A national hazardous waste forum
76. The legal framework surrounding hazardous waste
management is complex, at both the European and United Kingdom
level. There is a family of European Directives relating to waste;
provisions relating to hazardous waste occur in many of them.
In addition, other environmental Directives not immediately concerned
with waste management also impact upon the way hazardous waste
is produced and dealt with. The Minister doubts whether there
are senior EC officials taking an overview of all the European
Union law relating to hazardous waste or who are "orchestrating
it a consistent compatible way."[59]
77. At the United Kingdom level, not only is the
law complex, but the responsibility for hazardous waste management
is shared between the United Kingdom Government, the devolved
administrations, local government and the regulators. Within the
United Kingdom Government, the Department for Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs has overall responsibility for waste matters,
but the Department for Trade and Industry takes the lead on producer-responsibility
initiatives, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is in charge
of planning and the Treasury is involved in, for example, the
operation of the Landfill Tax.
78. Given that the determination of waste policy
is dominated by the European Union and the provision of facilities
is down to the private sector, the Government's key role is coordination.
It must provide the link between the two to ensure the best outcome
for the United Kingdom's public health, the environment and United
Kingdom industry.
79. In the light of this complexity, the waste management
industry has called for the Government to produce a national hazardous
waste strategy to ensure that the requirements of European Union
law are met, that the principles of self-sufficiency and proximity
in waste management are adhered to and that publically acceptable
solutions are found.[60]
The Environment Agency supports this idea. In its written evidence,
it recommended "the development and implementation
by Government of a national hazardous waste management plan to
ensure an adequate national network of hazardous waste management
facilities".[61]
It advocates a "national overview, over the number, the type,
the distribution of hazardous waste facilities that we will need
into the future. Without that overview we are depending either
on happenstance or individual commercial decisions, and there
is no guarantee that we would end up with the type and distribution
of sites that we need".[62]
80. The Minister rejected the proposal for a specific
hazardous waste management plan saying
"I would strongly assert the United Kingdom
already has a national waste strategy, not only for England but
for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. We have the Environment
Agency Strategic Waste Management Assessments. Let us be aware,
hazardous waste is only approximately two per cent of total waste
arising so there is really no need for a separate waste plan ...
I am always against trying to solve problems by having separate
committees or separate plans"[63]
81. We do not accept that Waste Strategy 2000 provides
an adequate plan with respect to hazardous waste streams. For
example, with regard to the specific issue of setting targets
for hazardous waste reduction, the Minister told the Committee
that there were targets for the reduction of hazardous waste in
Waste Strategy 2000. [64]
He said that the Government was going to achieve the targets
"in exactly the same way as all the reductions
are to be got. We have set targets which require a doubling of
the level of recycling and recovery for all local authorities
(and that covers the whole of the country, and this is domestic
waste, of course,) within three years by 2003/2004, and a trebling
within five years, by 2005/2006, and that includes hazardous waste"[65]
And yet in Waste Strategy 2000, the Government
said
"The Government has agreed with its European
partners to increase the number of waste streams that are considered
hazardous or special. Furthermore the withdrawal of harmful chemicals,
such as ozone depleting substances, from use will lead to additional
hazardous wastes. For these reasons, the Government and the National
Assembly do not consider that a target for the reduction in the
total amount of hazardous waste arising is appropriate
at this time. However, targets for individual key hazardous waste
streams may be considered where such targets would be workable
and relevant." [66]
82. Moreover, at present, domestic waste is not covered
by hazardous waste laws so it is odd that the Minister regards
targets for the recycling of municipal waste, which is largely
domestic waste, as targets for hazardous waste. Waste Strategy
2000 does include a target "to reduce the amount of industrial
and commercial waste landfilled to 85% of 1998 levels" by
2005[67] but as hazardous
waste forms only a small proportion of industrial wastes, these
targets could be achieved with no change in the amount of hazardous
waste produced. We recommend that the Government consider how
waste streams occurring at a domestic level should be handled,
particularly in the context of the Waste from Electrical and Electronic
Equipment (WEEE) Directive and the End of Life Vehicles Directive
where new streams of waste are emerging.
83. In its written evidence, the Government told
us that
"The [Landfill] Directive brings forward
a number of requirements that will add between £2.20 and
£40.40 per tonne to the mean cost of waste disposal with
costs ranging from £0 to £120 per tonne for specific
waste streams. These costs will largely be passed back to the
waste producers, reflecting the polluter pays principle, and will
provide a further incentive to waste producers to reuse, recycle,
recover or otherwise minimise their waste production." [68]
84. While it is hoped that the costs introduced by
the Landfill Directive will act as an incentive to industry to
reduce the amount of hazardous waste it produces, this still does
not qualify as a Government target. The Government must make
clear what specific targets, if any, it has set for hazardous
waste reduction and what positive steps it has taken to achieve
those targets.
85. To the extent that waste producers are legally
required to dispose of their waste in an appropriate way, the
market is expected to provide facilities to allow them to do so.
However we are concerned that, since the current regulatory regime
specifies only the minimum standards that waste producers and
waste managers must adhere to, some of the objectives of the Waste
Framework Directive may be missed. For example, the Waste Framework
Directive establishes the principle of proximity of treatment
and disposal sites to the source of waste and the Government has
expressed its commitment to this principle.[69]
86. While we do not believe there is a need for
a formal strategic plan, we recommend that the Government should
produce a framework paper that draws together, in a single document,
the issues that must be addressed for hazardous waste management.
This should outline:
(a) the demands on industry;
(b) targets for hazardous waste reduction and recovery;
(c) how the uncertainties discussed in this report can
be resolved; and
(d) how the Government is looking ahead to the implementation
of forthcoming EC Directives to guard against the delays and confusion
that have so far attended the implementation of the Landfill Directive.
87. The Government should encourage the development
of a national hazardous waste forum to address the issues outlined
in the framework document. The forum must involve waste producers,
the waste management industry, the regulators and local government
and should take care to have regard for the public's view of waste
management.
88. We are confident that the necessary information
and the enthusiastic support of the regulator, the waste management
industry and hazardous waste producers are all in place. For example,
the Chemical Industries Association has already proposed an Industrial
Waste Forum to address some of these issues.[70]
The Performance and Innovation Unit report may also be helpful
to the Government in drafting the framework document. What
is clear is that the Government and industry must form a partnership
for the management of hazardous waste to ensure that, in 2004
and beyond, we have an adequate and environmentally appropriate
hazardous waste management infrastructure.
34