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Waste - 11 March 2002

Mr. Curry: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many hazardous waste landfill sites will be available when co-disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste is banned; what volume of hazardous waste will have to be disposed of in specialist sites; and if she will make a statement. [40861]

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 7 March 2002]: The EC landfill directive bans the co-disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste from July 2004. The choice about whether to operate co-disposal sites as hazardous or non-hazardous sites beyond July 2004 is a commercial decision for landfill operators. We will not have a clear picture of likely capacity until operators submit site conditioning plans in July 2002 stating the classification (hazardous, non-hazardous or inert) they are seeking for the site following the end of co-disposal.

We are currently working with the waste industry and the Environment Agency to forecast how much hazardous waste will need to continue to be landfilled following the end of co-disposal. This will depend on the proportion of the total hazardous waste arising that can be recovered or recycled, the extent to which the waste can be treated to allow it to go to non-hazardous landfill sites, and the availability of alternative disposal routes such as incineration.

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David Curry MP | House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA | tel: 020 7219 6202