DEFRA has published a review of the environmental and health effects of municipal waste management

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has published a review of the environmental and health effects of municipal waste management.

The review looks at all of the major municipal waste management activities including incineration and landfill; it concludes that the weight of evidence, from studies so far, indicates current practice for managing municipal waste has at most a minor effect on human health and the environment, particularly when compared with everyday activities.

A spokesperson for the Health Protection Agency’s Chemical Hazards and Poisons Division said, "The Agency welcomes this timely and comprehensive review. It is an important addition to the literature. The Agency is committed to assessing the evidence of the impact of the environment on health in order to underpin policy development and to identify research opportunities. Further it will publish appropriate systematic literature reviews in due course including a review of the health impact of landfill sites."

The Review of Environmental and Health Effects of Waste Management - Municipal Waste and Similar Wastes is available on the Defra website at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs