In 2003 the Environment Agency announced a change to the PPC policy relating to site reports. This moved the emphasis to the prevention of any pollution, and only required the setting of reference conditions by the operator when there was a risk of contamination to land being caused. The surface treatment industry was the first PPC sector for which this new policy was applied, and through a collaborative effort between regulators, trade bodies, and consultants a clear message was provided to industry. The leading trade body in this sector is The Surface Engineering Association (SEA), which was particularly pro-active. The setting up of the SEA/Environ PPC Clubs enabled 44 sites to apply for PPC and achieve benefits in terms of reducing the environmental impact, resource efficiencies, implementing Environment Management Systems (EMS's), and the prevention of accidents. This paper describes an overview of the regulatory framework, the running of the PPC clubs, the constructive implementation of the new site report policy, and the way that this encouraged improvements to be made to prevent any future contamination to land.
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