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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has he made of the impact of incinerators on air quality (a) in Halton and (b) nationally.

The Environment Agency (EA) are responsible for issuing permits to allow new incinerators (also known as energy from waste or EfW plants) to operate in England. When the EA receives a permit application for a new EfW plant, or to change the operation of an existing plant in a way which could affect its emissions, they carry out a comprehensive air quality impact assessment.

The EA will only grant a permit for an EfW plant, or a variation to an existing permit, if they are satisfied that the proposal would not give rise to any significant pollution of the environment or harm to human health, including via impacts on air quality. This has been done for the Runcorn EfW plant in the Borough of Halton. A copy of the latest air quality impact assessment for Runcorn can be found in Section 1 of the document at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5c8faadee5274a4c32a1597d/Application_Variation_-_Decision_Document.pdf

The EA also consult the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) for their views on every new permit application they receive. The UKHSA’s position is that modern, well-run and regulated municipal waste incinerators are not a significant risk to public health. This view is based on detailed assessments of the effects of air pollutants on health and on the fact that these incinerators make only a very small contribution to local and national concentrations of air pollutants.