Third sector specific capacity building workshop of the eVOC Serbia project held, for the representatives of the footwear production sector and environment inspectors

Within the Project “’Further Implementation of EU Regulation on Volatile Organic Compounds – eVOC Serbia”, a workshop entitled “VOC management and obligations of the operators of the footwear production sector (Activity 14)” was held. The workshop, intended for the identified representatives of industry in this sector, as well as for the representatives of environment inspection at all levels, was held on Friday, December 10, 2021, via Zoom platform in a form of a webinar. This is the third sector-specific workshop in a series, intended to present the regulatory framework for the control of volatile organic compounds emissions and their reduction schemes.

Ms. Ljubica Bolović, representative of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia, greeted the participants on behalf of the Air and Ozone Layer Protection Unit and shared a brief summary of the Ministry’s activities in this field. Ms. Elena Janković, the eVOC Serbia project expert, in her introductory lecture spoke about the legislation and presented the Regulation that pertains to the obligations of VOC operators from this sector in the Republic of Serbia.

International expert of the eVOC Serbia Project, Dr Richard Schlachta, spoke in detail about the relevant sources of VOC emissions from this sector, as well as on the calculation of solvent mass balances for the activity of the footwear manufacture i.e., on determination of solvent consumption and checking compliance with emission limit values. Within this part of the lecture, legal requirements for operators were presented, ie. deadlines to be met when reporting on compliance. The last segment of the lecture was dedicated to the presentation of the best available techniques for reducing emissions of volatile organic compounds. At the end of Mr. Schlachta’s lecture, the processes of waste gas purification were presented, as well as the criteria for the selection of the control system for waste gases.

The invitation of the eVOC Serbia Project was accepted by the representatives of inspections at all levels, from the national and province inspectors to local inspectors, as well as representatives of producers working in this field. 

You can see the agenda and pictures from the Zoom workshop here.