[The sugar sector and the environment] | Le secteur sucrier face a l'environnement

The Belgian sugar industry handles annually about 6,000,000 tonnes of sugar beet which results in an annual production of roughly 1 million tonnes of white sugar. The environmental legislation is as a rule tailored to production units and takes insufficient account of the characteristics of the sugar industry in the agro-food supply chain on the one hand and the connection of the sector with agriculture on the other. The sugar industry produces four byproducts which are mainly applied usefully in agriculture: soil, lime residue, beet pulp and molasses. The current regulations, however, leave the concept of "by-product" and "associated product" completely out of consideration. Every secondary product is a priori categorised us a waste product. A waste product is defined as "each material or each item that the holder gets rid of, is intending to get rid of or has to get rid of". A strict definition of the idea of "getting rid of" has unfortunately never been assumed so this gives rise to diverse interpretations. In practice the processing of sugar beet is limited to about 70 days. In spite of the indisputable seasonal character of the sugar production process, the environmental legislation hardly takes this into account at all. Emission norms are as a rule expressed as maximum flows and concentrations instead of average loads over a well-defined period. The formula for the calculation of charges on waste water discharged takes insufficient account of the seasonal nature of the activity. Because of the considerable urbanisation which has taken place in Belgium during recent decades the built up area round the sugar beet factories, shredders and refineries has increased enormously. Tills results in problems in connection with the direction of sector plans, which in turn has implications for applications for licences, approval of environmental investment, emission norms etc. At the present moment there is a great social debate going on. At stake are our space for living, our welfare, our employment opportunities. To respond successfully to such a challenge close co-operation between industry, the authorities and the local residents is unavoidable.