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Landfill Sites

Volume 410: debated on Friday 19 September 2003

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To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many landfill sites in each Environment Agency region are licensed to accept hazardous waste; how many sites in each such region will be licensed to accept hazardous waste after July 2004; and if she will make a statement. [129352]

Information from the Environment Agency's conditioning plan exercise carried out in July 2002, covering England and Wales, indicated the following:

RegionHazardous (post 2002)Hazardous (post 2004)
Anglian479
Midlands424
North East3911
North West278
South West161
Southern131
Thames190
Wales153
Total21837
Given that July 2004 is still some time away, the actual number may well change before then. Also, there will be scope to landfill treated hazardous waste in separate cells in landfills classified as non-hazardous.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what amount of hazardous waste was sent to landfill in each year since 1996. [129353]

The amount of special waste sent to landfill (as notified to the Environment Agency on special waste consignment notes) for the calendar years 1999, 2000 and 2001 is as follows:

Tonnes
19992,092,490
20002,054,084
20012,332,000
Information in respect of earlier years is not held centrally. Data for 2002 are not yet available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the amount of hazardous waste that will be sent to landfill in (a) 2004, (b) 2005 and (c) 2006. [129354]

In 2001, 2,332,000 tonnes of hazardous waste were disposed to landfill in England and Wales. Projections for future years are affected by a range of factors, including the likely increase in costs of treatment and disposal as a result of requirements in the Landfill Directive, and the impact of these changes in costs on producers efforts to minimise waste. Changes to the hazardous waste list are likely to increase the amount of hazardous waste to be consigned. These and other factors are currently being investigated in support of work on possible scenarios for the hazardous waste forum, which is due to report in the autumn.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the likely change in costs of sending hazardous waste to landfill after implementation of the ban on co-disposal in July 2004. [129355]

A Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) of the Landfill Directive in England and Wales was published with the Second Consultation Paper on Implementation of Council Directive (1999/31/EC) on the Landfill of Waste. This is available on the Defra website (www.defra.gov.uk). The RIA points out that increasing disposal costs will provide greater impetus to minimise, recycle and re-use waste and hence move the management of waste up the waste hierarchy. This outcome is a major objective of the Government's environmental policy and is supported by business, non-Government organisations and Select Committees of this House.The RIA indicates that at the extreme, waste producers will face an additional cost in the range of £97 million to £696 million. Part of this increased cost relates to landfilling hazardous waste; this fell into the range of £15 million to £87 million.The RIA recognises that many of the potential benefits cannot be quantified but believes that a number will be of local significance where they result in a reduced impact of existing landfills. These benefits relate principally to reducing health and environmental risks and by promoting more sustainable options as set out above. The RIA also draws attention to benefits from investment in treatment technologies and rising landfill standards that could result in new opportunities for business.