BAT conclusions for waste incineration (Decision 2019/2010): requirements, emission levels, deadlines

The BAT conclusions for waste incineration, adopted by Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/2010 of 12 November 2019, are a binding document setting the emission levels and technical requirements that waste incineration plants in the European Union must meet. They supplemented the general limits from the IED with binding requirements based on best available techniques and forced a review of permits across the industry. Installations operating before publication had to adapt within four years of its announcement in the Official Journal of the EU, i.e. by the beginning of December 2023.

What BAT conclusions are

Best available techniques (BAT) are the most effective and advanced solutions that are practically suitable for limiting emissions. BAT conclusions are part of a reference document (BREF) prepared with the participation of Member States, industry and non-governmental organisations, and then adopted by a Commission decision. Its key element is the BAT-associated emission levels (BAT-AELs): not single figures, but ranges of values that an installation achieves when BAT are correctly applied. The permitting authority sets limits so that they do not exceed the upper ends of the ranges, unless a justified and documented derogation is exceptional in nature.

Scope

The conclusions concern, among other things:

• environmental management systems and process monitoring,
• acceptance and control of waste and its storage,
• incineration and process control,
• energy efficiency,
• emissions to air (dust, metals, HCl, HF, SO₂, NOx, CO, TOC, NH₃, mercury, dioxins),
• emissions to water from flue gas cleaning,
• handling of slag and ashes,
• noise and odours, and emergency situations.

Selected emission levels to air

According to studies discussing the decision, the levels for the main pollutants (daily averages, under standard conditions) are as follows:

These values should be treated as indicative: the exact reference conditions (averaging, oxygen content, exceptions) follow from the text of the decision. For comparison, the general daily limits from Annex VI to the IED for dust, HCl and TOC were 10 mg/Nm³, and for SO₂ 50 mg/Nm³ — the BAT conclusions therefore shifted practice towards stricter values.

Deadline and adaptation procedure

Under the IED, within four years of the publication of the BAT conclusions the authority reviews the permit conditions, and the installation must meet the new requirements. In practice this meant for operators:

1. A gap analysis between the state of the installation and BAT (a comparison against each requirement).
2. Applications to amend the (integrated) permit or to supplement the documentation.
3. Upgrades: e.g. an additional NOx removal stage (SCR or SNCR), improved removal of acid gases and mercury, changes to the measurement system.
4. Changes to the management and monitoring system.

Derogations from the BAT-AELs are possible only where their application would lead to disproportionately higher costs compared with the environmental benefits, because of geographical location, local environmental conditions or the technical characteristics of the installation. This requires justification and is subject to public information.

Energy efficiency and resources

The conclusions also contain energy efficiency levels (BAT-AEELs) and requirements for reducing the consumption of auxiliary materials, and for slag, quality criteria that support its recovery. For operators this means that meeting the requirements does not come down to filters: the energy balance, reagent consumption and the quality of residues also count.

What an operator or municipality should check

• whether the integrated permit has been amended in response to the BAT conclusions, and what limits have been set,
• what the system of continuous and periodic measurements looks like and whether it keeps pace with the requirements,
• whether annual reports and public information are up to date,
• what investments are planned for the next period (e.g. refurbishment of the incineration line),
• how deviations from BAT are handled in the case of non-standard installations (e.g. a sewage sludge incinerator).

Typical errors

• Treating the upper BAT-AEL value as a guarantee of "zero risk": the permit may be stricter.
• Relying on old measurements without verifying the method and uncertainty.
• Overlooking the requirements on management of received waste, especially control of loads.
• No plan for the period of failures and shutdowns, in which emissions may rise.

For residents and local governments the most important thing is that the BAT conclusions provide a common point of reference: they make it possible to ask whether a given installation operates within the range indicated by the best techniques and what has been done to approach it.

New and existing installations

The conclusions distinguish levels for new and existing installations, and some requirements (e.g. the upper limits for NOx and HCl) are somewhat more lenient for existing ones. An existing installation is one that is not a new installation; a new installation is one that obtained its first permit after the publication of the conclusions or was completely replaced after that publication. A complete replacement of an installation may therefore mean applying the levels for new installations. It is worth taking this into account when planning modernisation, because a "refurbishment" may, from the legal perspective, turn out to be a "new installation".

The role of monitoring in BAT

The conclusions require monitoring not only of final emissions but also of process parameters: the temperature in the combustion chamber, oxygen content, the performance of the cleaning systems and reagent consumption. These data serve for early detection of deviations. Operators who analyse trends catch the deterioration of filters or the catalyst before a limit is exceeded, and this reduces the risk of penalties and downtime.

This text is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice; before an investment or formal decision, check the current wording of the legislation and consult a lawyer or the competent authority.