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3 Jul 2003 : Column 407W—continued

Waste and Resources Action Programme

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions her Department has held in the last year with voluntary organisations on the Waste and Resources Action Programme; and if she will make a statement. [122232]

Mr. Morley: The Government holds frequent discussions with the voluntary sector on waste management issues and they took part in discussions with the Strategy Unit during their waste study. However we have had no recent discussions with them about the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

WRAP was set up as an independent company by Government, to promote sustainable waste management by working to create stable and efficient markets for recycled materials and products. As an independent company we look to WRAP to identify the issues it feels it needs to discuss with the voluntary sector and take action accordingly.

We are aware that WRAP holds regular independent discussions with the voluntary sector and, in particular more recently, concerning their intended new work following the announcement of their extended role under the Waste Implementation Programme. WRAP has also recently established an electronic stakeholder dialogue which is open to voluntary organisations.

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Waste Incineration

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on her Department's assessment that the Waste Incineration Directive does not apply to on-farm drum incinerators and waste oil burners; whether her officials have discussed this interpretation with officials from the European Commission; and whether officials from the European Commission have expressed agreement in writing with this interpretation. [122753]

Mr. Morley: In draft Guidance on Directive 2000/76/EC on the incineration of waste, published for consultation in February 2003, the Government expressed the view that the definition of "incineration plant" used in that Directive is not intended to encompass small units or appliances which would be incapable of complying with the requirements of the Directive under any circumstances.

The Directive includes provisions in relation to residence time, temperature control, monitoring, and compliance with emission limit values, which only plants of a reasonable size and technical sophistication would be capable of meeting. Small, basic units do not easily fit either the description "technical unit" which is used in the Directive definition or the scope of the incineration site which is evidently envisaged by this definition.

The Government consider that units which are not included within the scope of the Directive on this basis include on-farm drum incinerators and small space heaters or other waste oil burners (used for example on garage premises). However, operations of this type will continue to be controlled under the Waste Framework Directive (75/442/EEC as amended) which requires them to be subject to either a permit (Article 9) or the general rules of an exemption registered with the "competent authority" (Article 11). The objective of these controls is to ensure that waste is disposed of in ways which protect the environment and human health (Article 4).

This means that, on the proposed repeal of the exclusion for agricultural waste in section 75(7)(c) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the waste management controls of Part II of the 1990 Act and the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 will apply to on-farm drum incinerators. Small space heaters and other waste oil burners are prescribed for local authority regulation under Part I of the 1990 Act and the Pollution Prevention and Control (England and Wales) Regulations 2000.

The draft Guidance on Directive 2000/76/EC was issued for a consultation period which closed on 16 May. Officials are currently considering consultation responses with a view to finalising the Guidance later this year, still in plenty of time for the Directive's coming into force for existing installations from 28 December 2005. A copy of the finalised Guidance will be sent to the relevant officials in the European Commission, thus providing them with an opportunity to comment.

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment her Department has made of the impact on the

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environment of excluding (a) on-farm drum incinerators and (b) waste oil burners from the Waste Incineration Directive. [122760]

Mr. Morley: UK estimates of emissions from a range of sources are contained in the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory and are published annually. Full NAEI data are available at the NAEI website www.naei.org.uk. However, the NAEI does not contain data at the level of detail requested and so no correspondingly detailed quantitative assessment of the environmental impact of these devices has been made.

The Waste Incineration Directive includes provisions which can apply only plant of a reasonable size and thus with potential to cause significant pollution, whereas small units such as these do not easily fit either the description "technical unit" used in the Directive definition or the scope of the incineration site which is evidently envisaged by this definition. However, operations of this type will continue to be controlled under other legislation.

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how many tonnes of waste oil were sent for recycling in each year since 1999; [122761]

Mr. Morley: Virtually all waste lubricating oil collected in the UK is treated to meet a specification as a recovered fuel oil and is burnt as fuel in coal fired power stations and other large manufacturing units.

The last years for which figures for combustion of oil have been collated are 1999 and 2000 during which approximately 380,000 tonnes and 360,000 tonnes respectively of waste lubricating oil were burnt as fuel.

4,000 tonnes of waste oil were recycled into base lubricating oil in 1999. There has been no recycling in subsequent years.

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment her Department has made of the impact on the environment of (a) on-farm drum incinerators, (b) waste oil burners and (c) on-farm carcass incinerators. [122763]

Mr. Morley: UK estimates of emissions from a range of sources are contained in the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory and are published annually. Full NAEI data are available at the NAEI website www.naei.org.uk. There are no data at the level of (a) and (b). However, the Department commissioned an independent report to measure and review atmospheric emissions from small carcase incinerators, which was published in August 2002. This is available on the Defra website at http://www2.defra.gov.uk/research/project data/Default.asp under Project Code WA0806.

Waste Management

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her answer of 17 June 2003, Official Report, column 209W, if she will make a statement on the contents of the register used to provide the information in her answer of 17 March 2003, Official Report, column 506W, and

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distinguish it from the data held as part of the Environment Agency Register of Waste Management Licences, which are kept under part 2 of the Environment Protection Act 1990. [121997]

Mr. Morley: The Environment Agency's Register of Waste Management Licences is a list of those who hold waste management licences.

The information used in reply to the hon. Member's question of 17 March comes from a separate public register, which contain details of breaches to air emissions limit values. Copies of the breaches are sent to local authorities who also place them on public record.

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the (a) impact and (b) timing of changes to UK legislation and the National Waste Strategy arising from changes in EU policy on municipal waste incinerators and waste recovery targets. [121999]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 1 July 2003]: Recent cases in the European Court of Justice in relation to the incineration and co-incineration of waste have sought to distinguish between waste recovery and waste disposal operations. I am aware that these recent judgments could have a significant impact on the ability of member states to meet certain recycling and recovery targets, most notably those in the packaging and packaging waste directive (94/62/EC).

However, the European Commission is currently reviewing the lists of recovery and disposal operations in the waste framework directive (75/442/EEC as amended) and has begun work in this area with the adoption of the Communication "Towards a thematic strategy on the prevention and recycling of waste" (COM(2003)301) and by launching a study on issues relating to the lists in Annexes IIA and IIB of the Directive. The Government consider that it would be premature to implement any changes to UK legislation and the waste strategy whilst this review is ongoing.

Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what measures her Department takes to ensure that independent assessments undertaken on behalf of operators of landfill and hazardous waste sites to ascertain the possible risks to public health from activities conducted at the site in question are credible and independent; [122783]

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Mr. Morley [holding answer 1 July 2003]: The objective of the Waste Framework Directive (75/442/EEC as amended by 91/156/EEC) is to ensure that waste is disposed of without endangering human health or harming the environment (Article 4). The Directive's controls include the need for a permit (licence) for the disposal of waste and are supplemented by the requirements of the Hazardous Waste Directive (91/689/EEC) and the Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC). The Environment Agency is prescribed as a "competent authority" for the purposes of each Directive.

Paragraph 2 of Schedule 4 to the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 imposes a duty on the Agency to discharge its functions relating to the disposal of waste with regard to the objectives of Article 4 of the Waste Framework Directive. These functions include the issuing of licences for landfill sites and the review of those licences. The purpose of licences and their conditions is to ensure that waste is disposed of without endangering human health or harming the environment.

Section 35(8) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 requires the Environment Agency to have regard to guidance issued to it by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, in the discharge of its licensing functions. The main guidance issued to the Agency under section 35(8) of the 1990 Act is set out in Waste Management Paper No.4 (ISBN 0–11–752727–0) and deals with issues such as the operator's management systems and quality assurance (paragraphs 4.21- 4.25).

Subject to these considerations, it rests with the Environment Agency, in fulfilment of its functions as a "competent authority" and having regard to the facts of each case, to reach decisions on the effectiveness and quality of monitoring assessments undertaken by or on behalf of licence holders.

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list those industries for which the Government plans voluntary agreements to reduce waste and increase the use of recycled materials and the recyclability of products. [121981]

Mr. Morley: We will seek to apply voluntary producer responsibility agreements where they are the best option to deliver maximum environmental benefit. We believe the best approach is to assess which waste streams are particularly problematic and might therefore lend themselves most effectively to such agreements; to determine whether the development of such an agreement would be proportionate to the size of the problem; and what the financial and environmental costs and benefits of such agreements would be; and to establish whether the waste streams concerned are already the subject of other mechanisms, including regulations and the work of other organizations, such as WRAP.

At present, we have a voluntary producer responsibility agreement in place with the newspaper publishers. We hope shortly to reach agreement with the producers of direct mail and promotions and are talking to the magazine publishers about a possible agreement. Other waste materials which might be suitable for future voluntary agreements with industry are batteries and farm plastics.

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Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list those stakeholders her Department (a) has held discussions with and (b) intends to hold discussions with on a voluntary agreement for the recycling of waste consumer batteries. [121982]

Mr. Morley: The Government have not yet held any meetings with stakeholders to discuss the development of a voluntary agreement for the recycling of consumer batteries. Key stakeholders have been identified as being producers and importers, other industry representatives, battery reprocessors, including recyclers, local authorities and other battery collectors. The stakeholders will shortly be invited to attend a preliminary meeting to discuss the scope for an agreement.

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