§ Mr. Jonathan EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the Government's policy on the export of hazardous wastes to developing countries; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. AtkinsBelow is the text of a statement which I have sent to the secretariat of the UNEP Basel convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal.
The United Kingdom restates its intention not to permit the export of wastes to developing countries for final disposal. However, the United Kingdom remains of the view that recycling of wastes offers environmental benefits provided that adequate environmental standards are maintained. Movement of wastes across international boundaries for that purpose does not detract from the environmental benefits, even though there is more difficulty in ensuring that the required standards are being maintained. The control mechanisms provided for under the Basel Convention are designed to overcome those difficulties. The United Kingdom, therefore, does not intend, for the time being, to prohibit the export of any waste moving towards environmentally sound recovery processes within developing countries, provided that the requirements of the Basel Convention 201W are met. The United Kingdom is taking an active role in the work proceeding in the Technical Working Group to draw up guidelines for environmentally sound recovery operations. These guidelines will assist the United Kingdom in deciding which operations are environmentally sound and which are not.Shipments of hazardous waste from the United Kingdom to developing countries will be investigated over the coming months so that the United Kingdom can meet its obligations under the Basel Convention and the EC Waste Shipments Regulation: any shipments which are not moving towards environmentally sound recovery operations will be prohibited. If, following this investigation, we find that, in general, wastes exported from the United Kingdom to developing countries are not being recovered to adequate environmental standards, then the United Kingdom will consider again the question of imposing a general ban on the movements of hazardous wastes to all or selected developing countries. We will report on our progress in this investigation".