§ Lord Norrieasked Her Majesty's Government:
When they intend that dumping at sea of industrial waste covered by the 1987 North Sea Declaration will cease.
§ Baroness TrumpingtonEver since the 1987 North Sea Declaration we have been working hard to identify acceptable land based means of disposal for the industrial wastes which we have licensed for disposal at sea. We are very glad to be able to announce that we intend that none of these wastes will continue to be dumped at sea after the end of 1992. In two cases however it might not be technically feasible to meet this deadline. We will extend the licences for these two last wastes into 1993 only if absolutely necessary on technical grounds and for the shortest possible part of that year.
We are also glad to emphasise that we have already stopped the dumping at sea of more than half the industrial wastes which were licensed in 1987. Only nine wastes covered by the 1987 North Sea Declaration remain and some of these will cease to be dumped at sea in the course of this year.
The identification and implementation of acceptable land-based disposal alternatives on this timescale requires a high degree of commitment by the companies concerned. However, although the 1987 North Sea Declaration accepted that wastes such as ours which do not harm the sea could continue to be disposed of at sea as long as no practicable land-based means of disposal was available, the Government have been determined to ensure that these wastes ceased to be dumped at sea as soon as possible. We are extremely pleased that we have now been able to set a firm timetable for ending all these disposals at sea.