§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Environment if he will now take steps to ban imports of polychlorinated biphenyls into the United Kingdom; if he will ensure the safe disposal of all existing stocks; if he will recommend the use of less toxic materials; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThere are no proposals at present t ban imports of PCBs into the United Kingdom. I understand that the traffic is already very small and diminishing. Users of PCBs for the few permitted applications have mostly changed over to non-PCB substitutes.
The manufacture of PCBs in the United Kingdom ceased in 1977 and there are now no significant stocks of PCBs left for use. There are fully controlled arrangements for the disposal of PCBs from existing transformers and capacitors as equipment reaches the end of its serviceable life. Under the terms of the Control of Pollution Act wastes must be disposed of only at a suitably licensed facility: for the majority of these PCB wastes this would be a high temperature incinerator equipped with suitable gas-sampling equipment. The facility would be controlled also by the Alkali Inspectorate. Some PCBs are also being replaced before that by substitutes. Alternative materials are now used unless the comparable properties of PCBs cannot be matched for particular limited applications.