese locations is often seriously con-taminated.This contamination canbearisktopublichealth;theformergas-works are located primarily in urbanareas in themiddleoforat theedgeof residential areas. Hence, remedia-tion is necessary for environmental-hygienicreasons.Duetotheirstrategiclocation, the remediationof theseof-tendilapidatedgroundsalso servesasimpetusforeconomicdevelopment.
Inventory and then action plan
To tackle this challenge efficiently,OVAM initiated a programme for han-dling gasworks. The goal: to make adetailed inventory of the gas sites inFlanders and develop a strategy fortheir remediation.Caroline Van Gool, UnitHeadInterregioWest,DepartmentofSoilManagement:“Anassessmentofearlier inventories and additional in-ventory efforts revealed the presenceof122gas sites.By ‘gas sites’weun-derstand gasworks, gas tanks and gasproduction as an ancillary activity ofanotherindustry.Halfofthese122siteswerealready registeredwithOVAMasgas site. Most of the large gasworkswere in this group. For the remedia-tionofanumberoflargesites,in2009OVAM concluded a company-specificagreement with the Gasfabriekgroep,
representedbyEandis.Thisestablishedascheduleforcleaningupthesitesofthegroup.”
Forsitesnotyetinvestigated,OVAMhasdrawnupanactionplan:thesoilsurveyof all gas sitesmustbe completedby2016; in2036, remediationmusthavebegunatallcontaminatedsites.Basedonthefeaturesofthesites,historicalinformation and attractiveness for re-development,OVAMdrewupaprioritylistforsoilsurveystobecompletedby2016.Basedonthesesoilsurveys,apri-oritylistcanthenbedrawnupforthe(ex-officio)remediationofthecontam-inatedgassites.OVAMhasbegunwiththe ex-officio remediation of the gassites inAalst,Antwerp,Blankenberge,Ghent, Leuven,Mechelen,Tienen andTurnhout.
The Environmental Policy Plan stipu-lates that the remediation of all con-taminated grounds in Flanders must be started by 2036. The programme approach to gasworks and schools (see sidebar) is intended to assist in reach-ing this goal.
The last gasworks extinguished its ovens already a half century ago, but the contamination in the soil still constitutes a potential risk today. OVAM designed a custom programme. The clean-up of all contaminated sites must be started by 2036.
Gasworks remediation programme takes shape
Tailored approach for schools
Soilcontaminationcansometimesoccuraroundschoolgrounds.Hereagain, OVAM opts for the pro-gramme approach. Project Man-ager Dirk Henckens: “Both thepolicydocumentforEducationaswell as that for Environment forthe governing period 2009-2014set the remediation of contami-natedschoolgroundsasapriority.Consultations on this followed in2010 between the two cabinets,OVAM, the GO! educational net-work of the Flemish CommunityandAGION,theeducationalinfra-structureagency.”
Lastyear,thecompetentauthori-ties of all subsidised educationalinstitutions received a question-naire. OVAM used this to assesspotential soil contamination onthegroundsoftheschools.“Morethan 1,500 schools completedthequestionnaire.Basedon this,policy proposals will be draftedforbothministers”,explainsDirkHenckens.“Weintendtodevelopa focused communication cam-paign around this theme startingin2012.”
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Approximately 340 billion litres: thatis how much drinkable tap water the15 Flemish drinking water companiesproduceeach year.Theypumpup thisground and surface water from drink-ingwaterextractionareas,zoneswheregroundwater is extracted for the pro-duction of drinking water. Before itflows fromthe taps inhomes, thewa-ter undergoes an intensive purificationprocess.Toguaranteethesafetyofthedrinking water, the prevention of soilcontamination is an absolute priority.Thequickercontaminationisdetected,themoreeffectivelyitcanbetackled.Forthisreason,OVAMisnowsystemati-cally identifying all active and formerhigh-risk activities in the protectedzones.Itaimstocompletethisby2015.
77 of the 110 municipalities inventoried
“Allhigh-riskactivitiesintheprotectedzones,suchasfillingstationsandmetalprocessing companies, are systemati-callyidentifiedandinvestigated.Ifcon-
tamination isdetected, this is cleanedupasquicklyaspossible”,saysNathalie Van Trier, Project Coordinator at theDepartmentofSoilManagement.
In this programme, OVAM is workingtogether with the 110 municipalitieslocated in a drinking water extractionarea. “The municipalities are legallyrequiredtomakeaninventoryofallac-tivehigh-riskgroundsontheirterritory,to save this information in databases,andtoshareitwithus.Inpractice,themunicipalities are often behind in thisinventory and information obligation:their database doesn’t allow for ex-changinginformation,orisincomplete.Togainaccesstothisdata,wecontact-edthemunicipalitieslocatedinadrink-ingwater extraction area.Wealso trytoactivelyinvolvethemunicipalitiesviasitevisitsinwhichweexchangegrounddataandcartographicmaterial.In2011,wewere able in thisway to inventorythe active high-risk activities of 77 ofthe110municipalities.”
Exploratory soil survey mandatory
OVAMpresentlyhasapproximately2000dossiersindrinkingwaterextractionar-eas.ThisinventoryprovidesOVAMwithanoverviewofthecompaniesthathavenot yet had an exploratory soil surveyperformed. In 2011, OVAM contacted80 companies whose soil survey andremediation activities had stalled, andinformed them of their obligations inthisregard.“Thankstothestrictfollow-up,mostofthesecompanieshavetakenactioninthemeantime”,saysNathalieVanTrier.“Afourthofthesecaseswereabletobeclosedin2011.”
The methodology and instruments forinventoryingandfollowinguphistoricalhigh-riskactivitieswerefurtherrefinedattheendof2011.“Thisupdatemakesit possible to identify all groundswithformer high-risk facilities, to interpretthe old information, and tomake thisdata available electronically so that itcanbeshared”,concludesNathalieVanTrier.
Water from the tap must be clean and safe. For this reason, soil contamination in drinking water extraction areas must be kept to an absolute minimum. OVAM initiated a programme to identify high-risk grounds and thus to better protect public drinking water extraction sites from contamination.
OVAM pinpoints high-risk activities in drinking water extraction areas
“Each year, the 15 Flemish drinking water companies
produce approximately 340 billion litres of
drinkable tap water”
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The area of Kapelle-op-den-Bos andtheNorthernCampinesare strugglingwithanextensiveenvironmentalprob-lem.InthevicinityoftheformerzincsmeltingcompaniesinOverpelt,BalenandLommelinNorthLimburg,munici-palities, private individuals and com-paniesusedzincashforyearstohard-engardensanddriveways.Andintheregion of Kapelle-op-den-Bos there ismuchasbestoscementgritunder theground that entails a health risk. Inboth cases, this resulted in hundredsof potentially contaminated lots thatneeded to be investigated and oftenalso remediated. How does one effi-cientlyapproachsuchlarge-scalecon-tamination?
Asbestos cement grit
“OVAM developed a custom conceptthat relies on close cooperationwithmunicipal authorities and thoseliving in the vicinity”, recountsSven De Mulder, Project ManagerInterventions, Disposals and Remedi-ations.
The asbestos cement grit located inthe ground in the region of Kapelle-op-den-Bos is a harmful by-productof the asbestos cement sewer pipesthat the company Eternit producedin its local facility.Given the sizeofthe contamination, OVAM decided toinvestigatetheprobleminitstotality,andtoclean-upthelotsaccordingtoaclearplan.Inthis,itappealedtothecollectivememory of the public. “Inafirstphase,weinvitedallresidentsviaalarge-scalecommunicationcam-paigntosubmitanotificationformif
theysuspectedthepresenceofasbes-toscementgritontheirlot.Forthis,weinthefirstplaceworkedintensive-lywithsixmunicipalauthoritiesfromthe region. 1,120 private individualssubmitted forms. During the courseof theproject, increasinglymore re-portswerereceivedfromthebroaderregion. For this reason, we set up asimilarcampaign in27municipalities
around Mechelen, from Aartselaarto Wemmel and from Buggenhout toDuffel.”
Personalised approach
After the inventory, investigation ofthesuspectlotsandpossibleremedia-tionfollowed.Thisfinalstepwasalsometiculously prepared. Before OVAM
Large-scale soil contamination has taken place on private property in the Northern Campines and in the region of Kapelle-op-den-Bos, which entails risks to the health of the residents. OVAM tackled this wide-spread contamination efficiently, and with an eye for those affected. After a meticulous inventory and preparation in the past years, hundreds of grounds were cleaned up in 2011.
Clustered remediation of asbestos and zinc up to speed
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started with remediation of a lot,the contractormade a personal visitto the residents. He explained howtheremediationworkwouldproceed,madetherequiredpracticalarrange-ments,anddiscussedthesafetyregu-lations thatappliedduringthework.“Thoseinvolvedappreciatedthisper-sonalised approach”, states Sven DeMulder.
In 2011, OVAM remediated 200 lotsdistributed across 19 municipalities.28,000tonswasexcavatedinthepro-cess. “Tackling such large-scale con-tamination inonegohasnothingbutadvantages.Handlingall remediationprojectstogetherresults inconsider-
able savings and the ability to workfaster.Andthisisabenefittothepri-vate individual, the government andourselves.”
Safety net for new cases
Despite the extensive media cam-paign, there is a good chance thatin the coming years more lots withasbestos cement grit will surface.To handle these additional notifica-tions,OVAMhasconcludedanagree-mentthatrunsto2016withthesamecontractor that executed the earlierremediationwork. “If a new case ofcontamination with asbestos cementgritsurfaces,immediateactionistak-entocleanupthegrounds”,saysSvenDeMulder.
OVAMisalsomakingapriorityofthisissueintherestofFlanders.“Wearepresently identifying where asbestosproducing and processing companieswereactiveinthepast.Thisinforma-tionislackingtoday.Yetthisoverviewiscrucialtoassessingwhetherwealsoneed to launch a project approachin other regions related to asbestossoilremediation”,concludesSvenDeMulder.
Tested recipe
The roadmap used by OVAM in Ka-pelle-op-den-Bos was also used intheNorthernCampines.Nic Van den Heuvel, Project Manager Interven-tions, Disposals and Remediations:“Makinganinventorybycommunicat-ing and investigating thoroughly, andfinally remediation: these again arethe major steps in the approach. Inthis project, we are working closelywith the companies Umicore andNyrstar. OVAM and Umicore are re-sponsible for the financing; the ex-
cavated zinc ash is transported to alandfill on the company grounds ofNyrstar. This keeps open the optionsof processing the zinc ash in the fu-tureorreusingit.”
This partnership has booked results.In2011,OVAMcompletedtheexcava-tion of zinc ash from driveways andgardensinLommel,OverpeltandMol.Remediation operations in NeerpeltandBalenwillfollowin2012.
Accelerated handling of schools and youth groups
At the same time, OVAM launched aprojecttomorequickly identifycon-tamination with zinc ash in schoolsandthegroundsofyouthmovementsin the region. “In an informationcampaign, we appealed to schoolsandyouthgroupstonotifyus if theysuspected the presence of zinc ashon their site. We then investigatethese grounds, andwhere necessary,remove the zinc ash. Ifwemust ex-cavate,wecoordinatetheworkwithpossible other planned constructionprojectsandrenovations.ThisismuchmoreefficientfortherelevantschoolaswellasforOVAM.”
“If a new case of contamination with
asbestos cement grit surfaces, immediate
action is taken to clean up the grounds”
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Emissionsfromcertain industrialcom-panies, ranging from intensivepoultryfarmstowasteprocessinginstallations,constitute a potential source of con-taminationforair,waterandsoil,andthusathreattohumanhealth.TheIn-dustrial EmissionsDirective (IED) aimsto curb these emissions. For this rea-son,fromnowon,thelargestindustrialinstallationswill be assigned emissionlimitvalues in theenvironmentalper-mit based on the best available tech-niques. Inaddition,theimportanceofpreventionandmanagementhasbeenincreased to ensure maintenance ofthe soil and groundwater quality. Thenewdirectiveisnotonlyaboostfortheenvironment,butalsoforthehealthofcitizens.TheEuropeanCommissionex-pects implementationof thedirectiveto result in 13,000 fewer prematuredeaths.
Best Available Techniques
The IED revises and recasts seven ex-istingdirectivesonindustrialemissionsintoasinglelegalinstrument,includingtheIPPCDirective,theWasteIncinera-tionDirectiveandtheDirectiveonlim-iting emissions from large combustionplants.Withthe IED,EuropeisaimingatbetterharmonisationwithotherEu-ropean regulations such as the WaterandWasteFrameworkDirectives,elim-inatingoverlapbetweentheseveraldi-rectives,andincreasingthecoherencebetween the different environmentalcompartments.AspearheadoftheIEDis the improved and coherent imple-mentationofBestAvailableTechniques(BATs)inallMemberStates.
Transposition to Flemish law
TheEuropeanMemberStateshaveuntil7January2013totransposetheIEDintothenationalcontext.Whilesoillegisla-tionisstill initsinfancyinsomeEuro-peancountries,Flanderscanlookbackon twenty years of experience in soilremediation. OVAM put this expertiseto use during the European decision-making process around the IED, andthushadsignificantinfluenceonitsfinalcontents. For this reason, the IED hasmuchincommonwiththeFlemishSoilDecree,makingeasierthetranspositionof the IED into Flemish law. Thus, forexample,thepresentsoil legislationinFlandersspecifiesthatcompaniesmusthave periodic inspections of soil andgroundwaterperformedalreadytoday.
But there are also innovations. On 9March 2012, the Flemish governmentratified the draft of the transpositiondecree,whichhasramificationsfortheSoil Decree. Before companies submitan environmental permit applicationtooperate specific industrial facilities,theymustfirsthaveastudyperformedoftheconditionofthesoil,aso-calledsituation report. This report is basedon the exploratory soil survey, as thisisdone inFlanders.Moreover,OVAM ismakingenvironmentalinformationmorebroadlyavailableviathee-counter.
Preventing and managing emissions in the air, water and soil: these are the objectives of the new Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) that came into force on 6 January 2011 in all countries of the European Union. OVAM made a significant contribution behind the show.
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Preventing new soil contamination and cleaning up historical soil contamination. These are the most important objectives of the Soil Decree. The decree had been in existence for 15 years in 2011. Thus, time for an assessment.
Flemish soil is contaminated in multi-plelocations,alegacyofourindustrialpast. To quickly and efficiently tacklethissoilcontamination,15yearsagotheFlemishRegionlaunchedtheSoilReme-diationDecree.Thegoal: toobtainanoverview of the contaminated groundsinFlanders,andtocleanupthishistori-calcontaminationwherenecessary.
It is estimated that Flanders contains85,000 high-risk sites where activitieshavetakenplacethatmayhavecontam-inatedthesoil.TodayOVAMhasidenti-fied46,772sites,and31,997exploratorysoilsurveyshavebeencompleted.Asiteconsistsofoneormorecadastral lots.
Withanexploratorysoilsurvey,asoilre-mediationexpertinvestigatesasitebytakingsamplesofsoilandgroundwater.Ifhedeterminesthatthereareseriousindications of severe contamination,a descriptive soil survey is required.With this, the soil remediation expertdetermines how far the contaminationhasspread,andtheriskthecontamina-tionformsforpeopleandenvironment.Thiswillindicateclearlywhetherornota soil remediation project is required.OVAMestimates thisnumber tobebe-tween11,000and12,500sites.Asof1January 2012, nearly 4,000 soil reme-diationprojectshadbeencertified,soilremediation work had begun on 3,501
sites,andtheremediationof2,187siteshadbeencompleted.
Soil remediationmust have been initi-atedon40%ofthesesitesby2015.Re-mediationofallofthesesitesmusthavebeenstartedby2036.
In2006,inthefootstepsoftheSoilRe-mediationDecreeof1995,thenewSoilDecree was introduced. Together withthe implementing order VLAREBO, theSoilDecreefocusesstronglyonprevent-ing new contamination, in addition toremediatinghistoricalcontamination.
Remediation of all contaminated grounds must be started by 2036
Ground information register 46,772 dossiers
ESScompleted31,997
38%
46%
43%
DSSOK9,46881%
DSSneeded11,761100%
SRPneeded5,016100%
Estimatednumberofhigh-risksites
85,000100%
DSSOK9,468
35%-39%
EstimatedDSSneeded24,000-27,000
100%
SRPneeded11,000-12,500
100%
Nofurthermeasuresneeded20,23663%
Nofurthermeasuresneeded4,45247%
ESS:ExploratorysoilsurveyDSS:DescriptivesoilsurveySRP:Soilremediationproject
Soil Management Department dossiers on 1 January 2012
Environmentalproblemsandsustainabil-ityissuesarenotalwayseasytosolve.Muchexpertiseandeffortisneededtosolve these complex puzzles. Closingproduction and consumption chains,bringing movement to blocked soildossiers:OVAMmakesithappen.
Closing material supply chains: sustainable materi-als management reaches fever pitch
New approach to reme-diation saves abandoned business sites
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Chain management demands a differ-entviewofproducingandconsuming.Onethatincludesallphasesofaprod-uct’s life cycle: from the rawmateri-alsused,throughitsdesign,itsuse,toitsdisposal.Tomakeaproduct–andatthesametimethesector–sustainable,rawmaterialsuppliers,designers,pro-ducers, distributors and sales person-nelmustwork together.Theyneed toanalysethegaps inthe lifecycleofaproduct,anddeterminehow theycanclose the chain. In 2011, various sup-ply chain management projects andimprovement projects for selectivecollectionwerepreparedandinitiated.Thecontoursofthreeprojectsrelatedto foodstuffs,plasticsandagriculturalfilmsarenowcomplete.
Quantifying food waste
Seenglobally,at leastonethirdofallfoodiswasted.Thisiscorroboratedbyfigures from theUnitedNations’ Foodand Agriculture Organization (FAO).To properly assess the Flemish situa-tion,OVAMattherequestoftheFlem-ish government had a sorting analysisperformed of the amount of organic-biological waste contained in residualwaste. The total amount of residualwaste contains almost twelve percentorganic-biological kitchen waste, bio-degradableaswellasnon-biodegrada-ble.Alargeproportion,suchascoffeegrounds,fruitandpotatopeelings...isunavoidable. Preventable waste (left-overbread,dairyproducts...)amounts
tosomefivepercent.Thiscomesdowntoannualwasteof5.5kgperresident.Piet De Baere,UnitPolicyInnovation:“OVAM aims to be a part of the fightagainst food waste. In consultationwiththesector,wearelookingforthegaps in the food chain and examininghowtheycanbeclosed.”
Greater clarity concerning shelf life
The question that leads to consider-ablefoodwaste:howlongissomethinggood? “A first issue concerns the de-scriptionofaproduct’sshelflife”,saysPiet De Baere. “Producers incorrectlyusethemarkings‘usebefore’andtheambiguous‘bestbefore’,whichresultsinconfusiononthepartoftheconsum-er.Ifthe‘bestbefore’dateofaprod-uctexpires,thisdoesnotmeanthatitisno longer suitable forconsumption.Productssuchasrice,pasta,sugar,salt... in principle can be preserved foryears, and longer than the ‘best be-fore’ date would appear to indicate.Notallconsumers,however,areawareofthis,whichmeansthatmanyhealthyproducts are thrown away.We intendviaacommunicationcampaigntoraisetheawarenessofconsumers,producersanddistributorsofthisissue.”
More flexible rules, new techniques
Not only consumers, however, needto becomemore aware. “Another fo-cus is the collaboration between su-permarkets and food banks. Togetherwith them,weexamined theproblem
Closing material supply chains: sustainable materials management reaches fever pitch
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areasinthelogisticschain,andformu-latedsolutionstobetterstreamlinethischain.”Thelossoffruitandvegetablesat growers and distributors is also anarea in need of improvement. In par-ticular,distributors imposestrictrulesconcerningtheappearanceandweightoffruitsandvegetables.Togetherwiththe sector, OVAM aims to determinewhether these standards can also bemademoreflexible.
New techniques can also help giveproducts a longer shelf life. Piet DeBaere: “Meat packaged according totheMAP(ModifiedAtmospherePackag-ing)methodremainsfreshmuchlonger.Theuseofthisinnovativetechniquebyproducers and distributors could limitfoodwasteconsiderably.”
Recycling plastics
Plasticsalsocontainmuchpotentialforreuse or recycling. Discarded objectsmadeofplastics suchaspolyethyleneandpolypropyleneareusually inciner-atedasresidualwaste,butinfactareperfectlyrecyclable.Inthecontextofthe plastics chain project, all relevantactors (FEBEM, Federplast, Flanders’PlasticVision,VVSG...)participatedinamarketstudy.OVAMusedtheresultsof this studytodeterminehowtoen-couragethesaleofrecycledplastics.Inaddition,OVAMexaminedthequalityofthematerialarrivingatrecyclingcen-tres,andisstudyinghowthedifferentplastics canbebetter separated.Thisknowledge will now be used in 2012to investigate and develop concretesolutions.
Agricultural films
In2011,OVAMalsoexaminedtheprod-uctlifecycleofagriculturalfilms.Thehorticultural and agricultural sectormakes frequent use of films to coverstraw or areas of land. While theseagricultural films are perfectly re-cyclable, the level of recyclability islowdue to the degree of contamina-tion (sand, mud) of the films. OVAMbrought producers, agricultural or-ganisations, distribution companiesandmunicipalitiesaroundthetabletodevelopanactionplan.Forexample,aposterwasdistributedcontainingtipstoimprovethequalityoftheselectivecollectionofagriculturalfilms. Inthecomingyear,all stakeholderswillde-velopasequeltothisactionplan.
With theseprojects,OVAM isworkingonanewmethodologyforchainman-agement,withtheparticipationofallsector players asmotor.The conceptcanalsobeappliedinconcretesupplychainmanagementprojectsrelatedtoflat glass, aerated concrete, gypsumwaste,roofbitumenandcarpets.
www.ovam.be/landbouwfolies
“OVAM aims to be a part of the fight against food
waste. In consultation with the sector, we are
looking for the gaps in the food chain and
examining how they can be closed"
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Quicker remediation, which takes ac-countof thesite’snewuse: this is themain theme of the new strategy beingpursuedbyOVAMinitsex-officioreme-diation projects.An efficient approachtobrownfields,thecuratorprotocolandSaninvesthelpconsiderablyhere.
Brownfields: a new start for undeveloped sites
In densely built-up Flanders, it is onlylogical togivepriority toupgradingdi-lapidatedlivingandworkareasoverthedevelopmentofvirginsites.Ifanaban-doned site is also located along ama-jor road, railway lineorwaterway, thepotential for economic development isgreat.Toacceleratetheprivatedevelop-mentofbrownfields,in2009theFlemishgovernmentconcludedagreementswithinvestors and private developers. Overthe years, OVAM has committed itself
tocontributingtodiverseprojectsthatarise from such a covenant. It is doingthistogetherwithpropertyowners,pro-ject developers, financiers, other rel-evantgovernmentauthorities,underthecoordinationoftheAgencyforEntrepre-neurship.
Old Docks
Pascal Maebe, Unit Head Brownfields:“With a brownfield project, there ismuchmore involved than just the soilremediationaspect.Tomakethesitevi-ableagain,attentionmustalsobegiventospatialplanning,mobility,accessibil-ity, communication, and the like. Thusaprojectwithmanydimensions,whichmeansthatmanyactorswillhavesome-thing to say.A covenant brings clarity:whatdowewishtoachieve,andwhen?Whowilldowhat,andwhowillpayforit?Thecovenantalsoincludeslegal-ad-
ministrativeandfinancialincentivesfordevelopers.OVAMforexamplecanwaivetheguaranteenormallyrequiredofthebuyertoensurethatitmeetsitssoilre-mediationobligation.Oncethecovenanthasbeensignedbyallparties,itisgivenahighpriorityinourscheduling.Theex-officioorprivate remediation can thenbecoordinatedwiththeprojectinpro-gress.”
Due to its industrial past, Flanders is interspersed with contaminated sites, which often lie unused for years. Remediation is often the key to redeveloping these sites. OVAM's strategy includes a set of tools to facilitate soil remediation. The goal: to transform deterioration into a fresh start in as many locations as possible.
New approach to remediation saves abandoned business sites
“In fact, with Saninvest we are employing the
lever principle that we have been using for a
number of years in our ex-officio remediation
projects"
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Thecovenantapproachhasbeendemon-stratedamongothersintheOldDocksinGhent.WaterwegenenZeekanaalNV isresponsible for the constructionof newbicycle and pedestrian bridges linkingtheareawiththecitycentre,theRoadsandTrafficAgencycoordinatedconstruc-tionoftheHandelsdokBridgethatcon-nectstheOldDockswiththecitycentre.AndOVAMhandledthesoilremediation.
Saninvest accelerates handling of blackfields
Forextremelycontaminatedsites,evenbrownfieldcovenantsoffernorelief.Insuchcases,thecostofcleaningupthesiteexceedstheactualvalueofthesite,makingituninterestingtoinvestors.Tobreakthisimpasse,lastyearOVAMandindependent investment company PMVestablished Saninvest, an instrument
thatfacilitatesanintegratedapproachtotheremediationandredevelopmentofurbaneyesores.
Eddy WilleofOVAM:“Theremediationof problem sites costs somuchmoneythatthesecasesweighveryheavilyontheOVAMbudgetforex-officioremedia-tion.Thecostpricefortheremediationof a single blackfield can quickly ap-proach millions of euros. RemediationoftheoldAsphaltcositeinAsseforex-amplecost9millioneuro.Ifweacceptsuchaproject,thennobudgetremainsfortheremediationofotherimportantsites.”Saninvestoffersrelief.
Lever for redevelopment
Aprotocolagreementbundlesthereme-diationexpertiseofOVAMandtheexper-tiseinrealestateandareadevelopment
ofPMV inonepowerful instrument.“Infact, with Saninvest we are employingtheleverprinciplethatwehavebeenus-ingforanumberofyearsinourex-officioremediationprojects”, says EddyWille.“Acontaminatedsitethatiscleanedupcanmeanalotforsociety.Wecantakeadvantage of these opportunities bylooking beyond the contamination, tothesite’sredevelopment.Thefocuscanthen be on the societal function a sitecanbegiven:spaceforbusinesses,hous-ing,schoolsandsomuchmore.Seeninthisway,remediationfunctionsasarealleverforredevelopment.”
OVAMandPMVtogetherarenowdevelop-ingaprojectandbusinessplanthatwillbeproposedtotheFlemishgovernmentat themiddleof2012. Inafirstphase,themodelwillbeexploredinanumberoftestcases.
Bankruptcies often call a halt to the remediation and redevelopment of a site. In 2010, OVAM concluded the updated curator protocol with the Flemish Bar Council.
If a trader or company is forced tocloseitsbooks,thejudgethenappointsa curator. He has the task of liquidat-ing the bankrupt company, and payingtheoutstandingdebtswiththerevenuereceived.Ifitconcernsasitewithcon-taminatedsoil, there isagoodchancethatthecuratorwillfind itdifficulttosell the property. “For investors, afterall, it is not always clearwhether theproceeds will cover the potential re-mediationcost”,explainsAnnelies Van GuchtofSoilSurveysandRemediations.“Bankruptcies can drag on for a longtime,duringwhichthesiteremainscon-taminated.”
Since2009,thereisasolutiontotheseblockeddossiers: thecuratorprotocol.If the curator is unable to find inter-estedpartiesontheprivatemarket,he
can sell the site toOVAMfor the sym-bolicamountof1euro.Patriek Casier,UnitHeadRemediationProjectsandDis-posals:“Assoonasthesiteisofficiallyowned by OVAM, the dossier is givenpriorityfortestingandex-officioreme-diation.”
The curator protocol came into effectin 2009, came up to speed in 2010,andproveditseffectivenessin2011.In2011,OVAMpurchasedthreesitesunderthis procedure: Tricot Martine in Ga-
vere,Scheldefuel inDendermondeandBVBAD’hoeinLiedekerke.Inthemean-time, waste has been removed fromthesethreesites,thegroundshavebeensecured,andtheex-officiosoilsurveysinitiated. Another ten dossiers are inprogress.
Numberofex-officio remediationpro-jectsstartedin2011:64
Budget for ex-officio soil remediationprojectsin2011:23.8millioneuro
Curator protocol breaks impasse after bankruptcy
Newex-officioremediationprojectsin2011
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Tobetterservecitizensandcompanies:thisistheessenceofgoodgovernance.TheentireOVAMorganisationisworkingon improving its efficiency and effec-tiveness.This has transformed it intoa contemporary government agencythatresolutelylistenstotheneedsofsociety.
OVAM improves its effec-tiveness
Digital soil inventory off the ground
Waste management tools scrutinised
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In the framework of Flanders in Ac-tion, the Flemish government set upamultiannualprogrammetoincreaseits effectiveness. The pillars: simpli-ficationofadministrativeprocedures,doing more with less, improved ser-vices through innovation, and moresolution-oriented thinking. Herman
Gobel, Department Head Staff Ser-vices: “Within this multiannual pro-gramme, OVAM is setting up its ownprojectstoincreaseourefficiencyandeffectiveness.”
Fresh oxygen
“Thus in the context of the recov-ery plan for soil, we have loweredthe financial guarantees in order togivethesoilremediationsectorfreshoxygen. With success: soil remedia-tionprojectswere carriedoutmorequickly, and companies were givenmore financial breathing space. Wecombined our projects around con-taminatedsitesofgasworks, schoolsand hospitals into an efficient pro-gramme approach. We adapted asmuch as possible our ex-officio re-mediationprojectstothesites’newuses.Theannual surveyof localau-thoritiesthatweusetoupdatewastedata and trends was improved anddigitised.Forthemunicipalities,thismeanta sharp reduction inadminis-trativecosts.”
Better planning, organised monitoring
Last year, each OVAM departmentoutlined a programme to increaseefficiency in the coming four years.The common thread: process optimi-sation with priority given to qualityof service. OVAM also scrutinised itsmanagement support services. TheFlemishgovernmentafterallaimsto
reduce these to14%of itsworkforceby2014.
Inaddition,OVAM-wideprojectsweresetuptotackletheefficiencyoftheentire organisation. During the pastyear, work especially focused on im-proving the planning and monitoringaspects. “Thanks to a new tool, theplanning and monitoring of our ac-tivitiesarenowmoresystematic,andalsolinkedtothebudgetingandper-sonnelcyclewithannualplanningandevaluation. Each department reportsquarterly,thecurrentstateofaffairsisthencomparedineachcasetotheobjectives”,saysHermanGobel.
Developing talent
Effectiveness also means continuousimprovement.Hence,OVAMviewsor-ganisationaldevelopmentasanoppor-tunity, inwhich it invests fully. “Ouraim is to foster and further developthe talent and expertise present atOVAM.Attracting good people, train-ingthemandusingthemeffectively:humanresourcesandgoodknowledge
Effective policy is a priority for the entire Flemish government. The goal: more efficient operations and a more effective organisation, to better serve citizens and companies. OVAM contributes to this while adding its own accents.
OVAM improves its effectiveness
“Our aim is to foster and further develop the
talent and expertise present at OVAM"
The recovery plan for soil resulted in theacceleratedimplementationofsoilremediationprojects.
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managementareextremelyimportantifwearetobereadyforthefuture.”
Crucialtothisevolutionisanorganisa-tion’sculture.“Lastyear,westartedacultural programmewithin theWasteand Materials Management Depart-ment. This was needed because thedepartmentitselfisgoingthroughthetransition from waste managementto materials management. When thisexerciseiscomplete,wewillalsorolloutthemethodologytotheotherde-partments”,concludesHermanGobel.
OVAM in top 5 of mature organisations
TheFlemishgovernmentaimstobeamongthebestperforming,effectiveandefficientinallofEuropeby2020.TheInternalAuditoftheFlemishAdministra-tion(IAVA)hasdevelopedanevaluationframeworkthatexaminesallaspectsofanefficient,active,qualityandhonestgovernmentbasedon11themes.The‘maturityscale’goesfrom0to5.Bytheendof2011,eachentityoftheFlemishgovernmentmusthaveachievedamaturity levelof3.This impliesthat themanagementmeasures to obtain the objectives of the entity arepresent,standardisedanddocumented,thatthesehavebeencommunicated,andthattheyareappliedthroughouttheentireentity.OVAMpassedtheauditwithflyingcolours:forseveralthemes,OVAMdidbetterthanrequiredanditwasamongthetop5Flemishgovernmentorganisations.
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E-tendering replaces thepaperappli-cations and tenders that companiespreviouslywererequiredtosendper-sonallybyregisteredmailorcouriertothe contracting authority. E-tenderingmeans administrative simplification,shortprocessingtimesforthedossiers,greatertransparency.Inshort:greaterefficiency.
Since 1 January 2012, e-tendering ismandatory within the departments oftheFlemishgovernmentandtheFlem-ish institutions. Convinced of the ad-vantages for both the commissioningauthority and interested companies,OVAMswitchedtoelectronictenderingalreadyduringthemiddleof2011.
Well prepared from the start
Since1June2011,20announcedpro-jects have already been opened viae-tendering.Thiswentextremelywelleachtime.Beforeintroducingthesys-tem, OVAM extensively communicatedtheproceduretoitstargetgroups.Allsuppliersweregiventheopportunitytofollowtrainingone-tenderingatOVAMoffices.Withtheinitialannouncement,
OVAMalsoprovidedanexercisedossier.Inthisway,allsupplierscouldbecomefamiliar with the system well aheadof time, a half year before the newsystem came into force in all Flemishgovernment agencies. After an initialassessmentofOVAM’sexperiences,the
Regulatory Management Unit of theFlemishgovernmentconcludedthate-tenderingindeedreducedcosts,onthegovernmentsideaswellasthatofthesuppliers.
Since 1 June 2011, companies wishing to respond a public request for tenders from OVAM must submit their tender electronically. OVAM was among the first government agencies in Flanders to introduce e-tendering.
OVAM pioneer in e-tendering
“Since 1 January 2012, e-tendering is mandatory within the departments
of the Flemish government and the
Flemish institutions"
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Sellersofpropertyorlandmustsubmita soil certificate to the buyer beforesigning the agreement. The seller orhis civil-law notary can request thiscertificate from OVAM, which main-tainsinitsgroundinformationregisterall relevant data concerning groundquality. Until the end of 2011, OVAMsent the soil certificates by mail,whichrequiredmuchtimeandenergy.Sincerecently,allsoilcertificatescanbe requested digitally, via the onlineapplicationMISTRAL.
Digital ground information
Eddy Van Dyck,DepartmentHeadSoilManagementatOVAM:“WithMISTRAL,weareresolutelyenteringdigitalagewith respect to our ground informa-tion,withallthebenefitsthisentails.This has increased significantly thespeedwithwhichweareabletowork.Onedayafteranotaryorrealestateofficerequestsasoilcertificate,itcandownloadthisindigitalformatattheMISTRALwebsite.”
Not only private individuals, nota-ries and real estate offices, but alsosoil remediationexpertsbenefit fromMISTRAL. Geert Nys, Data ManageratOVAM: “If an expert is looking forinformation on a specific lot, he nolonger needs tomake a personal ap-pointment to view the reports atOVAM.Hecannowobtainthisinforma-tiondirectlyviatheMISTRALwebsite.When the soil survey is complete,hecansendspecificreportstoOVAMdigi-tallyviathewebsite,andneednot,aswasthecasepreviously,sendthembymail.Thissavesnotonlytime,butalsomuchpaper,which in turn is a boostfortheenvironment.”
Thankstothenewinformationsystem,when starting a new test, soil reme-diation experts can base themselveson earlier reports around the samedossier,even if thesetestswereper-formed by different offices. Wherethey previously had to start fromscratch, it isnowpossible to requestthe existing report via MISTRAL andusethisasbasisfortheirfurtherwork.
Co-designed by users
AllusersagreethatMISTRALisamajorimprovement in efficiency.GeertNys:“Notariesandsoilremediationexpertswere involved in the development ofMISTRAL.Wefurtherperfectedthesys-tembasedontheir feedback.Wealsointendtotakeadvantageofuserfeed-back in the coming years. MISTRAL isthusnotonlyaclearstepinthedirec-tionofe-government,butalsoagoodexample of a governmentworking to-getherwithitscitizens.”
Requesting and receiving a soil certificate, or forwarding a soil survey report: since 1 January 2012, this can be done fully digitally. This is thanks to MISTRAL, OVAM's new web application.
Digital soil inventory off the ground
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Soil certificates delivered per year
Sustainable materials management,however,onlymakes sense ifwaste isalso properly managed. Flanders con-tinuestoachieveitsgoalof150kgre-sidualhouseholdwasteperperson,butthisresultisstagnating.Andthepoten-tialfortheselectivecollectionofindus-trialwasteisstillunderutilised.Conclu-sion:itisnecessarytocontinuetofocusonthetraditionaltoolsofwastepolicy,suchasaccreditations,acceptanceob-ligations,levies,andsoon.Newtrends,however, sometimes demand adaptedorentirelynewinstruments.
Collective plan
The Environmental Policy Agreements(EPA)withthesectorfederationshaveproventhemselvesinrecentyears.Re-cycling is coming increasingly to the
foreground,andthis trendwillbean-choredinthenewEPAsforthecomingfiveyears. In2011,theEnvironmentalPolicy Agreement for discarded vehi-cleswas updated.This newEPA is in-tendedhelprealisetheambitiousgoalofrecyclingat least85%ofthiswastestreamby2015.Ontheotherhand,thetake-back obligation for used fryingfats and oils was abolished. Togetherwith theproducersand thecities andmunicipalities, OVAM will develop acollectiveplan to continue to supportthe collection of this waste stream.Over time, the evaluation of the ac-ceptanceobligations inthecontextofthe expanded producer responsibilitycan lead to entirely new instruments
suchasfully-fledgedpreventionplans.
Incentives for recycling
To discourage the use of primary rawmaterials and encourage investmentsin recycling, recycling certificates areanotherpossibility thatFlanders is in-vestigating.Thisapproachismostcon-creteforthebuildingsector.Tofurtherincreasethequalityofrecycledaggre-gates from the construction sector, auniformregulationwasintroducedlastyear.Thegoal:toguaranteethequalityandtraceabilityoftherecycledaggre-gates. With improved quality, the re-cycledaggregatescanthenbeusedin
New challenges such as sustainable materials management demand a critical view of the tools used to manage waste. For this reason, OVAM took a close look at its portfolio of tools.
Waste management tools scrutinised
Efficient data collection
Tointerpretthetrendsinwaste,OVAMassembleswastedatayearly.Anditaimstodothisevenmoreefficiently.Forhouseholdwaste,OVAMinthefuturewillrequestspecificdatadirectlyfromtheinterregionalcooperationpartnershipsand the accredited bodies.Thiswill saveboth themunicipalities andOVAMconsiderabletime.Inaddition,thesurveyconductedintheframeworkofthecooperationagreementwillbefullydigitalby2012.Thesystemforindustrialwastewillalsobemademoreefficient.ThusOVAMwillnowbeorganisingtheIntegrated Environmental Report survey every two years. In the interveningyears,specificwastestreamswillbeidentifiedinmoredetail.Thismeansmuchlessadministrationforcompanies.
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highergradeapplications suchasnewconcrete.
VLAREM can also help considerably inpromoting the sustainable manage-mentofmaterials.OVAMisinvestigat-inghowtheimplementingordercanberefined to reflect this. This might bepossible, for example, by systemati-cally expanding the BAT studies (Best
AvailableTechniques)toincludeasec-tiononsustainablematerialsmanage-ment.TheeffectivenessofOVAM’sad-vice concerning permits is also beingexaminedcritically.
Green purchasing policy
Financialinstrumentshavealwaysbeenan important lever for waste policy.Untilnow,feeswereonlyleviedonfi-nalprocessing,suchaslandfilling.Giv-en the importanceof recycling,OVAMis now investigatingwhether financialincentivesmightalsobeusedforotheractivities, suchas the impositionof afineforimproperlysortingwaste.
Thesubsidyorderandthecooperationagreement have long been a substan-tialaidtolocalauthorities.Asaresultof austerity measures, however, theentireFlemishsubsidysystemisunderpressure. OVAM has presented goodarguments to continue to include suf-ficientresourcesforthemunicipalitieswhenrevisingthesubsidyinstruments.Municipalities and cities, after all,needresourcestomaintaintheirwastemanagement activities – for exampledifferentiated tariffs (diftar) – and toset up new initiatives around sustain-ablematerialsmanagement.Subsidiesfor example allow municipalities todevelop a green purchasing policy orasystemtouserecycledaggregatesinmunicipalinfrastructureworks.
Overview of figures for household waste and industrial waste
“New trends sometimes demand adapted
or entirely new instruments"
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
household waste total selective total terminal
Household waste (kg per resident)
Industrial waste
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
in m
illio
ns o
f to
ns
primary industrial wastehousehold waste
6
Personnel
Complaints management
Financial data
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Interventions, Disposals and Remediations Department
Newex-officioremediationprojectsin2011
A selection of important interventions in 2011
Project Municipality Former business and contamination Foreseen zoning Cost price €
Carcoke Zeebrugge cokeplant industrialzone 3.6million
Hoedhaard Lokeren animalhairprocessing,mercuryresidentialneighbourhood 2million
Alvat Buggenhout barrelcleaning industrialzone 1.979million
BuildingServices Wevelgem contaminatedsoilandasbestos industrialzone 1.3million
Bredastraat Antwerp fueldepot industrialzone 1.375million
Gorrebroekloop Willebroek cokeplant,PAHs industrialzone 1.08million
Zincash Lommel functionalfillwithzincash,heavymetals residentialarea 0.5million
Waterkluiskaai Ghent PAHsinfilllayer,asbestos,heavymetals residentialarea 0.365million
Baerts-motowidlo Genk coalandfueltrade residentialarea 0.3million
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A selection of important interventions in 2011
Project Municipality Former business and contamination Foreseen zoning Cost price €
Carcoke Zeebrugge cokeplant industrialzone 3.6million
Hoedhaard Lokeren animalhairprocessing,mercuryresidentialneighbourhood 2million
Alvat Buggenhout barrelcleaning industrialzone 1.979million
BuildingServices Wevelgem contaminatedsoilandasbestos industrialzone 1.3million
Bredastraat Antwerp fueldepot industrialzone 1.375million
Gorrebroekloop Willebroek cokeplant,PAHs industrialzone 1.08million
Zincash Lommel functionalfillwithzincash,heavymetals residentialarea 0.5million
Waterkluiskaai Ghent PAHsinfilllayer,asbestos,heavymetals residentialarea 0.365million
Baerts-motowidlo Genk coalandfueltrade residentialarea 0.3million
Duetotheincreasedlevyonlandfillingcombustiblewaste(inforcesince2007),theamountofcombustiblewastelandfilledhassystematicallydecreased.2009wasaturningpointinthisevolution.Thisfinancialmeasurecontinuedtohaveitseffectin2011.Comparedto2010,71,585tonslesscombustiblewastewaslandfilledin2011.
Theamountofincineratedwasteincreasedby93,179tons,theamountofco-incineratedwastedecreasedby10,373tonsandtheamountofexportedwasteremainedapproximatelythesame.
Alsothetotalamountlandfilledandincineratedwasteincreasedin2011to4,353,082tons,morethan100,000tonsgreaterthanin2010.
Totalrevenuefromleviesdecreasedslightlyandamountedtoapproximately32.9millioneurofor2010(comparedto33.4in2010).
Quantities of waste processed and levies collected in 2011:
2011
intons ineuro
Landfillingofcombustiblewaste 310,214 7,442,786
Landfillingofnon-combustiblewaste 877,330 7,083,878
Incineration 1,996,944 13,277,411
Co-incineration 473,904 1,749,670
Transport 694,690 2,869,097
Total 4,353,082 32,402,842
Waste and Materials Management Department
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0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Soil Management Department
Soil certificates delivered per year
Overview Descriptive Soil Survey - Soil Remediation Project cumulative
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
0 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Descriptive soil survey OKSoil remediation project neededSoil remediation project cumulative: descriptive soil survey needed
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Overview Soil Management Department dossiers
Ground information register 46,772 dossiers
Nofurthermeasuresneeded121
Additionaltestsneeded295
Conclusions416
ESScompleted31,997
38%
46%
43%
DSSOK9,46881%
DSSneeded11,761100%
SRPneeded5,016100%
SRPOK3,99580%
SRWstarted3,50170%
SRWcompleted2,18744%
Estimatednumberofhigh-risksites
85,000100%
DSSOK9,468
35%-39%
EstimatedDSSneeded24,000-27,000
100%
SRPneeded11,000-12,500
100%
SRPOK3,995
32%-36%
SRWstarted3,501
28%-32%
SRWcompleted2,187
17.5%-19.9%
Nofurthermeasuresneeded20,23663%
Nofurthermeasuresneeded4,45247%
ESS:ExploratorysoilsurveyDSS:DescriptivesoilsurveySRP:SoilremediationprojectSRW:Soilremediationwork Soil Management Department dossiers on
1 January 2012
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Complaints management
In2011,thecomplaintsmanagerreceived32complaints.16oftheseconcernedOVAMoperations.OVAMfollowedupthesecomplaintsandformulatedareplyineachcase.Oneofthesecomplaintswasdeclaredentirelyjustified.OVAMdevelopedasolutionforthis.Theother16complaintsdidnotconcernOVAMoperations.OVAMalsoansweredthesecomplaintsandreferredthepartiestothecorrectinstance.Citizenscontactthecomplaintsmanagerinthefirstplaceforgeneralinformationortoinquireconcerningthestatusofadossier.Theaveragetimeforansweringacomplaintis13days.The2011complaintsreportcanbeconsultedattheOVAMwebsite(www.ovam.be).
Staff complement and salary costs
Number of personnel on 31/12/2011 385
Sex
Male Female
148 237
Age categories
<=34 35-44 45-54 >=55
119 143 87 36
Qualification (level)
A B C D
208 71 83 23
Status
Statutory (incl. trainees) Contractual
244 141
General Services Department
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OVAM organisational structure from 1 June 2012
Administrator-GeneralHenny De Baets
General ManagerDannyWille
General ServicesDannyWille
IT&communication
HRadministration
LegalService
Finance
Logistics
Waste & Materials Management RudyMeeus
Levies&subsidies
Chainmanagementandcompanies
Administrativedatacentre
Policyinnovation
Chainmanagementandlocalauthorities
Interventions, Remediations and
Disposals AnnCuyckens
Remediationprojectsandinterventions
Remediationprojects&disposals
Soil ManagementEddyVanDyck
Staff servicesHermanGobel
SoilsurveysandremediationEast
Prevention advisorFrançoisMollu
Soildatamanagement
SpokespersonJanVerheyen
SoilsurveysandremediationWest
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Revenue
Balancecarriedforwardfrompreviousbudgetyears 7,957,757.58
Ownincome(mainlysoilcertificatesandinformationdossiers) 8,710,665.96
Incometransfersfromcompanies(e.g.UMICOREandex-officioreclamations) 1,671,684.63
IncometransfersfromE.U.InstitutionsandMemberStates(CityChlor/C2CN) 272,095.41
Incometransferswithinthepublicsector(mainlyoperationalsubsidyandMINAsubsidies) 26,302,770.49
Capitaltransferswithinthepublicsector(investmentsubsidiesandMINAsubsidies) 21,118,410.38
Saleofmaterialfixedassets 7,175.00
Liquidationofparticipationsinprivatecompanies(Ecopla) 24,000.00
WithdrawalfromSoilProtectionFund 24,112,463.93
Total 90,177,023.38
Expenditure
Balancetobecarriedforward 5,784,136.34
Wagesandsocialcontributions 22,083,646.47
Otheroperationalexpenses(housingexpenses,office-relatedexpenses,travelexpenses…) 2,734,517.69
Rentofbuildings 2,064,668.62
Indirecttaxes 218,952.49
Specificpurchases(mainlylegalandexpertexpenses) 1,185,730.13
Studiesandsurveys(wasteandsoil) 1,623,270.26
Communication 822,616.88
Operationalcostsofremediationandcertification 3,300,192.21
Disposalsandsoilsurveysintheframeworkofthecooperationagreement 13,274.14
Operationalsubsidiescollectionandsales(VLACOandIVCsubsidies) 1,086,175.13
Damagepayments 286,968.53
Annulmentsofrecoveryofex-officiointerventions 41,176.30
Contributiontosocialservice 23,493.84
Incometransferswithinthepublicsector 994,288.65
Disposalsandremediations 23,864,939.48
Sites 14,196.28
Installations,machineryandequipment 46,237.99
Officeequipmentandfurniture 37,874.10
Hardware 185,619.57
Software 1,212,826.82
ContributiontoSoilProtectionFund 22,552,221.46
Total 90,177,023.38
OVAM budget performance 2011(amounts in euro)
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Commitments Orders
Transferoffinancialfundsforsoilremediation-VLABOTEX 522,967.33 522,967.33
Subsidiesforanimalwaste 8,422,843.00 8,280,095.63
Subsidiestoaccreditedrecycling/reusecentres 887,766.00 898,000.00
Incometransferstoprovinces,provincialcompanies,localmunicipalities,municipalcompaniesandinter-municipalpartnershipsforsupportingprevention(compostbins,informationstands,compostmasterdemolocations…)andseparatedcollection
48,770.00 320,190.00
Investmentsubsidiestoprovinces,provincialcompanies,municipalities,municipalcompaniesandinter-municipalpartnershipsforsupportingprevention,separatecollection(recyclingyards,undergroundcontainers,diftarsystem...)andtheconstructionofinstallations(compostingofgreenandVFGwaste,sortingbulkyhouseholdwaste…)
4,955,550.00 7,418,274.00
Revenue and expenditure MINA fund – OVAM share (in euro)
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Revenue
Balancecarriedforwardfrompreviousbudgetyears 7,413,717.35
Ownincome(mainlysoilcertificatesandinformationdossiers) 8,069,845.40
Incometransfersfromcompanies(e.g.UMICOREandex-officioreclamations) 1,248,292.22
IncometransfersfromE.U.InstitutionsandMemberStates(CityChlor) 96,109.46
Incometransferswithinthepublicsector(mainlyoperationalsubsidyandMINAsubsidies) 26,367,393.63
Capitaltransferswithinthepublicsector(investmentsubsidiesandMINAsubsidies) 27,612,418.56
Saleofmaterialfixedassets 109.95
Liquidationofparticipationsinprivatecompanies(EkolNV) 2,741,640.00
WithdrawalfromSoilProtectionFund 23,060,905.10
Total 96,610,431.67
Expenditure
Balancetobecarriedforward 7,957,757.58
Wagesandsocialcontributions 21,094,736.36
Otheroperationalexpenses(housingexpenses,office-relatedexpenses,travelexpenses...) 2,652,290.49
Rentofbuildings 1,996,899.43
Indirecttaxes 218,679.61
Specificpurchases(mainlylegalandexpertexpenses) 584,551.61
Studiesandsurveys(wasteandsoil) 1,869,420.08
Communication 912,746.23
Operationalcostsofremediationandcertification 3,280,616.61
Disposalsandsoilsurveysintheframeworkofthecooperationagreement 10,858.95
Operationalsubsidiescollectionandsales(VLACOandIVCsubsidies) 1,203,131.37
Damagepayments 12,000.00
Contributiontosocialservice 23,553.50
Incometransferswithinthepublicsector 24,224.59
Disposalsandremediations 23,737,194.57
Installations,machineryandequipment 171,049.94
Officeequipmentandfurniture 15,935.70
Hardware 261,067.35
Software 1,031,962.14
ContributiontoSoilProtectionFund 29,551,755.56
Total 96,610,431.67
OVAM budget performance 2010(amounts in euro)
OV
AM
Activities R
epo
rt 20
11
.61
Commitments Orders
Transferoffinancialfundsforsoilremediation-VLABOTEX 509,402.30 509,402.30
Subsidiesforanimalwaste 7,684,668.00 8,031,339.75
Subsidiestoaccreditedrecycling/reusecentres 916,999.73 906,765.73
Incometransferstoprovinces,provincialcompanies,localmunicipalities,municipalcompaniesandinter-municipalpartnershipsforsupportingprevention(compostbins,informationstands,compostmasterdemolocations…)andseparatedcollection
548,590.00 407,940.00
Investmentsubsidiestoprovinces,provincialcompanies,municipalities,municipalcompaniesandinter-municipalpartnershipsforsupportingprevention,separatecollection(recyclingyards,undergroundcontainers,diftarsystem...)andtheconstructionofinstallations(compostingofgreenandVFGwaste,sortingbulkyhouseholdwaste...)
5,434,453.00 4,602,317.00
Revenue and expenditure MINA fund – OVAM share (in euro)
➜ Chapter 6
.62
OV
AM
Act
ivit
ies
Rep
ort
20
11
OV
AM
Activities R
epo
rt 20
11
.63
➜ Chapter 6
.64
OV
AM
Act
ivit
ies
Rep
ort
20
11
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