The directive sets operating conditions and minimum technical requirements for some 2,600 plants, ranging from municipal waste incinerators to waste mineral oil burners in garages, and 'c;o-incinerators', for example, cement kilns that take waste for burning.
It introduces a limit of 0.1ng/m3 for dioxins, equivalent to one part per 10 billion.
Environment minister Michael Meacher said: “These controls embody what has already been accepted and largely applied in the UK as good practice.”
The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs stressed that the consultation is on the control of incinerators, not the place of incineration in waste strategies.
The directive's main aim is to prevent and limit negative environmental effects by emissions into air, soil, surface and ground-water, and the resulting risks to human health, it said.
The deadline for responses to DEFRA is 9 September 2002.
click here for the consultation paper
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