Odour immissions – planned integration of the Guideline for Odour Concentrations (GIRL) into the Technical Instructions on Air Quality Control (TA Luft)

For the 10th time in a row, the Center of Competence in Environmental Affairs KUMAS held the Bavarian Immission Control Days together with their cooperation partners, the Bavarian State Office for the Environment, Müller-BBM Holding AG and Andrea Versteyl Rechtsanwälte.

The topic "Odour immissions – planned integration of the Guideline for Odour Concentrations (GIRL) into the Technical Instructions on Air Quality Control (TA Luft)" in the lecture block "Plant-related immission control" was presented by Walter Grotz, managing director of the Müller-BBM GmbH.

In his lecture, Walter Grotz introduced the complex subject of the assessment of odour immissions in the presence of numerous representatives from industrial companies, district offices of cities and communities as well as specialist departments of the Bavarian State Office for the Environment.

Apart from the historical developments of the regulations on "odours", in his speech he focussed on the key points with regard to a possible adjustment of the Technical Instructions on Air Quality Control (TA Luft) and the integration of a modified Guideline for Odour Concentrations (GIRL).

The problem of a missing transitional regulation considering the subject of minimum distance versus frequency of odour immissions and the assessment threshold with regard to the interpretation instructions of GIRL with the concluding statement that "Grid inspections and immission predictions lead to equivalent results" did not remain unmentioned and were explained in the course of interesting digressions.

In his conclusion, Walter Grotz expressed some precise wishes from a professional point of view regarding an adjustment of the draft with regard to the integration of GIRL into TA Luft.

The next interesting lectures on immission control will be held on 13th/14th September 2018 in Berlin.

Walter Grotz clearly illustrates the complexity of evaluating odour immissions.

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