§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the costs resulting from illegal dumping in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement. [164850]
§ Angela SmithThe term "illegal dumping" may be taken to include a wide range of illegal waste management activities ranging from small-scale1582W dumping, referred to as 'fly-tipping', through to the use of sites to dispose illegally of significant quantities of waste.
An illegal site containing in the region of 10,000 tonnes of waste may cost approximately 1,000,000 to remediate by waste removal. The total number of such sites in Northern Ireland is not known. However, my Department's Environment and Heritage Service is currently investigating 20 sites ranging in capacity from 5,000 to 26,000 tonnes.
In addition to the cost of remediation of illegal sites, illegal dumping also impacts adversely, in competitive terms, on those operating legitimate waste management businesses.