§ Mr. Peter AinsworthTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) if she will make a statement on the quality of the Environment Agency's methods of testing incinerated material for dioxins; [18545]
(2) if she will publish the latest assessment of the level of dioxins in ash produced by each of the large scale municipal incineration plants; [18547]
(3) if she will make a statement on the toxicity of ash at large-scale municipal incineration plants. [18544]
§ Margaret Beckett[holding answer 27 November 2001]: Under the current IPC (integrated pollution control) authorisations, the Environment Agency requires all municipal waste incinerators to regularly analyse bottom ash and air pollution control residues for dioxins, carbon and a variety of metals.
These results are placed on the public register. I have asked the Environment Agency to provide the hon. Member with a summary of the recent results, and will place copies in the Library of the House. I understand latest results show the level of dioxins in bottom ash to be similar to those found in soils.
I am confident that the Environment Agency has the appropriate technical expertise to carry out accurate and repeatable dioxin analysis of incinerated material. The agency has its own accredited laboratory for dioxin analysis. Nevertheless, current analysis of the dioxin levels in incinerator residues involves the incinerator operators and the Environment Agency employing a standard sampling protocol but with analysis by a number of different laboratories approved by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service. One of the aims of this ongoing work is to confirm the accuracy and repeatability of the techniques employed.