Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the role of the Northwich Incinerator in the context of technological changes that mean a greater range of waste that can be recycled; and whether his Department plans to take steps to ensure that recyclable waste is recycled.

The Environment Agency will regulate the incinerator installation through an Environmental Permit, under Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 (EPR). The permit will specify limits for emissions to the environment which are based on the Industrial Emission Directive 2010 and the Waste Incineration Best Available Technique conclusions. The waste types that any incinerator can process are specified by its EPR permit.

Since 2011, businesses that produce and handle waste must follow the Waste Hierarchy set out in Article 4 of the revised Waste Framework (Directive 2008/98/EC). The incinerator will be required to carry out checks on receipt of the waste to verify the description and ensure that it is an acceptable waste code for the plant to receive. The incinerator plant may extract energy from the waste to supply electricity to the National Grid.