§ Bob SpinkTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what poisonous substances have been deposited at Pitsea tip; over what period; and from which source. [3891]
§ Mr. MeacherWaste has been deposited at Pitsea landfill site at least since 1935 and since that time it is estimated some 30 million tonnes of waste have been deposited from a range of sources.
Between 1967 and 1994, there were requirements to submit records of the waste deposited at the site under various waste and planning controls. This information was collected by the relevant local authorities at the time. Some of these records were passed to the Environment Agency, though full records do not exist for the complete period that the landfill site operated.
The situation changed in 1994. Under paragraph 14 of Schedule 4 to the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994, operators are required to keep a record of the quantity, nature and origin of the waste disposed of at each site; and to make that information available, on request, to the Environment Agency. However, the agency must act reasonably in its use of this power. The agency would be open to legal challenge in the event of unreasonably seeking detailed information on all the substances, and the source of those substances, disposed of at the Pitsea landfill site since 1994. Nevertheless the detailed licence for the site which specifies the quantities and types of waste able to be deposited at Pitsea is available for inspection at the local Environment Agency office. The following is an extract from the licence which details the general limits on the amount of waste able to be deposited at the site.
Extract from licence
Condition 21023W
- (i) A maximum amount of 200,000 tonnes of commercial and industrial waste in liquid form, of which not more than 175,000 tonnes shall be hazardous, shall be deposited annually
- (ii) not more than 37,000 tonnes of hazardous industrial waste in solid form, other than solid land clearance waste shall be deposited annually
- (iii) not more than 60,000 tonnes of solid, hazardous waste, land clearance waste shall he deposited annually
- (iv) not more than 5,000 tonnes in liquid form and 1,000 in solid form shall be of high hazard category
Condition 77Notwithstanding the quantities of liquid waste permitted for disposal by condition 2, no more than 119,500 tonnes of liquid waste shall he deposited directly to landfill during the year ending 1 April 1992 and this volume shall be reduced in each successive year by at least 12,500 tonnes so that by the end of the year ending 31 March 1997, no more than 60,000 tonnes are disposed of by direct landfill.