HAZARDOUS WASTE INSPECTORATE REPORT (Hansard, 22 June 1988)

The Earl of Caithness

We welcome the Third Report of the Hazardous Waste Inspectorate, which has been published today. Copies of the report have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses and are publicly available from Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

The report is concerned with standards of waste management for the year ending 31st March 1987. From that time, the Hazardous Waste Inspectorate has been incorporated in Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution (HMIP) under the new title of HMIP: Wastes. HMIP will in future publish reports on its activities as a whole including those of HMIP: Wastes. The present arrangements are being maintained in Scotland for the time being.

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While it is encouraging to note that the inspectorate found significant improvements in standards of waste management by comparison with its earlier findings, it is apparent that much remains to be done. The report particularly highlights the need for greater professionalism and training in the industry.

The Government have already initiated a number of measures intended to ensure that the progress so far made is maintained and that waste management practice will continue to improve. On 11th May, regulations were laid before Parliament which will, inter alia, clarify the application of the disposal licensing system in England and Wales; they do, for example, require the licensing of oil and solvent recovery operations as recommended in Chapter 5 of the report. A separate review of the licensing provisions for waste disposal in Scotland is at present in hand, with a view to making new regulations. The provisions of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 on waste will not, however, be affected. Regulations are planned to be laid before the Summer Recess to implement the EC Directives on Transfrontier Shipment of Hazardous Wastes; the regulations will apply to special wastes and will ensure that waste disposal authorities for the areas covering both port of entry and disposal site receive prior notification of such shipments from overseas. This will provide valuable assistance to waste disposal authorities in carrying out their enforcement duties.

A revised version of Waste Management Paper No. 4, which provides advice on the terms and conditions which should be applied to disposal licences will be published in September. Full publicity will be given to this up-to-date guidance, which the Government expect to be followed by both authorities and the waste disposal industry. Strict adherence to the guidance will avoid many of the unsatisfactory practices which the inspectorate has found.

The problem of landfill gas discussed in Chapter 6 of the report is currently being reviewed by the inspectorate, and we shall consider urgently with the Secretaries of State for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland any recommendations for improving control of gas generation at landfill sites.

We are also concerned by the inspectorate's comments in Chapter 8 about waste management practice in some of the former metropolitan county areas, and we await the considered views of the inspectorate in the light of the comprehensive review they are conducting.

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So far as concerns waste disposal plans required under Section 2 of the Control of Pollution Act 1974, the department has written to all waste disposal authorities in England asking them to expedite their plans with the aim of completing them by October 1989.

The Secretaries of State for Social Services and Wales share our concern about the inspectorate's comments on hospital incinerators. Health authorities no longer have Crown immunity from the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and it is intended that the new controls on incinerator emissions associated with the proposed new air pollution legislation (see Chapter 11) will apply to health authorities as to all other operators. Health authorities intending to dispose of waste by incineration will, as they upgrade their installations to meet these new emission controls, also be required to obtain and comply with the requirements of waste disposal licences in accordance with the provisions of the new Collection and Disposal of Waste Regulations.

Work has commenced on the review of the Special Waste Regulations, for which we plan to issue a consultation paper in the autumn.

Finally, the inspectorate draws attention to the proposals for primary legislation to improve the framework of control for waste management on which a consultation paper was issued in September 1986. Very careful consideration has been given to the responses to the consultation and I expect to be able to announce our conclusions later this month. Following similar consultations in Scotland in 1987, consideration is being given to equivalent action there.