The Environmental Services Association (ESA) has accused the government of treating industry as “a soft target” over the publication of the report, while the Institute of Wastes Management (IWM) has said that the waste industry is being unfairly targeted for “emotive criticism”. But while the IWM said that further studies into landfill sites are needed, the ESA said that the research was not conclusive enough to justify further research.
Dirk Hazell, chief executive of the ESA, said: “The report is quite clear that no causal relationship has been demonstrated between the low level of identified health effects and operation of regulated landfills. The level of risk identified in the report is low and socio-economic and environmental factors other than landfill may well lie behind observations reported. Any correlations could also be between the previous/current industrial activity linked with the sites.”
Best engineered
Mr Hazell noted that the UK's regulated landfill sites are safe and are “the best engineered and most strictly regulated” in the world. He continued: “The advice of ESA scientists is that a further study is not justified by the data in the report and that more research would not be worthwhile.”
The ESA was not shown the report before it was published and Mr Hazell said he felt this was typical of the government who treated “the waste industry as a soft target”. He added: “If we are to achieve greater levels of environmental sustainability, mature partnerships between the government, regulators, industry and the public need to be developed. It is not the industry's fault that partnerships are not more mature, at the moment the industry is not particularly well-remunerated and we can't be blamed.”
Inconsistent findings
The IWM said that the findings of the report are not consistent and it is therefore difficult to draw any conclusions from the data. But the Institute added: “In some areas of the study rates of birth defects reduced after landfill sites opened, supporting the interpretation that the findings were as a result of other factors not associated with landfill sites.”
Dr Cathy O’Brien, president of IWM, said: “More work is needed on this subject to investigate the cause of this apparent effect and differentiate between the various possibilities. This will enable all parties involved in waste management to make any changes if necessary to the operation of landfill sites.”
She added: “There is concern in the waste management industry that they are unfairly targeted for emotive criticism without all the facts being fully represented. Waste is continually generated and needs to be managed and landfill is a recognised and established disposal method.”
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