§ Mr. SayeedTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what controls the Government have implemented on emissions from incinerators in the last three years; and if she will make a statement. [8089]
§ Mr. MeacherExisting municipal solid waste incinerators (MSWIs) are regulated by the Environment Agency under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Within the last three years the Government have implemented EC Directive 96/61 on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC). All new MSWIs must now obtain an IPPC permit before they can operate. Existing MSWIs must obtain the new form of permit by 31 August 2005.
The Environment Agency has also recently varied the authorisations for existing MSWIs to reduce the dioxin emission limit (10 fold) to 0.1 ng/m3. This is ahead of the timetable required by the recently adopted Waste Incineration Directive.
§ Mr. SayeedTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment the Government have made of levels of dioxin emissions from incinerators in the last 12 months; and if she will make a statement. [8088]
§ Mr. MeacherThe Environment Agency's Pollution Inventory is compiled from data submitted annually by operators of IPC-processes in England and Wales, including municipal solid waste incinerators. The level of dioxins and furans emitted from municipal solid waste incinerators in the year 2000 is recorded in this inventory as 1.1g ITEQ. This compares to a level of 413g ITEQ in 1995.