HC Deb 25 March 2002 vol 382 cc707-9W
Andrew Bennett

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with officers from the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority regarding their soil improver product. [38403]

Mr. Meacher

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had no such discussions. However, I met the authority on 11 March and the issue of composting and the soil improver was raised.

Mr. Hunter

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what work her Department has undertaken to determine final storage quality for the treatment of hazardous waste before acceptance into a hazardous landfill site; [43616]

(2) what representations she has received against requiring hazardous waste from 2004 to be treated to final storage quality before acceptance into a landfill site; [43617]

(3) what risk assessment her Department has undertaken on the impact on the environment and on public health of not requiring hazardous waste from 2004 to be pre-tested to final storage quality before acceptance into a landfill site. [43619]

Mr. Meacher

The Government do not consider that there is as yet a clear or accepted understanding of what is meant by the term "final storage quality". We have therefore not undertaken work to determine what treatment such a standard would require before hazardous waste could be sent to landfill or conducted a risk assessment on the impact of not applying such a standard after July 2004.

The Environment Agency has produced draft guidance on standards for treatment of hazardous waste going to landfill following implementation of the directive. The guidance is based on a determination of the best practicable environmental option for individual waste streams and, where processes are regulated under the PPC, the obligation to employ best available techniques with regard to the production of wastes and their treatment. The Government consulted on this approach in the Second Consultation paper on Implementation of the Landfill Directive. A wide range of responses were received from consultees including a number arguing against the treatment of hazardous waste to "final storage quality" though interpretation of what was meant by the term varied.

The standards to which hazardous waste will have to be treated to go to landfill will ultimately be determined by the waste acceptance criteria for hazardous waste landfills which are still under negotiation in Europe.

Mr. Hunter

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate her Department made of the quantities of hazardous waste that will require treatment in(a) 2005, (b) 2006, (c) 2007, (d) 2008, (e) 2009 and (f) 2010. [43618]

Mr. Meacher

The Department has made no estimates of the amount of hazardous waste that will require treatment from 2005 to 2010.

At present approximately 53 per cent. of hazardous waste arisings are landfilled. It is estimated that approximately 41 per cent. of current arisings will continue to be able to be landfilled following the implementation of the bans in July 2002. The amount of hazardous waste that will continue to be landfilled beyond July 2004 and will hence need to be pre-treated will depend on a range of factors. These include general trends in hazardous waste arisings, changes to the definition of hazardous waste, the availability of hazardous waste landfill capacity, the availability of alternative disposal routes such as incineration, and implementation of the waste acceptance criteria currently under negotiation in Brussels which will set out what hazardous wastes can go to hazardous waste sites or to separate cells in non-hazardous landfill sites.

Malcolm Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 5 March 2002,Official Report, column 217W, on waste disposal, (1) what steps her Department has taken to meet the target of banning the landfilling of hazardous liquid wastes from July; and for what reason her Department does not hold information on the locations of individual treatment facilities for liquid waste; [43428]

(2) how many treatment facilities there are in the UK for liquid waste; what assessment her Department has made of the availability of treatment facilities; and what assessment her Department has made of whether the target of banning the landfilling of hazardous liquid wastes from July will be met. [44363]

Mr. Meacher

The forthcoming Landfill (England and Wales) Regulations will impose the ban on the landfilling of hazardous liquid wastes by making it an offence for landfill site operators to accept such wastes for disposal beyond July 2002.

The regulation of individual waste treatment facilities is the responsibility of the Environment Agency. The agency holds details of the location of all licensed waste treatment facilities on their central licensing and charging databases but these records do not identify which individual sites are permitted to accept liquid wastes. This information is not held centrally because, for the purposes of regulating the sites, the physical nature of the waste is only significant at the individual site level. Control over the type of waste that can be accepted at any given site and over specific problems associated with handling liquids, is exercised through the conditions of individual licences, details of which are held at local area offices and which could be collated only at disproportionate cost.

The Department, in conjunction with the National Assembly for Wales, the Scottish Executive and the Northern Ireland Assembly, has undertaken an assessment of the landfill directive for the future management of wastes banned from landfill.

The aims and objectives of the study were: to identify and evaluate the potential impact of the landfill directive on the management of hazardous wastes and liquid wastes in the UK, and to identify and assess the alternative waste management options that may be available to ensure the continued safe management of wastes for which landfilling will be banned under the landfill directive.

The study found that there was sufficient alternative disposal systems (in use or planned) to cope with the large volume of organic process waste streams requiring diversion from landfill. It also suggested that additional facilities might be required for oily wastes, contaminated soils, and inorganic chemical wastes. A copy of the report will be placed in the Library of both Houses.

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