Environmental impact assessment and permit for crushing plant

Two procedures, one calendar

The environmental impact assessment and permit for crushing plant is not a single application. The first procedure evaluates the project before it is built and authorises the investment; the second supervises emissions, noise, waste and water once the plant runs, and authorises operation. Treating them as one file is the most common source of delay in an investment programme: equipment is ordered before the assessment decision, and then the measurement and setback conditions demanded at permit stage rearrange the layout.

The correct order is site and capacity decision, screening, assessment stage, construction and erection, trial operation with measurements, and finally the permit. Each step produces the input of the next.

What decides the regime: capacity and power

The regime does not follow from the make of the plant but from two numbers: annual or hourly capacity, and the combined installed power of machines able to run at the same time. In Türkiye the capacity threshold places the project in Annex 1 or Annex 2 of the assessment regulation; an Annex 1 project produces a full report, while an Annex 2 project submits a project information file and the authority issues an assessment required or not required decision. In France the criterion is power, assessed under heading 2515 of the classified installations nomenclature. In Germany a plant for crushing and classifying stone falls as a rule under number 2.2 of Annex 1 to the fourth ordinance on immission control and is permit-bound.

Thresholds and resulting documents by country

The table shows which door the investment must knock on; the content of the application is dictated by the site itself. For the technical side of a fixed layout, the arrangement logic on the quarry stationary plant page also underpins the process flow diagram the file will ask for.

What the file actually contains

A permit file is not a catalogue. The authority does not read what the plant will make but what it will release. The file therefore carries a process flow diagram with a mass balance, an itemised list of dust sources with the control applied to each, noise sources with the distance to the nearest sensitive use, water consumption and any recovery loop, waste streams and their disposal route, storage areas and the internal traffic plan, and finally a closure and rehabilitation commitment. Emission and noise measurements taken during trial operation form the evidence section and come from an accredited laboratory.

How a mobile plant differs

Being mobile does not remove the obligation; it can change the regime. In France the declaration threshold is higher for a temporary installation whose single stay on a site does not exceed six months. In Germany a plant operated on no more than ten days a year sits outside the permit obligation under number 2.2. In both cases exceeding the time or site limit converts the regime to that of a permanent installation, which makes the record of days spent on site as important a document as the file itself.

Typical reasons the calendar stretches

The first is incomplete site data: a file written without measuring distance to sensitive uses, prevailing wind and the relationship to surface water comes back with a request for completion. The second is missing that a capacity increase is its own procedure, because existing and new capacity are assessed together against the threshold. The third is scheduling measurements too late, since laboratory slots for trial operation normally need booking in advance. The fourth is applying to the wrong authority, because the pollution class decides between ministry and provincial level.

Frequently asked questions: environmental impact assessment and permit for crushing plant

Can the permit be obtained without an assessment decision

No. The assessment stage authorises the project and the permit authorises the operation; the second rests on the output of the first.

Does a capacity increase start a new procedure

It is assessed on existing plus new capacity combined. If the sum crosses the listed threshold, fresh screening is required.

Which text applies to a plant built abroad

The national law of the country where the plant is built. The three examples above only show what kind of criterion is used; the numeric threshold differs everywhere, and a written scoping opinion from the authority is the shortest route. The other articles under environment and dust control deal with measurement and mitigation after the permit is issued.