§ Mr. LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what are the maximum toxic emission levels permitted for incinerators, broken down by individual toxic substances. [123488]
§ Mr. Meacher[holding answer 23 June 2000]: Under Part I of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, emissions to air, water and land from larger plant regulated by the Environment Agency and emissions to air from medium and small plant regulated by local authorities are controlled through permits which impose emission limits on the basis of the site-specific BATNEEC principle (Best Available Techniques Not Entailing Excessive Cost) and relevant European legislation specifying emission limits. There are currently two municipal waste incineration Directives (89/369/EEC and 89/429/EEC) and a hazardous waste incineration Directive (94/67/EC) which specify emission limits, and a further Directive (Common Position (EC) No 7/2000) which will replace these earlier Directives and cover virtually all incineration plant is currently in the final stages of negotiations.
503WThis latest proposed Directive would result in a ten-fold tightening of the municipal waste incinerator dioxins standard so that incinerators covered by it would be required to emit no more than 1 billionth of a gram of dioxins in a cubic metre of emissions to air.