Clause 25 - Activities to which Chapter 1 does not apply
Waste and Emissions Trading Bill [Lords]
10:45 am
Ms Sue Doughty (Guildford, Liberal Democrat)
I thank the Minister for his answer. Like all Members, we have been trying to expand the Bill's scope so that it becomes a waste Bill, rather than simply implementing an EU directive. What we do about spreading waste matter on land is quite a broad issue, and the Scots must deal with it separately.
I am a little concerned when we say that we know what sludge is, because it is clear from the previous debate that that is not entirely true. One can have dry treated sludge, wet sludge, sludge in cakes and sludge that has been baked and rendered inert. Quite honestly, I do not think that we know what sludge is—the Committee is made up of non-technical people who represent their communities.
We propose including the words ''non-hazardous materials'' because the clause makes no reference to them and because we are concerned that the Committee does not know what it is dealing with. There was concern earlier about whether animal waste products could be heated up enough during composting. Happily, it turns out that prions are destroyed at a lower temperature than the bacteria that treat compost. We were delighted and most relieved to learn that.
I appreciate that the Minister does not have a definition of ''similar matter'' and that we are straying slightly from the point, but I would like to leave him with this thought: we have not fully defined what we are talking about, as it may be sludges or certain animal by-products, and some are hazardous while others are not.
The Bill refers to the appropriate treatment of such by-products at different points in their creation, disposal or degeneration, as one might call it in the example of sewage sludge. Sewage sludge is fairly heavily managed in terms of what goes on to be used in spreading and it is subject to strong regulations, but we are very vague about some other materials. If we are not talking about sewage sludge or other materials that are heavily managed, might not the word ''similar'' include something that is not so heavily monitored?