Letter from Biffa Waste Services Ltd to
the Rt Hon Michael Meacher, MP, Minister of State (environment),
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 14 January
2002
RE: FRIDGES
Forgive me for contacting you direct on the
troublesome question of fridges. Having been one of the firstif
not the firstindividuals to raise this matter with your
team almost 10 months ago on the basis that we have always asserted
the ODS regulations would apply, it is not our wish to revisit
the history of how we got to where we are. My primary concern
lies in making sure that we don't repeat the experience you had
as a result of the problems with illegal deposits of contaminated
land in golf courses. As you are aware I was also involved in
that exposé working in conjunction with Guardian.
I write simply to relay my company's extreme
concern at what we regard as a looming control problem with regard
to end life management of domestic fridges on the evidence of
the last three weeks. Put simply we are aware that disreputable
companies are being formed with little or no history of sound
economic trading and are touting themselves to local authorities
whichcertainly at district leveleither don't have
the time nor inclination to check the credentials of these companies.
As a consequence we believe that the Government is building substantial
problems for itself by allowing these companies to operate purely
because they have made an application for a storage licence. We
question whether any of them have any serious intention of implementing
transparent end life management systems for fridgesin short
rogue elements appear to be stockpiling fridges in much the same
way that history showed contaminated soils and tyres were in the
last decade.
We are not crying wolf because these people
are hurting our business. We decided not to invest in end processing
technology for the simple reason that no one in Government is
prepared to commit to a sensible framework whereby three basic
requirements for strategic investment can be met:
(i) Approval of defined technologies which
meet European standards.
(ii) A clear understanding on who is going
to pay the cost of processing and collection in the long run (we
all know that the consumer will pay eventually, of course, either
at the purchase point of fridges or as a general taxpayer).
(iii) Agreement on a level playing field
with regard to enforcement and reporting transparency.
It is our belief that none of these three criteria
have been metbut if our worst fears are proven (and I refer
you to The Times of 8 January for a foretaste) then it is the
respectable companies in the waste and end life ferrous scrap
processing sectoras well as your Department and Governmentwhich
will bear the brunt of accusations from the general public. We
are not prepared to take those accusations lying down when they
comewhich is why I am registering our uncertainties now
as an informed insider.
I have copied this letter to Baroness Young
on the basis that the Environment Agency has an equal willingness
not to suffer the same slings and arrows it experienced on the
question of unregulated waste disposal licenses issued to soils
contractors. At the very least someone ought to be collating centrally
who is applying for these fridge management licenses and assessing
the quality of their balance sheets and provisions. If you don't
I suspect you will be paying twice overfirst to those who
specialise in disappearing tricks once they have got up to their
target retirement fund and second time round to reputable companies
like us who will have to pick up the mess as well as the reputational
damage.
cc: Baroness Young, Environment
Agency
Robert Walker, Severn
Trent
David Arculus, Severn
Trent
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