State Secretary for Environmental Affairs Zoltán Illés has been awarded the 2011 honorary membership of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), based in Great Britain.

The directors of the world's largest association of chemical engineers, with 34 thousand members in 120 countries, presented the accolade to the politician on Tuesday evening at a ceremony held at the Hungarian Embassy in London. Also present at the event were IChemE chief executive David Brown, Sir William Wakeham, the organisation's chairman, and Sir John Beddington, British Prime Minister David Cameron's chief scientific advisor.

IChemE nominates a new honorary member each year, in acknowledgement of the candidate's professional-scientific work and achievements. Previous recipients of the honour include Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament, and George Maxwell Richards, Trinidad and Tobago's current President of the Republic. By honouring Zoltán Illés, the organisation has also recognised the key role he played in the clean up following the 2010 red mud disaster.

At the award ceremony, the state secretary told the MTI: after last year's red sludge disaster, British experts were also present at the sites hit by the catastrophe within the framework of aid provided by the British government, and saw first hand the struggle underway to avert the damage. Zoltán Illés added, he later became aware that these British experts had recommended his nomination for the award to IChemE.

In answer to the question on the status of the elimination of the effects of the red sludge flow, the state secretary said: With regard to both the polluted area and the quantity of spilled contaminated material, the state of the cleaning work completed so far is around 98-98 percent. He added: 56 thousand lorry loads of polluted earth have been transported from the affected areas. According to Zoltán Illés, the full cost of the clean up so far is equal to roughly 35 billion forints (around 130 million euros). This includes the construction of the primary dam and the continuous dousing of roads, as well as the cleaning of polluted areas, the demolishing of houses and the construction of new houses in Kolontár and Devecser.

(MTI, Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)