Industrial pollution and control measures for a foundry in Cyprus

Over the last decades improvements have been achieved in industry regarding several major polluting substances and gradually the environmental impact has shifted towards the so-called diffuse sources of pollution. Nevertheless, industrial processes still account for a considerable share of the overall pollution in Europe and it is very important to further reduce their contribution to ‘unsustainability’. The European Union (EU) has a set of common rules on permitting of industrial installations. These rules are set out in the so-called Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive of 1996 (IPPC). Cyprus is one of the accession countries to become a full member of the EU and is currently in the implementation process, in order to fulfill all the obligations that apply to the 15 Member States. A large number of these obligations derive from the IPPC Directive, which aims at the protection of the environment as a whole and the public health as well. In this framework, the National Technical University of Athens, after thorough examination of a large number of documents relevant to the Best Available Technologies, developed guidelines for the application of BATs for 14 categories of the industry of Cyprus. This paper concerns the developed guidelines for foundries.