§ Sue DoughtyTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate the Environment Agency has made of the financial cost of implementing Regulatory Guidance Note 6; and who will bear which costs. [165269]
§ Mr. MorleyNo cost estimate relating to Regulatory Guidance Note 6, covering the engineering requirements of Schedule 2 of the Landfill (England and Wales) Regulations 2002, has been carried out by the Environment Agency or by my Department. This is an internal guidance note to assist environment agency staff to interpret and enforce the Regulations, but is published in the interests of transparency. It is subject to change as situations develop.
A Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) of the Landfill Directive in England and Wales was published with the Second Consultation Paper on Implementation of Council Directive (1999/31/EC) on the Landfill of Waste. This is available on the Defra website (www.defra.gov.uk). The RIA indicates that at the extreme, waste producers will face an additional cost in the range of £97 million to £696 million as a result of implementing the Directive.
The RIA also points out that increasing disposal costs will provide greater impetus to minimise, recycle and reuse waste and hence move the management of waste up the waste hierarchy. This outcome is a major objective of the Government's environmental policy and is supported by business, non-Government organisations and Select Committees of this House.