De nieuwe richtlijnen zijn bekend rond de beoordeling van stikstofuitstoot bij vergunningsaanvragen met een mogelijke impact op habitatrichtlijngebieden.

Wij sommen je graag de belangrijkste elementen uit de instructie op, al staan we je ook graag bij als onafhankelijk adviesbureau voor verdere vragen hieromtrent.

Incorporating ecology into construction projects is now a hot topic in densely built Flanders. In a world where biodiversity is still strongly declining, every bit is important.

Wat is een milieueffectenrapportage?

Binnen de vergunningsprocedure moet u bij de realisatie van een project in een aantal gevallen nagaan wat de potentiële gevolgen zullen zijn op het milieu. Om die in kaart te brengen, gebeurt een milieueffectenrapportage (m.e.r.). Tijdens dit onderzoek worden de verwachte effecten op een aantal milieucompartimenten onderzocht: lucht, geluid, water, mobiliteit, biodiversiteit, bodem en mens. Deze informatie wordt gebundeld in een document en ter beschikking gesteld aan de overheid en het ruime publiek. De rapportage kent verschillende gradaties, afhankelijk van de grootte en ligging van het project. Er kan in grote lijnen een onderscheid gemaakt worden tussen een m.e.r-screening (lichtste vorm), een ontheffingsaanvraag en een milieueffectenrapport (zwaarste vorm).

After the merge of OLFASCAN en eco-scan, we are happy to announce another fun fact. On June 25^th and June 26^th, we will close the doors at the Industrieweg in Wondelgem and make our entry in our new offices at the Wondelgemkaai 159 in Ghent.  We are back in business on Monday June 29^th.

The lab of OLFASCAN will be closed between June 22^nd and July 3^rd. 

In these times of bad news, we, at OLFASCAN and eco-scan, also wish to send a positive message.

At the end of 2015, eco-scan became a 100% subsidiary of OLFASCAN. Since then, the interaction between both teams has intensified. Their complementary knowledge and skills are a strong asset when developing projects. In addition, both teams are housed in the same location and they have a common and parallel management.

Therefore, the next step seemed a natural evolution: we decided to merge both companies.

MILVUS consulting NV becomes the new company under which OLFASCAN and eco-scan become active. OLFASCAN and eco-scan are retained as brand names.

OLFASCAN nv and eco-scan bvba take the outbreak of covid19 seriously and we wish to take our full responsibility for "social distancing". This means that most of our people telework. Our chemical lab will be continue working. Since many people with young children are at home part-time to ensure childcare, this may lead to a limited delay, but we do everything we can to meet the agreed deadlines. With regard to meetings outside the home, they are postponed if not urgently. Urgent and necessary meetings can take place via Skype.

Sinds november 2019 beschikken eco-scan en OLFASCAN nu ook over erkenningen inzake MER-coördinator

Under the valued and expert guidance of Kirsten Coeck, we have continued to build on our organizational structure and forged great future plans, whereby OLFASCAN nv and eco-scan bvba will collaborate even more intensively and benefit from each other's knowledge and skills. Thanks to our entire top team for a tiring but very valuable day!

The OLFASCAN laboratory is already equipped with very specific analytical equipment for analyzing volatile organic components (VOC) in very low concentrations (µg/m³). Because some components have very low odour thresholds, and are therefore relevant for thorough odour research, OLFASCAN has purchased new applications to provide an even better answer to analyzing these challenging components.

After working with heart and soul on solutions for various sound and vibration problems in our full-scale acoustic lab for a number of beautiful years, Daidalos Peutz  took over the lab on 4 March 2019.

eco-scan noise lab proudly announces that a new test method has been accredited by BELAC. The method NBN EN 16205 evaluates a floor covering on how you perceive the ‘loudness’ when walking over it. 

In recent years, concerns about the health risks of those living in the vicinity of livestock farms have increased considerably. Various scientific reports have been published on this subject. The existing studies, however, resulted in contradictory conclusions, so that there is as yet no consensus on a relationship between emissions from livestock farming and the health of local residents.

Eco-impact is specialized in measuring the quality of the environment, in particular the quality of the air, soil, groundwater and surface water, with the aim of estimating possible health risks.

Odour problems remain a very important part in the number of environmental complaints that citizens make. Along with complaints about noise, smell is the main component of all registered complaints. This is also logical since both problems directly affect a sense that is continuously active. After all, we cannot simply switch off our hearing or our breathing - and the associated sense of smell.

Since a few years we, OLFASCAN and eco-scan, went our own independent course. As a group we aim to make a difference for you, our customer. We do this by offering a qualitative and optimal service. We can only achieve this through and with our employees. That is why OLFASCAN and eco-scan consider it important to pay attention to their well-being in the job. Motivated and committed employees give the best of themselves every day, and you, the customer, reap the benefits.

From our colleagues from OLFASCAN we had received a present for our tenth anniversary: Teambuilding in an escape room (the Russia Lab, Ghent).

Because of the complexity of some matrices in which organic sulphur compounds occur, it is not always easy to detect and identify them. In addition, making an estimation about the quantity is not obvious. The Organic Sulphur Screening was brought to life for this. By combining a sulphur-specific detector and a mass spectrometer, we can look specifically for the sulphur compounds to identify and semi-quantify them.

On October 6th 2017, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of eco-scan at our facilities at Hooglede, together with our partners, staff, customers, suppliers and also government representatives.

Following the decision of the Flemish government of 30 November 2016, the significance testing values for ammonia changes to the "appropriate assessment" on 1 July 2017. In order to map the effects of ammonia on Natura 2000 areas, the contribution of the company is assessed with regard to the carrying capacity of the vegetation that is located in the environment of the company within the Habitats Directive area. This is called the company's contribution to the critical burden for that type of vegetation.

Recently OLFASCAN uses a new sampling technique to take air samples. This uses metal vessels (6L), called canisters, which are provided with a special coating on the inside to also be able to sample reactive components.

The environmental permit procedure started on 23 February 2017. As of this procedure, the e.i.a.-procedure was also renewed. An important change includes the integration of the project-e.i.a. procedure into the environmental permit procedure, with the aim of obtaining more coordinated documents.

As consultants in air and odour problems, we notice that there are regular uncertainties and even errors are often made about the correct dimensioning of ventilation systems. However, ventilation is an essential part of solving an odour or emission problem. Usually the necessary attention is paid to the process-based control of emissions from an installation and to the purification thereof, but it is often wrong when capturing and transporting these air flows.