Hazardous Waste (Hansard, 14 January 2004)

§ Mr. Wiggin
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the Hazardous Waste Regulations will be published. [142598]

§ Mr. Morley
Draft new Hazardous Waste Regulations will be published when Defra goes out to consultation on the Regulations in early 2004. After a 12 week consultation period, new Regulations should he laid before Parliament in spring 2004.

§ Sue Doughty
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what mass of hazardous waste was produced in the UK for each of the last five years, broken down by category of hazardous waste. [144919]

§ Mr. Morley
The Environment Agency has provided the following data for England and Wales to show types of hazardous waste produced each year broken down by European Waste Catalogue (EWC) category. The Environment Agency moved from financial year to calendar year reporting in 2000, and only data for complete years is shown.
waste landfills following reclassification in July 2004; if she will identify for each site the types of hazardous waste that the site can dispose of; and whether each site is for private use. [144920]
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§ Mr. Morley
The information requested, as at 16 December 2003 is set out in a table which has been placed in the Library. Under the new regulations, former sites can continue to accept hazardous waste if it is contained within a separate disposal cell. This is likely to lead to additional sites as well as these dedicated sites.

§ Mr. Swayne
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment has been made of(a) the lead content in glass television screens and (b) lead glass in crystal for household use, with respect to the disposal of hazardous waste; and if she will make a statement. [146716]

§ Mr. Morley
A draft study currently being finalised for Defra shows that lead oxide accounts for approximately 9 per cent. by mass of the cathode ray tube in television sets with screens of 19 inches and over. Lead bound up within the glass of the cathode ray tube does not leach very readily. No formal assessment of lead glass in crystal for household use has been carried out as such material when discarded is not on the hazardous waste list.

§ Mr. Bill O'Brien
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the delay of the landfill allowance trading scheme until 2005. [146519]

§ Mr. Morley
The decision to delay the implementation of the landfill allowance trading scheme until 2005 which was announced by the Minister of State for Local and Regional Government on 19 November 2003, was made as part of Defra's contribution to helping to reduce spending pressures on local government in 2004–05. We expect local authorities to be able to save up to £10 million as a result. (On 6 January 2004 we announced that Defra will also provide a targeted grant of £20 million to local authorities in 2004–05 to help address the spending pressures arising from their statutory recycling targets).
The decision reflects the views of local authorities which we received through our consultation on the implementation of the landfill allowance trading scheme, that they needed more time to prepare for this new scheme which is a significant departure from their normal operations. The delay in starting the scheme will mean that waste disposal authorities will have to make steeper annual reductions in the amount of biodegradable waste they landfill in order to meet the first target year of 2010 but they will have more time to plan how to do this.
The Government will use the additional time to raise awareness of the scheme within local authorities and to educate and support those who will make use of its provisions.

§ Mr. Bill O'Brien
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the impact of delaying the introduction of the landfill allowance trading scheme on achieving the UK's compliance with the landfill directive; and if she will make a statement. [146538]

§ Mr. Morley
Delaying the introduction of the landfill allowance trading scheme in England should not affect the achievement of landfill directive targets for the UK736W in 2010, 2013 and 2020. The delay is intended to give local authorities more time to decide how, and over what time period, to invest in alternative waste management options to landfill.

§ Sue Doughty
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) whether her Department has received requests from waste disposal authorities for the start of the landfill allowance trading scheme to be delayed; [143092]
(2) whether her Department has received requests from waste disposal authorities for the start of the landfill allowance trading scheme to be delayed. [143091]

§ Mr. Morley
[holding answer 9 December 2003.]Yes. During regional consultation meetings on the implementation of the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme held in September 2003, local authorities commented that they would find it difficult to operate the scheme in 2004–05. This view has been reinforced by the written responses to the consultation that have been analysed to date. Local Authorities generally feel that they need more time to prepare for a trading scheme that is a completely new departure from their normal operations. It has already been announced that the start date will be delayed by one year.