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Hazardous Waste

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what assessment she has made of the Hazardous Waste Forum's recommendations for contingency plans to give temporary authorisation for export of hazardous waste to mainland Europe; and if she has discussed this possibility with European governments; [164076]

(2) what estimate she has made of the total potential hazardous waste storage capacity available from businesses using the exemption on temporary storage of hazardous waste at the place of production in paragraph 41 of Schedule 3 of the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994; and what plans she has to amend the regulations to increase the volumes of waste that may be stored under this exemption; [164074]

(3) what contingency measures she is putting in place in the event of a shortfall in (a) treatment and (b) disposal capacity for hazardous wastes following (i)
 
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the end of co-disposal in July 2004 and (ii) the enforcement of the Waste Acceptance Criteria in July 2005; and if she will make a statement; [164075]

(4) what sites she has identified on a contingency basis as suitable for the storage of hazardous wastes from July 2004. [164077]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 26 March 2004]: We have a series of actions programmed, as presented to the seventh meeting of the Hazardous Waste Forum, to ensure the smooth implementation of the Landfill and Hazardous Waste Directives, and, in particular, the ban on co-disposal. The impact of expected higher costs on disposal and treatment provides a greater incentive for waste minimisation at source, through source separation and segregation of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. Future arisings of hazardous waste are therefore uncertain. In addition, higher costs of landfill will enable alternative treatments to be more economically viable, diverting hazardous waste from landfill. The Government and the Environment Agency are monitoring closely, through a range of measures, waste industry plans for the provision of treatment and disposal capacity, and the response of waste producers and will continue to do so. A number of possible response options exist, including those identified by the Forum, should these be necessary.

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her answer of 11 March 2004, Official Report, column 1620W, on hazardous waste, how many of the (a) 100,000 special waste producers and (b) 750,000 future hazardous waste producers (i) her Department and (ii) the Environment Agency have contacted to inform them of the requirements of the Landfill Directive relating to hazardous waste. [165324]

Mr. Morley: Clearly it is a challenge to communicate directly with many thousands of companies and the Department is continually looking at the communication systems it employs to test their effectiveness. In respect of consulting business on issues of importance, electronic communications such as websites and e-mails are used extensively and the Department relies on informing trade associations and small business services in the expectation that they will pass the information on to their members.

Specifically in relation to Landfill Directive/hazardous waste issues, a dedicated Communications Manager has developed a co-ordinated communications strategy in conjunction with the Environment Agency, Envirowise and the DTI—to address all the key stakeholder requirements. One part of this strategy is to set up a communications network across the country, with active participation by industry and relevant trade associations.

Key activities planned over the next few months include:

a targeted mail shot directed at small businesses;

dissemination of a series of information leaflets to producers and the waste management industry focused on providing guidance, details of timings, responsibilities and where to go for additional information;

 
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seminars directed at 'new' waste producers;

roadshows across the country to raise awareness of the legislation, its implications, minimisation and help available for businesses;

targeted media articles focused on the key waste streams and industry sectors; and

attending a series of third party events through the provision of support e.g. speakers for events being held by other organisations (e.g. the Chemical Industries Association, the Engineers Employers Federation and the Environmental Industries Commission).

These activities follow up earlier actions by the Department and the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions to implement the 1999 Landfill Directive in England and to divert waste from landfill. These include:

preparation and issue of Waste Strategy 2000;

conducting six rounds of public consultation on aspects of the Landfill Directive;

setting up four stakeholders groups—including the Hazardous Waste Forum, and the Landfill Directive Implementation Group;

publishing an action plan on the reduction and environmentally sound management of hazardous waste;

issuing guidance material by the Environment Agency, e.g. on defining and classifying hazardous waste;

arranging bilateral meetings with a wide range of industry and other interests;

commissioning research and other projects (either direct or though the Hazardous Waste Forum or the Environment Agency);

setting up the Waste and Resources Action Programme to develop markets for recycled materials (so diverting waste away from landfill); and

introducing the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund to support projects that use waste materials (e.g. construction and demolition waste) to replace primary aggregates.

Home Energy Efficiency Scheme

Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many homes in Manchester, Gorton have benefited from the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme. [167538]

Mr. Morley: The Home Energy Efficiency Scheme is now marketed as Warm Front. Between the launch of the scheme in June 2000 and the end of March 2004, approximately 3,200 households in Manchester, Gorton received assistance from the Scheme.

National Allocation Plan

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs where and when she announced that she intends to delay submission of the UK's National Allocation Plan to the European Commission; and on what grounds. [167524]

Mr. Morley: The European Commission was informed of the UK's intention to delay submission of the National Allocation Plan (NAP) for the EU Emissions Trading Scheme on Friday 26 March 2004. Stakeholders were informed via email and an announcement made on the Defra website on Monday 29 March 2004; I wrote to Commissioner Wallstrom on
 
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Wednesday 31 March 2004 and the Government position regarding the delay in publication was further clarified in a press release on 2 April 2004.

During the consultation on the draft NAP, a number of issues were raised which Government wanted to take into account and consider in full. Some of these issues were complex and took considerable time to work through. It was therefore agreed to delay the submission of the NAP to the Commission by a few weeks to take account of the extra work.

The UK takes all EU responsibilities and deadlines seriously and is fully supportive of the EU ETS. We also have a duty to take full account of issues raised as a result of public consultation. We intend to submit the NAP to the Commission and publish it for further consultation by the end of April.

Oceans

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the incidence of oxygen-free zones in the oceans. [165590]

Mr. Morley: A recent report by the United Nations Environment programme drew attention to a number of cases across the world where there are regular instances of oxygen deficiency, often caused by excessive inputs of nutrients from land based sources. This underlines the need for action to limit the input of nutrients, and the UK has supported the UNEP Global Plan of Action on land-based sources of pollution which is seeking to address this.

There have been no cases of oxygen levels in UK coastal waters falling so low as a result of anthropogenic nutrient inputs as to be a cause for concern, e.g. through fish kills. Historically, there have been oxygen depletion problems affecting the passage of migratory fish in certain estuaries due to the direct discharge of sewage. The problems no longer exist due to the effective management of the discharges.

There are some areas where nutrient levels are high as a result of anthropogenic nutrient inputs, and in a few cases this has resulted in undesirable changes to the water environment. We have taken action to reduce nutrient inputs in these cases, through improved treatment of sewage and through designating Nitrate Vulnerable Zones to control the use of fertilisers and slurry on farmland.

The Department is committed to take further action to address diffuse water pollution. Officials are undertaking a range of work to identify diffuse pollution problems and the best ways to tackle them across all activities and a formal consultation on a range of options to tackle water pollution from agriculture will be issued shortly.

In some places, for example systems with limited water exchange, it is natural for there to be areas where oxygen levels are low without anthropogenic nutrient input.

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