Do you know that printing will be regulated by the Air Quality Act?
According to Section 21 of the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act , 2004 (the Act) the Minister must publish a list of activities which result in atmospheric emissions and which the Minister reasonably believes have or may have a significant detrimental effect on the environment, including health, social conditions, economic conditions, ecological conditions or cultural heritage. A Notice was published in April 2010 and a number of activities have been listed. In respect of each activity minimum emission standards have been identified and persons undertaking those activities have to comply with the emission standards.
Before the final Notice was promulgated a draft Notice was published which included printing as a listed activity. In response to this, PIFSA, PACSA and the PCA submitted an objection to the DEA in 2009 regarding “Printing Works” becoming a listed activity in terms of Section 21 of the Act.
The result of that submission was that printing was excluded as a listed activity. The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) however now intends including printing as a listed activity.
The consequences of listing are that without an atmospheric emission licence you may not conduct an activity anywhere in the Republic or if the activity is on a provincial list anywhere in that province. There are also cost implications in respect of activities being listed in terms of s21 of the Act. These include costs relating to the implementation of the appropriate technology in order to comply with the limits (i.e. emissions control technology), as well as costs to monitor stack emissions and prepare site licences.
See the full article Article2012_03_13AQAV3Final
If any printing company, whether PIFSA members or not, would like more information, please contact Louise Moralee at Lmoralee@pifsa.org or telephone on 011 287 1160.
Posted LPM 2012_03_30
