Collection of available techniques for the prevention or reduction of environmental impacts in non-energy extractive industries (NEEI)

The European Green Deal and its environmental, climate, circular economy and industrial policy actions commit to twin green and digital transitions and to move towards zero pollution for air, soil and water. Achieving these objectives requires access to sustainable raw materials. The objective of the study presented here was to investigate which information already exists in the public domain regarding techniques that could possibly contribute to preventing or reducing the impact on the environment from non-energy extractive activities.The study starts by analysing the Key Environmental Issues, i.e. the areas where the largest environmental impacts could be expected for the various extractive sub-sectors as a whole in the EU. The report then presents a review of 430 literature references that were used to identify 149 Prevention or Reduction Techniques (PRT) which are currently being applied in the non-energy extractive industries to address these Key Environmental Issues. This in-depth overview of PRT can be used as an interactive screening toolkit, with PRT identified for the main Key Environmental Issues. However, not all PRT apply to all extractive sub-sectors, types of mineral resources, and extractive operations. Hence, it must be stressed that the application of PRT is very much dependent on site-specific conditions. In order to maximise the usability of the collected data, additional detailed information is needed with particular reference to PRT relevance for mineral resources and extractive activities and applicability conditions. Furthermore, during the study, the importance of applying a risk-specific approach emerged, particularly in the evaluation of the site- or operation-specific applicability.