WRITTEN QUESTION E-0581/03

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(28 February 2003)

Subject: Return of toxic-dust-generating waste after processing into building blocks and synthetic pellets to fill concrete walls

1. Is the Commission aware that the Dutch steel manufacturer Hoogovens, which is located on the coast between Velsen and Beverwijk and is currently part of the British-Dutch concern Corus, has been engaged since 1993 in processing chemical waste mainly fly ash into pellets, which can be used as a filling for concrete and in the manufacture of cementless pressed building blocks, which are marketed as green bricks?

2. Is the Commission aware that this material is widely distributed and that its traceability is minimal, given that different combinations of chemical waste from industry, electricity generating stations and domestic waste incinerators are incorporated in it, unidentified waste is imported from Poland, India, Taiwan and Israel, and the daughter company HTS E & E (Hoogovens Technical Services, Energy and Environment) sells HTS-Aardelite installations, which can produce this material, in the Netherlands and elsewhere?

3. Is the Commission aware that in the process of manufacture a great deal of toxic matter is released and that people who work in the industry are afflicted by, among other things, scabs and fungal infections of the skin, memory loss coupled with black patches on brain scans, hair loss, headaches, uncontrolled speech, laughing attacks and an unsteady gait, while the women in their families suffer early menopause and the children display high concentrations of arsenic, cadmium and aluminium in their bodies?

4. Is the Commission aware that occupants of new houses where pellets are incorporated in the concrete walls or which have been built from pressed building blocks cannot drill their walls without releasing toxic dust into their homes, or possibly inhaling it into their lungs?

5. What is the Commission doing to remove this dangerous product, which does not remove toxic waste definitively, but puts it back into circulation, as was once the case with asbestos and creosote salts/arsenic acid as a wood rot preventive, from production and to withdraw it from sale?

Source: Katholiek Nieuwsblad, 15 November 2002.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(22 April 2003)

1. The Commission is not aware of the alleged activities of the company referred to and distribution of so-called green bricks. However, Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste(1) as amended and Council Directive 91/689/EEC of 12 December 1991 on hazardous waste(2) as amended provide that Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that waste is recovered or disposed of without endangering human health and without using processes or methods which could harm the environment. These Directives also request, inter alia for the purpose of implementing the above-mentioned obligation, that establishments and undertakings carrying out waste disposal or waste recovery operations must obtain a permit.

2. The Commission is not aware of the imports of these wastes. Under regulation (EEC) No 259/93 of 1 February 1993 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the Community(3), the competent authorities designated by the Member States are required to ensure that the management of the shipped waste is undertaken in compliance with Community legislation on waste management.

3. The chemical properties and consequently the potential risks of production and use of the products in question are not known to the Commission. However, the Union legislation in the field of the protection of the health and safety of workers at work in particular Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work(4) and Council Directive 98/24/EC of 7 April 1998 on the protection of the health and safety of workers from risks related to chemical agents at work(5) and imposes on the employer the obligation to assess the risks to the safety, health and hygiene of workers. In carrying out this obligation the employer must establish a programme of technical and organisational measures to reduce or eliminate those risks.

4. The Commission is not aware that these green bricks are used in new houses and pose a health threat to occupants who would drill their walls. Proper application of the Community legislation on waste management referred to under point 1 should ensure that there are no such risks when recycled materials are used for their intended use.

5. The Commission will inform the Dutch authorities of the alleged practices of this company and request that a proper investigation is undertaken on the alleged practices and on the application of European legislation on waste management in this specific case.

(1) OJ L 194, 25.7.1975.

(2) OJ L 377, 31.12.1991.

(3) OJ L 30, 6.2.1993.

(4) OJ L 183, 29.6.1989.

(5) OJ L 131, 5.5.1998.