Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what comparative assessment she has made of the environmental effects of mechanical biological treatment waste processes and waste incineration processes.
Defra has not made such an assessment. Residual waste should be treated in accordance with the waste hierarchy.
To assist decision makers, the department published information on the mechanical biological treatment of waste in 2013. This can be found on the GOV.UK website at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/mechanical-biological-treatment-of-municipal-solid-waste.
Information on energy from waste (incineration with energy recovery) was published in 2014 at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-from-waste-a-guide-to-the-debate.