Mr. Alan W. WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish in theOfficial Report the letter written to the hon. Member for Carmarthen on 5 December by the Minister for the Environment and Countryside, the hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Mr. Trippier).
§ Mr. Trippier[holding answer 13 December 1989]: The text of the letter is as follows:
I promised to write to you in response to the series of questions you tabled recently on aspects of hazardous waste management. It may be helpful if I respond to them topic by topic.There are currently four incinerators licensed to deal commercially with special wastes in Britain. I do not, however, have detailed information on the number of large chemical incinerators in the European Community or elsewhere which treat special wastes. I am unable either to provide the information you seek on the design of their furnace door.Regarding incineration at sea, the disposal of wastes from the UK is licensed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. My Department does not keep records of the amount of special wastes incinerated in the North Sea or in other European waters.Information on the import of wastes for incineration has been held by my Department only since October 1988 when the relevant provisions of the Transfrontier Shipment of Hazardous Waste Regulations came into force. Since then some 8,700 tonnes of imported special waste has been dealt with at the four commercially available incinerators.Turning to your questions concerning the incinerator operated by ReChem International Ltd. at Ponteg, Pontypool, information on the amount of waste dealt with is not held by my Department. That is a matter for the local waste disposal authority, Torfaen borough council.The results of the PCB sampling in soils and herbage around the plant undertaken by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution are as follows (all figures in microgrames per kilogram):757W
mg/kg PCBs in herbage: Range 3.0–19.7 Mean 8.4 Median 6.6 PCBs in soil: Range 9.0–19.0 Mean 13.5 Median 14.8
I understand that the Inspectorate has also taken samples of soil and herbage for Dioxin analysis. These samples are currently being analysed and I will write again as soon as the results are available.The latest figures (August 1989) indicate levels of PCB in the flue gas of the incinerator to be considerably less than 0.01 milligrams per cubic metre. The latest figures for Dioxins and Furans are as follows (all in nanograms per cubic metre):
Nanograms per cu. m. 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzofuran 0.05 Tetrachlorodibenzofurans (total) 0.12 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin <0.025 Tetrachlorodibenzodioxins (total) <0.025 Pentachlorodibenzofurans (total) <0.025 Pentachlorodibenzodioxins (total) <0.025 Hexachlorodibenzofurans (total) <0.025 Hexachlorodibenzodioxins (total) <0.025 Heptachlorodibenzofurans (total) <0.05 Heptachlorodibenzodioxins (total) 0.05 Octachlorodibenzofuran <0.025 Octachlorodibenzodioxin 0.05
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution inform me that the emission figures for both PCBs and Dioxins/Furans compare very favourably with those published for similar incinerators in Europe.I am also informed by the Inspectorate that no equipment is currently available to give instantaneous readings of PCB or Dioxin in flue gas. However continuous sampling is undertaken and samples of flue gas are analysed on a routine basis for PCB and on a more random basis for Dioxin.Regarding alternative methods to incineration of PCBs, a number of possible processes are under investigation. The most promising appear to be those involving exchange of the chlorine atom or microbiological systems. Neither is, however, likely to prove effective for high concentrations of PCBs for which high temperature incineration is likely to remain the only satisfactory form of disposal.Figures with respect to the cumulative totals of PCBs manufactured over the last 30 years are not available in the form you asked for them. But from the start of commercial production in 1929 to 1980 some 1,055,000 tonnes of PCBs were produced worldwide, of which 66,800 tonnes were produced in the United Kingdom by Monsanto, Newport. Other major producing countries were the USA (648,000 tonnes), Japan (60,000 tonnes), Spain (25,000 tonnes) and Italy (24,000 tonnes). During 1980–84 only France, West Germany, Italy and Spain within the community continued to manufacture PCBs and after 1984 production continued only in France and Spain. My Department does not hold figures for PCB production after 1980.My Department does not hold information on the amount of special waste treated by Leigh Environmental using their Sealosafe process, or its current state. That is a matter for the local waste disposal authority, Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council.Information on the import of flyash through Swansea Docks is also not held centrally. That is a matter for the local waste disposal authority, Swansea District Council. I have no information on the analysis of this flyash for dioxins.'I hope this is helpful.