§ The Earl of Shannonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their policy towards the import of waste for treatment either chemically or by incineration and what is their attitude to the transfrontier shipment of waste across all national borders.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment (Lord Hesketh)The Government consider that in general movement of waste should be kept to a minimum and wherever possible disposal should be in the country of origin. We accept the case for import of certain difficult wastes requiring incineration or treatment which is not immediately available in the country of origin. Legislation is in place to ensure satisfactory control and safe handling of such imports.
Accordingly we have made proposals within the Community for a policy to restrict transfrontier movements of waste for direct disposal to landfill without prior treatment and to extend the current notification requirements for hazardous waste to transfrontier shipments of all waste. At the Environment Council this month by noble friend the Minister for Housing, Environment and Countryside asked the European Commission to report progress on its consideration of these proposals and the implications of the Single Market.