Friends of the Earth welcomes Derbyshire County Council stand on Redland Aggregates hazardous waste burning

Friends of the Earth (FOE) has welcomed the decision by Derbyshire County Council to call for tighter controls on trials of hazardous waste in the cement kiln operated by Redlands Aggregates at Whitwell in Derbyshire. This followed the vote by Bolsover District Council last week to object to an application by Redlands to burn secondary liquid fuel (SLF) on a permanent basis. The Euro MP for North Notts and Chesterfield, Ken Coates, has raised his concerns with the European Environment Commissioner who has promised to investigate the use of hazardous waste by the UK cement industry. Derbyshire is the first County Council to insist that the recommendations of the House of Commons Environment Select Committee (13.6.1995) are implemented by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution (HMIP).

Friends of the Earth Industry and Pollution Campaigner Roger Lilley said today:

"This is a positive move by Derbyshire. Proliferation of waste incineration capacity is totally unjustified. We want to see the Government play an active role in the minimisation of waste production instead of allowing the cement industry to impose hazardous waste incinerators on communities by the back door.

FOE has voiced the fears of many local communities that hazardous waste burning by the cement industry brings an unacceptable long term health risk, especially from dioxins and heavy metals. They also point to the current threat to the companies who reprocess and recover industrial wastes, such as solvents, for reuse, who have seen the cement industry remove valuable waste streams from the market for incineration in their kilns.

The recommendations of the Select Committee include:

SLF to be formally classified as waste more effective enforcement of standards by HMIP HMIP monitoring exercise take into account 'worst case scenario' Government to carry out a survey of human and animal health around all cement kilns, not just SLF burning ones