Brussels, 09/11/2009 (Agence Europe) - To give the public easier access to environmental information, the European Commission and the European Environment Agency (EEA) announced the launch on Monday 9 November of a new European pollutant release and transfer register, available online at http: //prtr.ec.europa.eu
The register has been christened E-PRTR, from the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR), adopted in 2003 by the parties to the Aarhus Convention, which came into force on 8 October 2009.
For 2007, it includes data for 91 pollutants released into the air, water and the soil by more than 24,000 facilities in 65 economic activities in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
“The opening of this register will give citizens direct access to information on emissions from facilities across Europe and will help them to engage actively in decisions affecting the environment. It demonstrates a genuine commitment by the public authorities and industry to share information with citizens,” said Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas in a press release.
Professor Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of the European Environment Agency, said that the new register would satisfy the public participation objective set by the Aarhus Convention, since “anyone can now see how much pollution is being released to air and water from facilities in their neighbourhood or region”.
The information in the register covers 30% of total NOx (nitrogen oxides) emissions (i.e. most emissions from sources other than transport) and 76% of total SOx (sulphur oxides) emissions to air in the EU27 countries and Norway.
The register also shows the amount of waste and waste water transferred to other locations, including transboundary transfers of hazardous waste, and gives preliminary information on pollutants from “diffuse” sources released to water, such as nitrogen and phosphorus loss from agriculture.
The website has a powerful search engine that allows visitors to search using one or more criteria and a map tool. Visitors can search the amount of hazardous and non-hazardous waste transferred from facilities in a country (waste search), or releases from a specific industrial site by name or location (facility search).
The data were submitted by industrial facilities to national authorities, which then passed them on to the European Commission. The register brings together all this information.
From 2010 onwards, the information in E-PRTR will be updated in April each year. (A.N./transl.rt)