To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he has any plans to improve security arrangements for the collection and disposal of clinical waste in Wales.
All district health authorities in Wales have been made aware of the provisions contained in the Environmental Protection Bill, which will introduce revised standards for the disposal of clinical waste by incineration.Discussions with senior managers of Welsh health authorities have already taken place to focus attention on this subject and a seminar on the new standards and requirements has been arranged for health authority staff and local authority environmental health officers on 4 July.
Each health authority was also given the opportunity to comment on the consultation document reviewing the operation of the Control of Pollution (Special Waste) Regulations 1980 and which proposes that clinical waste should be classified as special waste. If implemented this would require a consignment note procedure to be applied to the disposal of clinical waste.
Provision is incorporated in the Environmental Protection Bill imposing on producers of waste the duty to ensure the adoption of proper methods of control in its handling and this duty would apply to producers of clinical waste.