Nuisances caused by odours have become a major environmental problem in recent decades. Odorous emissions can cause serious impacts on community well-being and quality of life. Thus, appropriate regulatory tools are needed to prevent or...
moreNuisances caused by odours have become a major environmental problem in recent decades. Odorous emissions can cause serious impacts on community well-being and quality of life. Thus, appropriate regulatory tools are needed to prevent or mitigate such impacts. In this context, an approach of legal procedures for odour nuisance control is proposed, in view of the Brazilian reality. For that, a bibliographical and documental research about the various elements that make up the environmental issues related to odour emissions is performed, including a survey of the current laws and regulations on atmospheric pollution and odours. The analysis of the national regulatory framework revealed that, in general, requirements for odour control nuisance are based on the principles of the Common Law and pointed out the limitations of the currently employed approaches. The approach proposed in this work provides for the adoption of the Best Available Techniques and considers the different factors that affect odour impacts, collectively known as FIDOL (Frequency, Intensity, Duration, Offensiveness and Location). It also includes community participation in the assessment of the perceived impacts. More specifically, the proposed approach is based on the establishment of guidelines for Minimum Separation Distances, Maximum Emission Standards, Maximum Impact Standards and Maximum Annoyance Standards. Methods for odour impact assessment in the environmental permitting process of potentially polluting facilities and procedures for investigating odour complaints are also included. It is hoped that this work could contribute to the dissemination of knowledge in the field of olfactometry and collaborate for the development of public policies for odour nuisance control in Brazil.
