Extra waste burning approved for incinerator

Extra waste burning approved for incineratorJust nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleAmy ClarkeGetty ImagesBeddington incinerator has breached its environmental permits on 916 occasionsA south London incineration company has been granted permission to process tens of thousands of extra tonnes of rubbish each year after the Environment Agency approved a permit variation.Viridor Ltd can now increase the amount of waste handled at its energy recovery facility to 382,286 tonnes annually - an increase of nearly 35 tonnes.This comes despite opposition from residents living near the Beddington site, who have previously told the BBC they are concerned about pollution and increased traffic.Chair of Sutton Council's environment committee, Christopher Woolmer, said he was "deeply disappointed" by the decision, which the council had consistently opposed.In the run-up to the ruling, locals spoke of unpleasant smells and a near-constant flow of lorries serving the facility, while community campaigners and councillors said repeated objections had been lodged with the Environment Agency on their behalf.Concerns have also been fuelled by reports of previous emissions breaches at the energy-from-waste plant.The incinerator exceeded its emission limits 916 times between 2022 and 2024. Viridor said the breaches were caused by a third-party contractor and were very small in scale.It added they did not pose a risk to human health and said safeguards were now in place to prevent a recurrence.The Environment Agency said it was satisfied the variation met environmental legislative requirements and provided a high level of protection for human health and the environment.'Stringent conditions'Matt Higginson, an environment manager for the Environment Agency, said permits placed "stringent conditions" on waste sites."Emissions from the plant are monitored around the clock, and the data is rigorously assessed to identify if any breaches to the permit oc...