NZG

ALKALINE ZINC PLATING AND EFFLUENT PLANT AT DURHAM

Bekaert Handling invested over £0.5 million on an alkaline zinc plating plant and associated effluent treatment plant during 2001.

Due to the requirement that any new plant came under the new IPPC regulations monitored by the Environment Agency, an IPPC permit application was submitted.

To achieve this, Bekaert Handling realised that knowledge of the metal finishing industry was required and the expertise of the Nottingham Zinc Group was brought on board.

Working together, both companies produced the IPPC permit application, IPPC Site Report, Risk Assessment, Health and Safety, Environmental, Material Handling requirements and associated COSHH data to the satisfaction of the Environment Agency who issued a full IPPC permit for the alkaline zinc plating plant and associated effluent treatment plant on 31st May 2001.  This was the first permit to be issued in this section of the metal finishing industry.

Continuous monitoring of natural resources is presently underway to improve upon the use of electricity, gas and water, thus assisting to achieve the requirement of industry to meet the environmental requirements of the United Nations Protocol, the 'Kyoto Protocol' signed by the EU to reduce emissions.

This successful partnership has resulted in a considerable saving to Bekaert Handling who have seen plating costs reduced significantly and by having plating on site there are no transport costs involved.