Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which derogations in the EU Landfill Directive the Government is planning to remove from application in the UK.

In the 2010 “Strategy for Hazardous Waste Management in England” the Government signalled its intention to end the practice of relying on higher Landfill Directive waste acceptance criteria (WAC, the so-called 3xWAC derogation) to enable hazardous waste to continue to be landfilled. The Environment Agency consulted in April this year on the removal of this derogation in Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste. Defra is considering the responses to the consultation with the Environment Agency and will be engaging with the waste industry to obtain more information on the impact of the removal of this derogation. The Government is not currently considering the removal of any other derogations in the Landfill Directive.