But, the cement industry hit back at Cleanaway's comments, accusing the company of “scaremongering”.
” There is no need to take the risk of lowering environmental standards by allowing cement kilns to burn more hazardous wastes.“
– Gill Weeks, Cleanaway
Cleanaway's warning came as the Environment Agency carries out its review into the Substitute Fuels Protocol, which closes next week. The Protocol governs approvals for the recovery of energy in cement and lime kilns from wastes including contaminated oils, chemicals, sewage sludge, explosives, animal products, and CFC gases.
Cleanaway, which provides waste management services including high temperature incineration of hazardous wastes, said that the Agency's proposals for allowing cement kilns to incinerate more hazardous wastes “could lead to a lowering of environmental standards”.
The company is concerned that the Protocol will allow cement companies to burn hazardous waste without the public consultations or environmental impact assessments required of specialist hazardous waste incineration facilities.
Gill Weeks, Cleanaway's regulatory affairs director, said: “If implemented, these proposals will mean that cement factory owners will be able to burn a wider range of highly hazardous wastes without first seeking proper planning permission.
“In addition, they will not have to ensure proper public consultation or trials are undertaken before doing so or, indeed, monitor the subsequent environmental impact.
“There is no need to take the risk of lowering environmental standards by allowing cement kilns to burn more hazardous wastes. The UK already has a specialist and highly regulated incineration industry that handles these wastes to comply with the highest environmental and safety standards,” Ms Weeks said.
Cement industry
The UK cement industry hit back at Cleanaway – and the pressure group Friends of the Earth – with the British Cement Association accusing FoE and Cleanaway of running a “campaign of misinformation” over the use of substitute fuels in cement kilns.
” Cleanaway, which has commercial interests in this area, has initiated a widespread scaremongering campaign based upon misinformation.“
– Mike Gilbert, British Cement Association
With the banning of the diluting of hazardous waste with non-hazardous waste for disposal in landfill sites from July 2004, the cement industry said its 15 strategically located works would provide significant capacity to tackle the shortfall of treatment facilities “safely and cleanly”.
The BCA said it “totally rejects” Cleanaway's claims that environmental standards would be lowered if a wider range of hazardous wastes were burned in cement kilns. It said cement kilns “are subject to the same emissions regulations as incinerators when wastes are being used as fuels”.
Mike Gilbert, chief executive of the British Cement Association, said: “It is essential that those who comment on the revision of the protocol do so on the basis of correct factual information and it is, therefore, of concern that Cleanaway, which has commercial interests in this area, has initiated a widespread scaremongering campaign based upon misinformation.”
Investment
But, the latest EU legislation will mean the cement industry will need to make “substantial, multi-million pound” investments to reduce emissions even further, the BCA said.
Countering other claims from Cleanaway, the BCA insisted that environmental impacts would “remain the key determining factor in whether or not a works is given permission to use a new fuel”. And, it said public engagement by the cement industry will go “beyond that required by statute”.
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