Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to his Answer of 27 February to Question 129074, which person or body carries out the monitoring to which he refers; and whether the operator of the waste incineration site is told in advance of the proposed testing.

The monitoring of dioxins and furans is carried out by independent monitoring contractors. The monitoring contractors must work to the strict standards of the Environment Agency’s Monitoring Certification Scheme. The operator is told in advance of the proposed testing to ensure that the relevant personnel are present on site and that the necessary arrangements are made for access.

The minimisation of dioxin and furan emissions is primarily controlled by the design and set up of the plant, and by ensuring good combustion conditions. As such, there is very little an operator can do to operate the plant differently from normal on the day the monitoring is taking place so as to somehow produce lower emissions than usual. Specific changes in the way the plant is operated on a particular day would also be likely to show up in the results of the continuous emissions monitoring systems for other pollutants.

The Environment Agency is confident that the current arrangement in place for the periodic monitoring of dioxins and furans is fit for purpose.