AAV - Association for land recycling and remediation of contaminated sites
| AAV - Association for land recycling and remediation of contaminated sites | |
|---|---|
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| legal form | Public corporation |
| purpose | Curbing land consumption, averting danger through remediation of contaminated sites and harmful soil changes, integrated advice and competence center on issues of soil protection |
| Seat |
Hattingen , Germany
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| founding | 1988 Adoption of the AAV law, 1989 constituent assembly of delegates
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| Board | Simone Raskob, Dr. Hans Richter (deputy) |
| executive Director | Dr. Roland Arnz |
| Members | the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (represented by the ministries responsible for the environment, urban development and mining), all municipalities in the state, around 70 companies as voluntary members |
| Website | www.aav-nrw.de |
The AAV - Association for land recycling and remediation of contaminated sites is a special legal association based in Hattingen . It was founded in 1988 by a law of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and initially had the main task of cleaning up contaminated sites for which no polluter could be held liable or identified. Today the association also plays a central role in land recycling in North Rhine-Westphalia , i.e. in the preparation of fallow land that was previously used industrially or commercially. The AAV has handled more than 100 projects since it was founded (as of 2018), and a further 57 projects are currently on the association's action plan. As a rule, the AAV is the initiator of the measures and also provides most of the necessary funds (up to 80%).
history
In the 1980s, a series of spectacular environmental scandals made the general public aware that waste and pollutants in soil and groundwater can pose significant long-term risks to humans and the environment. In North Rhine-Westphalia, housing estates that had been built on highly polluted areas in particular caused a sensation: In Bielefeld- Brake, people fell ill in a residential area that had been built on the site of a previous landfill; In Dortmund- Dorstfeld and Herne- Horsthausen , young families feared for the health of their children when it became known that pollutants from former coking plants were lying under their houses . In the reporting of these and similar cases, a term appeared for the first time that was included in the Duden dictionary in 1989: the contaminated site .
Foundation of the AAV
The polluter is responsible for the removal or remediation of a contaminated site ( Section 4 (3) of the Federal Soil Protection Act ). Ten years before the federal law, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia found a pragmatic solution with the establishment of the AAV, which is still unique in Germany: the waste disposal and contaminated site remediation association of North Rhine-Westphalia , as it was then called. If soil pollution poses a threat to people and the environment, the association can, according to the AAV Act , take action if no polluter can be identified or - for example due to bankruptcy - cannot be made liable. This ensures that the danger is quickly averted.
Development of the AAV
As a result of changes in the law, the tasks and responsibilities of the association were gradually expanded. Another decisive turning point was the first cooperation agreement that came into being in 2002 with the support of the state government: In addition to the mandatory members (state of North Rhine-Westphalia and its municipalities), companies could now also voluntarily join the association. The AAV currently has 29 voluntary members, including companies from the steel and energy industries. The strongest and long-standing sponsor from the economy is the AAV Association of the Chemical Industry, in which well-known companies from the chemical industry in North Rhine-Westphalia have come together to support the AAV. There is currently no comparable model of cooperative environmental protection by the public and private sector in any other federal state.
In 2012, an open-ended cooperation agreement between the state, municipalities and voluntary members was concluded and the AAV law was last amended in 2016. The cooperation agreement strengthened the association financially, but the AAV Act also assigned new tasks to the AAV. The state government increased its annual contribution to seven million euros in 2013, the contribution of the municipalities was doubled, they now pay 6 cents per citizen, a total of around one million euros.
The additional tasks of the AAV are to strengthen land recycling, which is flanked by the also new contaminated site risk fund. In addition, as an integrated advice and competence center, the AAV is now a central hub in the network of knowledge transfer between research institutions and companies as well as authorities and other government agencies. Incidentally, with the change in the law in 2013, the name of the association changed again, which has since been called AAV - Association for Land Recycling and Remediation of Contaminated Sites . The three letters AAV were left as a well-established brand with positive connotations, although of course they no longer fit as an abbreviation.
tasks
Remediation of contaminated sites
The central tasks of the AAV remain unchanged: the remediation investigation of contaminated sites and harmful soil changes as well as the planning and implementation of remediation measures. According to the AAV law, the AAV can always become active when it comes to averting threats to human health and when a person subject to rehabilitation cannot be called in or cannot be called in quickly enough. The AAV can also undertake the redevelopment of properties for which municipalities or associations of municipalities are required. Since the last amendment of the AAV Act, the AAV can also act in the case of mining-related contaminated sites, for the processing of which it is allocated separate funds.
Land recycling
The AAV supports the North Rhine-Westphalian state government by processing and reactivating fallow land and contaminated sites in order to reduce the consumption of near-natural and agricultural land. Currently in NRW an average of nine hectares of natural and open space is lost every day for the construction of traffic routes and residential buildings as well as for the development of new commercial areas. At the same time, tens of thousands of hectares of well-developed land lie fallow. As the project executing agency, the AAV rehabilitates such fallow land and contaminated sites and thus creates the conditions for new business settlements; it removes wasteland in the city center and thus opens up the opportunity to build new residential areas.
Special funding program
The special funding program mobilizing fallow land for refugee accommodation and permanent living space provided a strong additional impetus . For the years 2017 to 2021, the state government has so far made a total of 9.2 million euros available to the AAV in order to upgrade suitable areas for permanent residential development. The costs of the land recycling measures are taken over 100% by the AAV.
New technologies and innovative processes
New processes that work under laboratory conditions can fail on a large scale. That is why commercial users shy away from using them. In its projects, the AAV therefore develops and tests innovative technologies for the remediation of contaminated sites and for the removal of harmful soil changes together with various partners. The AAV communicates the results in its publications, at specialist conferences and in direct advice to its members. He also performs this task as part of the environmental economic strategy of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Integrated advice and competence center
The more than 30-year partnership between the state, municipalities and business has proven itself: The cooperation partners contribute their expertise and expertise, use the AAV's know-how and network and seek practical solutions in dialogue with difficult questions. With the amendment of the AAV law in 2013, the association became an integrated advice and competence center. It offers its members advice and technical support in the following areas in particular:
- in determining the initial state of soil and groundwater according to the European Industrial Emissions Directive ;
- in the introduction and application of new techniques for the remediation of contaminated sites and harmful soil changes, for promoting land recycling and water protection;
- in questions of remediation of contaminated sites and harmful soil changes as well as land recycling;
- through moderation and mediation in the case of contaminated sites and harmful soil changes that have particular technical or legal difficulties;
- with regard to the provision of security services for waste disposal plants within the framework of a solidarity community;
- The assumption of guarantees and sureties: the contaminated site risk fund can absorb the residual risks of already renovated properties to a limited extent. This is intended to increase the chances of marketing and re-using redeveloped areas.
- Support of the “Alliance for the Area of North Rhine-Westphalia” in all questions of land preparation and restoration of previously used areas.
Organs and bodies
The AAV is a corporation under public law that administers itself on the basis of the AAV Act and a statute. Legal supervision of the activities of the association is carried out by the state ministry responsible for the environment. The compulsory members of the AAV - districts and independent cities as well as the state of North Rhine-Westphalia - and the voluntary members from business currently send a total of 37 representatives to the delegates' assembly (as of 11/2019), which usually meets annually. Among other things, the delegates decide on the AAV's action and business plan and elect the eleven-member board every five years. The election of the managing director is one of his tasks. In addition, the AAV members are in other bodies, such as B. represented in the Commission for Contaminated Sites and Soil Protection, which proposes the projects to the board for inclusion in the action plan and accompanies the work on the projects.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Ministry of the Interior of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Division 14: Laws and ordinances | State law NRW. Retrieved June 19, 2018 .
- ↑ Ministerialblatt for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia No. 30 of December 12, 2012: Cooperation agreement for the area and contaminated site alliance of North Rhine-Westphalia. (PDF) Retrieved June 19, 2018 .
- ↑ Dieter Bednarz: “We built our luck on land” . In: Der Spiegel . tape 7 , February 11, 1985 ( spiegel.de [accessed June 19, 2018]).
- ↑ Poison in the garden: no entry . In: ZEIT ONLINE . ( zeit.de [accessed June 19, 2018]).
- ^ Poison in the soil on the Ruhr . In: ZEIT ONLINE . ( zeit.de [accessed June 19, 2018]).
- ^ Ministry of the Interior of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Division 14: Laws and ordinances | State law NRW. Retrieved June 19, 2018 .
- ↑ Ministerialblatt for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia No. 30 of December 12, 2012: Cooperation agreement for the area and contaminated site alliance of North Rhine-Westphalia. (PDF) Retrieved June 19, 2018 .
- ^ Ministry of the Interior of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Division 14: Laws and ordinances | State law NRW. Retrieved June 19, 2018 .
- ↑ Ministerialblatt for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia No. 30 of December 12, 2012: Cooperation agreement for the area and contaminated site alliance of North Rhine-Westphalia. (PDF) Retrieved June 19, 2018 .
- ^ Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Agriculture, Nature and Consumer Protection of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia: “Soils preserved. Recognize spaces. Secure development. ”- Sustainable land policy in North Rhine-Westphalia. (PDF) Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Agriculture, Nature and Consumer Protection of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, 40476 Düsseldorf, Public Relations Department, accessed on June 19, 2018 .
- ↑ AAV press service: New opportunities for municipal fallow land: AAV receives a further 4.6 million euros for a special funding program to mobilize fallow land. (PDF) Retrieved June 19, 2018 .
- ^ AAV - Association for land recycling and remediation of contaminated sites - AAV. Accessed June 19, 2018 (German).
- ↑ Environmental economic strategy - Competence Network Environment - AAV. Accessed June 19, 2018 (German).
- ^ AAV - Association for land recycling and remediation of contaminated sites - AAV. Accessed June 19, 2018 (German).