RE:BROWN 2024 conference summary - Environtec

On the second day of ENVIRONTEC powered by Ökoindustria, the RE:BROWN Remediation and Brownfield Investments conference was held with great interest, organised by the Hungarian Association of Environmental Enterprises (HAEE). The conference provided an opportunity to discuss national and EU remediation issues, current problems, draft objectives, legislative and implementation tasks, successful projects, new technologies and the empowerment of brownfield sites.

One of the priority topics of the Hungarian Presidency of the EU in the second half of 2024 will be soil contamination and the development of an EU framework for measures to prevent and eliminate soil contamination. In line with this, the morning session of the conference focused on the EU's measures and objectives to protect and improve soil quality, and on the draft directive on soil monitoring and resilience, which is currently in the trilogue phase between the EU Parliament, the Council and the Commission, with the help of Bavo Peters of the EU's Directorate-General for Environment.

Under the draft directive, member states will have to identify and register all their potentially contaminated sites.

The draft directive introduces a risk-based and staged approach. Once adopted, the member states will have 2 years to transpose it. 

Rainer Baritz, EEA/EIONET Project Manager, drew attention to the importance of a common language and terminology. There are great differences in interpretation between the member states, which is why it is urgent for the EU to create a single legal framework where technical terms are identified. He pointed to the shortcomings of member states' databases of contaminated sites, and said that there are conservative estimates of 2.8 million contaminated sites - in Europe alone! However, remediation will require a lot of money, time and the creation of a coherent legal framework.

The same obstacles were mentioned by the speakers in the afternoon session, including the Hungarian case study presentations. Another challenge is that it is difficult to obtain EU funding for remediation and risk reduction, because it would have to meet criteria that those familiar with the Hungarian situation would consider almost impossible.

Both foreign and national speakers at the conference drew attention to the challenges posed by new substances (e.g. microplastics, pesticides), and participants were also able to learn about several innovative remediation technologies and the process of microbiological remediation.

The possibility of on-site remediation was also considered in several presentations. Dr. Marco Falconi, IMPEL's Water and Soil Remediation Project Manager, presented the results of a project that started in 2021. He drew attention to the fact that there will not be enough space to replace contaminated soil - to extract it and dispose of it by landfilling - in the future! According to him, this is a waste of resources and therefore soil should be remediated in situ or on site. To facilitate this - and to support the authorities - two publications on a process technique are produced each year, on which draft comments are welcome, and which are available on the IMPEL website in their final and draft versions.

In addition to the risks posed by new substances, there was much discussion of PFAS compounds, commonly referred to as "life-cycle substances". There are thousands of types, they are present in almost everything, they break down very easily and they can accumulate in living organisms. The seriousness of the problem is reflected in the increasing emphasis on the restrictions (e.g. on limit values) on PFA compounds over the last 10 years. NICOLE has published a discussion paper on tightening the restrictions on PFAS (some argue that tightening could have a negative effect by slowing down the green transition as it is present in everything), which would set a combined limit of 4.4 ng/l for 24 PFAS. They also highlighted the dangers of cross-contamination.

During the day, there were several mentions of the use of microbiology in remediation, which was discussed in detail by János Stickel, Technical Director of Elgoscar Zrt. and Cosimo Masini, CEO of DND Biotech. The latter presented two technologies submitted for standardisation. One is "Bio Flushing", which can be applied in situ to saturated and unsaturated soils and groundwater (microorganisms or biomass are integrated into the soil and the contamination is extracted). Their system is closed and mobile, i.e. it can be transported to the site. As well as RoboNova, which can be used on site (requires extraction of soil but can be used directly on site). It uses microorganisms and biodegradation elements. A big advantage is that the biomass that is added to the soil also improves the soil quality.

A good example of brownfield investments was given by the new president of the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), James Law, who presented a commercial building (Lakeside MarketPlace) built on an old landfill site in the USA, and more specifically the process that preceded its construction, which required considerable expertise. Three elements had to be taken into account: the foundations (the waste is compressible, so it had to be compacted), the management of the gases released (e.g. methane) (there are passive and active solutions) and the safety of the construction workers (the air quality had to be monitored because of the industrial and hazardous waste). An exciting new direction could be to include these underused sites in urban development!

Last but not least, the conference was rounded off by two good examples from Hungary: the remediation of the mazut mound in the area of the former Csepel Works was presented by Péter Gentischer, CEO of Agruniver Holding Ltd., while the remediation of the pollution caused by an industrial plant near Abasár was presented by Csaba Tóth, CEO of Nitrokémia Zrt.

The RE-BROWN 2024 conference highlighted a number of forward-looking and long-term changes to the professional audience. Besides innovative technological innovations and challenges related to new pollutants, the draft EU Soil Monitoring Directive could bring significant changes to the industry.

At the end of the event, there was an opportunity to continue the professional discussion on this topic at a reception held after the conference at the stand of ENVIROTIS Holding Zrt.

A konferencia támogatói: