§ Mr. Desmond SwayneTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her answer of 14 January,Official Report, column 737W, on lead content, what assessment she has made of the implications for the (a) treatment of cathode ray tubes as hazardous waste and (b) the cost of their disposal of the readiness with which the lead content leaches. [149452]
§ Mr. MorleyThe draft study being finalised for Defra, referred to in my earlier answer, shows that the lead oxide paste which welds the face plate of a cathode ray tube to its funnel, is prone to leach. Lead bound up within the glass of the cathode ray tube does not leach very readily. Research conducted by the Defra sponsored Market Transformation Programme estimates the cost of disposal for an average television set, after it has been deposited at a public waste disposal facility, to be in the region often pounds.