Written Answers. - Hospital Waste.
Noel Dempsey
Ceist:
135
Mr. Dempsey
asked the
Minister for the Environment
the responsibilities, if any, he has in relation to hospital waste in general; his responsibilities in relation to hazardous waste from hospitals; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[13320/96]
Noel Dempsey
Ceist:
136
Mr. Dempsey
asked the
Minister for the Environment
the statistical information, if any, available to him and/or collated by his Department in relation to the quantities and types of hospital waste produced in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[13321/96]
Noel Dempsey
Ceist:
137
Mr. Dempsey
asked the
Minister for the Environment
the input of his Department, if any, into making representations to the United Kingdom authorities in respect of its refusal from 1 June 1996 to accept most types of hospital waste from Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[13352/96]
Noel Dempsey
Ceist:
138
Mr. Dempsey
asked the
Minister for the Environment
the steps, if any, taken by his Department in relation to notifying relevant bodies, including the Department of Health, of the policy change instituted in the United Kingdom on 1 June 1996 in respect of the disposal of Irish hospital waste in the United Kingdom; if so, when such notification took place; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[13354/96]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 135, 136, 137 and 138 together.
As Minister for the Environment, I am responsible for the development and co-ordination of waste management policy generally, alongside the Environmental Protection Agency and local authorities who have planning and licensing roles. In this capacity, I have extended the regulatory requirements of the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992 to hospital incinerators to ensure that all such facilities operate to high environmental standards.
Ministerial responsibility for promoting good health care waste management policy lies with the Minister for Health, who published a health service waste policy in June 1994. There is ongoing liaison between the Departments of the Environment and of Health within this framework.
My Department has no direct function in relation to the collection of statistical information on health care waste but has access to data compiled by the Department of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The policy of successive Governments is that Ireland should operate self-sufficiently in relation to the disposal of wastes, with the exception of certain industrial wastes requiring high temperature incineration for which it would be uneconomic to provide specialised facilities in this country. Consistently with this policy, the Minister for Health is pursuing with the Northern Ireland authorities the development of an all-Ireland non-incineration waste management system for health care waste; the tendering process for this is under way.
Following the publication by the United Kingdom authorities in February 1995 of a consultation draft of a waste strategy for England and Wales, my Department responded with a submission in March 1995 in support of the continued export to the UK for disposal of wastes requiring high temperature incineration, which would include some hospital wastes. This case was based on Article 4.3 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 259/93. Interested bodies, including the Department of Health, were informed. The UK authorities accepted the Irish submission and the UK Management Plan for Exports and Imports of Waste, which was published on 16 May 1996, allows for continued exports of relevant Irish wastes on an indefinite basis.
