§ Ms. WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will place in the Library a copy of his development action plan for the phasing out of PCBs by 1999;
(2) what action he has taken to implement the decision of the third North sea conference of March 1990 to phase out and destroy all PCBs by 1999, in 1990–91 and 1991–92; and what is planned for each year to 1999;
(3) how many full and part-time posts are contributing to the phasing out of PCBs by 1999; and if he will give the job specification and location of each post;
(4) if he will give an estimate of the number of tonnes of PCBs in the United Kingdom still awaiting disposal and details of targets set for the disposal of PCBs in the United Kingdom;
(5) if he will give details of all existing incinerators, and those in respect of which planning applications (a) have been approved and (b) are outstanding, licensed to accept PCBs;
(6) what estimate he has made in respect of the presence of PCBs in United Kingdom waters.
§ Mr. BaldryIt is intended to produce a plan in accordance with the decision of the third North sea conference. A copy will be placed in the Library when available. Work is currently directed to refining the assessment of the types and quantities of PCBs known to exist and the available incineration capacity. New treatment techniques and alternative disposal options to incineration for particular PCB arisings are being appraised.
A revision of waste management paper No. 6 containing technical guidance on the treatment and disposals of PCB wastes is in preparation for publication in March 1993.
Planning for phase-out involves a co-operative effort between my Department and other Government Departments. I cannot therefore be precise about numbers and locations of individual posts.
The remaining PCBs in the United Kingdom are mainly associated with electrical equipment, much of which will be disposed of with its PCB content. Accurate figures are not available, but it is estimated that about 20,000 tonnes of contaminated plant requires disposal, of which about half are PCBs.
There are two merchant incinerators available for the disposal of special wastes including solid and liquid PCBs; the Rechem plant at Pontypool and a plant at Ellesmere Port operated by Cleanaway. Plant capacity for PCB destruction cannot be stated in absolute terms since it is dependent upon the chlorine content and the physical form of the waste. It is not known if any proposed plant at the planning application stage is to be used for PCBs.
Levels of PCBs in United Kingdom coastal waters are normally so low as to be beyond the limits of detection. However, since PCBs are known to accumulate in living tissue, government monitoring programmes concentrate on levels of PCBs in fish. Results of these programmes are regularly published by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in the acquatic environment monitoring reports. Control measures taken by the Government have been effective in reducing peak levels of PCBs to considerably below those that were 231W found in the 1970s. The levels are below those that would cause harm to human consumers and there is no reason to believe that they threaten fish health.