Recent practices in pollution control tend to move towards the core of industrial operations. To face this trend, process synthesis methods have evolved to consider environmental aspects. Nevertheless, so called end of pipe treatments still play an important role. A third factor to be considered if cost effective solutions are sought is the capability of the receptors to cope with polluting releases. This work presents a methodology for the simultaneous optimisation of waste minimisation practices and end of pipe treatments considering the decay capabilities of the receptors. When environmental objectives are set in terms of environmental quality standards (EQSs) in a particular receptor, it is convenient to consider all plants located in the receptor’s catchment area simultaneously. Regulatory developments such as tradeable emission limits turn this into a practicable system. An example included here contemplates four industrial sites located alongside a river. Each of these can remove pollutants using mass exchange networks (MENS). TWO activated sludge treatment plants can be used to further improve the quality of the effluents. The receptor is a river with a certain capacity to degrade biodegradable releases. The inherent complexity of the combinatorial problem is tackled by a decomposition approach based on physical rather than mathematical considerations, The results obtained prove the validity of the approach here presented for the identification of the best practicable environmental option (BPEO).