asked the Minister for the Environment if he will make a statement on the Government's policy for the proper and safe disposal of waste products, including hospital, industrial and domestic waste; and the advisability of the continuing use of landfill as a means of disposing of such wastes.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Waste Disposal.
27.
Waste disposal policy is to ensure that all wastes, and particularly any hazardous wastes which call for special disposal arrangements, are safely disposed of without risk to public health or to the environment. This is achieved through regulations which make each local authority responsible for the planning, organisation and supervision of operations for the disposal of the vast majority of wastes arising in their areas.
I am assured that properly engineered and properly managed landfill is internationally accepted as a technically sound and environmentally satisfactory means of disposing of an extensive range of wastes, including industrial and certain hazardous wastes. There are, of course, many wastes which are definitely not suitable for landfill.