Asked by: Lord Vinson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the CO2 emissions resulting from the mandatory incineration of fallen livestock; and what plans, if any, they have to allow livestock to be buried rather than incinerated.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
No assessment has been made of the CO2 emissions from incineration of fallen livestock.
Agricultural greenhouse gas emissions have reduced by 13 percent since 1990 (as of 2019), with many farms using more efficient agricultural practices. Land use, land use change and forestry continue to provide benefits in carbon sequestration. The Government recognises the importance of reducing emissions further in these sectors. The Net Zero Strategy and the 25 Year Environment Plan set out the Government’s ambition for how this will be achieved.
Rules regarding the disposal of fallen livestock are in place to protect animal and public health by preventing dangerous pathogens spreading disease into the soil, groundwater, or air. Some pathogens can persist for many decades in the environment and only tiny quantities are needed to infect animals. Therefore, strict regulations are in place as to why fallen livestock cannot be buried but must be disposed of at one of the following: knackers’ yard, hunt kennel, maggot farm, incinerator, or a renderer. We have no plans to consider the option of burying.
Asked by: Lord Vinson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to reduce toxic landfill by encouraging the use of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) incineration of waste.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Government's Resources and Waste Strategy, published in 2018, sets out how we will minimise the damage caused to our natural environment by reducing and managing waste safely and carefully. A key principle is to prevent waste in the first place, in keeping with the waste hierarchy, which ranks options for waste management according to their environmental impact. Where waste does occur, we need to manage it in the most efficient way possible. After waste prevention, priority goes to reuse, recycling, and then recovery. Disposal, for example in landfill, is generally regarded as the worst option.
We are therefore encouraging increased use of heat through Combined Heat and Power (CHP) from EfW as it almost doubles the fuel efficiency and can play a really valuable role in our transition to decarbonising the heating of homes and buildings. There is financial support from government for EfW plants and heat networks developers to do this in the form of the existing Heat Networks Investment Project and the upcoming Green Heat Network Fund. The Heat Network Investment Project is already funding CHP based EfW projects in Leeds, London and Cardiff that will supply low carbon heat to local homes and businesses.
Asked by: Lord Vinson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the lack of proof of a link between pigs being fed food waste and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease; and what plans they have to revoke legislation preventing food waste being fed to pigs in order to reduce the volume that ends up in landfill
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
UK legislation on Animal By-Products (ABPs) bans the feeding of all farmed animals with catering waste. This ban was introduced following the foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in the UK in 2001, which is thought to have originated from the illegal feeding of pigs with untreated food waste. The outbreak resulted in the destruction of more than 10 million cattle and sheep and cost the UK economy billions of pounds.
Defra has undertaken studies which show that it might be possible for a range of food waste to be safely fed to livestock but that this is dependent on proper segregation of animal by-products from other material, meaning non-segregated material is an unacceptable disease risk. It is doubtful whether it would be economically viable for potential operators to comply with the controls we would consider necessary for the use of catering waste in feed for pigs.
The UK government has committed to working towards sending zero food waste to landfill by 2030 through its Clean Growth Strategy and Waste and Resources Strategy for England, published in 2018 - http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/resources-and-waste-strategy-for-england. The Environment Bill requires that food waste must be collected from households at least weekly. It should be sent for recycling or composting, ideally through anaerobic digestion which generates energy and produces fertiliser digestate. We will continue to discuss with industries and other stakeholders how we reduce waste and maximise recycling.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease belongs in the family of fatal brain diseases, Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs). The family also includes BSE in cattle, scrapie in sheep and goats and Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in deer. Scientific research indicates that new variant (nv) CJD is contracted via the consumption of products from cattle infected with BSE, the only TSE known to be transmissible to humans. There is no evidence that pigs and poultry can be affected by TSEs.
Legislation for the prevention and eradication of TSEs prohibits the feeding of protein of animal origin to farmed animals, with a few exceptions (e.g. milk). This is to prevent the transmission of TSEs through feeding. Processed animal protein (PAP) made from pig or poultry material is currently used as fertiliser or is exported but is not sent to landfill.
Asked by: Lord Vinson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take, through the appropriate agencies, to safeguard the unique Special Area of Conservation and Site of Special Scientific Interest of the Upper River Itchen from threats of pollution and abstraction.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The current Water Framework Directive classification for the River Itchen is Good.
The Environment Agency (EA) regulates abstraction from and discharges to rivers by issuing permits and checking that these are being complied with. Permit limits are set to ensure the protection of the environment. The EA regularly reviews permits based on the evidence available and it amends these limits when necessary.
As part of its ongoing programme of restoring sustainable abstraction the EA is reviewing abstraction permits. Since 2007 this work has reduced the amount of water being abstracted from the River Itchen catchment each year by more than 5.35 million cubic metres. The EA is also reviewing discharge permits and has successfully reduced the levels of chemicals such as phosphates entering the river system.