HC Deb 11 February 1997 vol 290 cc144-6W
Mr. David Shaw

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the number of cases of each notifiable disease over the past five years. [14857]

Mrs. Browning

[holding answer 10 February 1997]: The number of cases of each notifiable disease over the last five years is as follows:

locations of landfill sites where non-domestic beef waste products have been landfilled in (a) 1995 and (b) 1996, and the quantity, in tonnes, at each site; [15411]

(2) how many tonnes of beef, and beef products, have been disposed of to landfill in each year since 1979; [15409]

(3) what regulations govern the disposal to landfill of (a) beef and beef products from household food waste, (b) beef bought by the Intervention Board, (c) specified bovine material, (d) cattle diagnosed with BSE and (e) ash from BSE infected cattle which have been incinerated. [15410]

Mr. Baldry

The landfilling of waste is governed by the terms of waste management licences issued by the Environment Agency under section 35 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990—the 1990 Act—which, among other matters, specifies the types of waste and quantities of waste which may be disposed of in each site. Operators of landfill sites are required by paragraph 14 of schedule 4 to the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994—the 1994 regulations—to:

  1. (a) keep a record of the quantity, nature and origin of the waste which they dispose of;
  2. (b) to make that information available, on request, to the Environment Agency;
  3. (c) to comply with the duty of care under section 34 of the 1990 Act and the Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) Regulations 1991.

The Environment Agency is required by section 64 of the 1990 Act and regulation 10 of the 1994 regulations to maintain a public register of licensed landfill sites. It does not, however, hold centrally information about the types and quantities of waste disposed of in landfill sites and this could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Regarding cattle waste potentially infected with BSE, cattle suspected of showing clinical signs of the disease are disposed of by direct incineration in plants contracted to MAFF which are subject to authorisation by the Environment Agency or relevant local authority under part I of the 1990 Act. Specified bovine material, the tissues most likely to contain any BSE infectivity, is removed from cattle slaughtered under the over-30-months scheme or for human consumption and consigned for rendering or direct incineration.

The independent Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee has considered the current and proposed methods of dealing with waste material from the slaughter of cattle and concluded that these are safe. A press release reporting its conclusions was issued by MAFF on 7 June 1996 and a copy is available in the Library of the House.

Mrs. Jackson

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list(a) the incinerators and (b) power stations and their locations which have been considered for burning the rendered remains of BSE cattle slaughtered under the over-30-months scheme. [15406]

Mr. Baldry

BSE suspects are not slaughtered under the over-30-months scheme—OTMS, this is expressly prohibited under Commission regulation 716/96. Such animals are slaughtered and their carcases sent for direct incineration.

Regarding the destruction of the rendered remains of cattle slaughtered under the OTMS, currently only one commercial incinerator—Rechem at Fawley, Hampshire—is burning meat and bonemeal derived from OTMS cattle and the rendering company, Prosper De Mulder at Widnes, is currently burning a small amount of OTMS tallow. However, a number of proposals should emerge from a tender exercise initiated by the Intervention Board in December 1996 which, subject to satisfactory trials, should increase existing incineration capacity for burning MBM—meat and bonemeal—and tallow.

Combustion trials have been carried out at PowerGen's test facilities at Ratcliffe on Soar, Nottinghamshire, and National Power's test facilities at Didcot, Oxfordshire to establish the feasibility of burning rendered animal waste in power stations under a strict protocol set by the Environment Agency. The fact that trials have been conducted at these sites, however, does not imply that the adjacent power stations would necessarily be chosen for full-scale burning. The test results will be fully evaluated, before any decision is reached on the way forward and an announcement will be made to Parliament. Full weight will be given in any such decision to the protection of human health and the environment.

Mrs. Jackson

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the incinerators and their locations which have been licensed to burn the rendered remains of BSE cattle slaughtered under the over 30-months-scheme. [15405]

Mr. Baldry

BSE suspects are not slaughtered under the over-30-months scheme—OTMS. This is expressly prohibited under Commission regulation 716/96. Such animals are slaughtered and their carcases sent for direct incineration.

The high temperature incinerator at Fawley, Hampshire, which is operated by Rechem International Ltd., is authorised by the Environment Agency under part I of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to burn MBM from over-30-months scheme cattle. The Intervention Board executive agency has agreed a contract with the company for the incineration of MBM at this site.

The rendering company Prosper De Mulder, at Widnes, is currently burning a small amount of OTMS tallow and is authorised by the relevant local authority.