§ Mr. David PorterTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make further proposals for the implementation of the duty of care under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
§ Mr. TrippierMy Department, jointly with the Scottish Office and the Welsh Office, has today issued for public consultation a draft circular, a consultation paper and draft regulations under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990—the duty of care.
No longer will anyone be able to wash their hands of waste disposal problems. They will be able to hand waste only to responsible persons and they will have to keep the records to prove it. The duty will not only help to drive out illegal disposal and fly-tipping but will deter those whose carelessness supplies the source material for the criminals.
I announced on 25 June the Government's timetable for the implementation of the waste provisions of the 1990 Act. Under that timetable it is intended that the duty of care will be fully in force by April 1992. The papers issued today complete the necessary public consultation on the implementation of the duty.
The draft circular offers advice, mainly directed to local authorities, on the operation of the duty of care. This complements the advice for producers and holders of waste in the code of practice. Drafts of the code of practice were the subject of separate consultation in England and Wales and in Scotland in 1990.
The draft regulations issued today provide for a mandatory system of signed transfer notes, for records to be kept of all transfers of controlled waste and for the records to be available to waste regulation authorities. This will create an audit trail of waste movements. It will greatly help authorities to trace criminal waste disposal.
The duty of care, combined with the registration of waste carriers, is a radical step to improve the disposal of waste in this country. Everyone involved with waste will share a legal responsibility for ensuring it is safely and legally dealt with.