Written question asked by David Anderson (Labour) on Tuesday, 30 March 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 6 April 2010. It was answered by Dan Norris (Labour) on Thursday, 8 April 2010 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Oils: Waste Disposal

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether his Department has undertaken a life cycle assessment of the environmental impact arising from the export of waste oils for re-refining.

Answer: DEFRA has not commissioned specific studies on the life cycle assessment of the environmental impact arising from the export of waste oils for re-refining. However, we are aware of the following life cycle studies:"GEIR (Groupement Europeen de l'Industrie de la Regeneration, part of the Independent Union of the European Lubricants industry) report: Ecological and energetic assessment of re-refining used oils to base oils: Substitution of primarily produced base oils including semi-synthetic and synthetic compounds:""http://www.geir-rerefining.org/documents/LCA_en_short_version.pdf""The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Working Group on Waste Prevention and Recycling report: Improving Recycling Markets:""http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/24/14/35582045.pdf""The European Commission report: Critical Review Of Existing Studies And Life Cycle Analysis On The Regeneration And Incineration Of Waste Oils:""http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/studies/oil/waste_oil_xsum.pdf"

Secondary information