The Environmental Protection Inspectorate has issued a decision ordering Rockwool Adriatic d.o.o. to temporarily suspend the production of stone wool until the prescribed continuous monitoring of pollutant emissions into the air is established, as announced by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Physical Planning.
Inspection controls conducted following a report from Center 112 from October 16 to 18, 2007, regarding citizen complaints about smoke and unpleasant odors, and an examination of the results of continuous emission measurements at the Rockwool Adriatic factory, found that on the mornings of October 15 and 16, 2007, there were exceedances of the formaldehyde emission limit at the discharge from the spinning chamber and drying furnace. An inspection conducted on October 17, 2007, determined that during the calibration of the MCS 100 E device monitoring SO2 emissions from the dome furnace and formaldehyde and ammonia emissions from the spinning chamber and drying zone, a malfunction was observed on the device, rendering the measurement values irrelevant.
To rectify the device malfunction, the company engaged a service technician, but by October 19, when a visual inspection confirmed the emission of flue gases through the emergency chimney and due to the dense reddish fog in the vicinity of the stone wool factory, a follow-up inspection at Rockwool Adriatic revealed that the malfunction had not been resolved, and the device continued to show unsatisfactory emission measurement results. It was also found that the results of continuous emission measurements were not displayed in accordance with the provisions of the Regulation on Monitoring Emissions of Pollutants into the Air from Stationary Sources. The Environmental Protection Inspectorate requested data on the number of hours of stone wool production without continuous emission measurements, but this data was not provided by the end of the inspection that day.
