The revised permit raises the facility’s annual processing capacity to almost 380,000 tonnes per year, an increase of nearly 35,000 tonnes from its previous limit.
Located in Sutton, the Beddington ERF treats residual waste from households in Croydon, Kingston, Merton and Sutton, alongside waste from commercial customers across the region.
Viridor said the additional capacity will enable more non-recyclable waste to be managed locally rather than being sent to landfill or exported for treatment overseas.
Review of site’s operations
The variation follows a review of the facility’s operational performance, which Viridor said demonstrated the site’s ability to process additional waste while continuing to comply with environmental permit requirements.
As part of the variation, the permit has also been updated to reflect site emission points, including the addition of an emission point associated with shredding equipment at the site’s Waste Transfer Station (WTS).
A spokesperson for Viridor said: “The Environment Agency has independently reviewed the application and supporting technical evidence before reaching its decision.
“The application was based on the Beddington ERF’s strong operational performance and demonstrated ability to process additional waste while continuing to operate within strict environmental permit requirements.
“The variation will help ensure more of this waste can be managed locally, reducing reliance on landfill while generating electricity for homes and businesses.”
The permit now includes relevant European Waste Catalogue codes for activities at the transfer station and the site will be known as the Beddington ERF and WTS to reflect the wider scope of permitted activities.
The EA said it reviewed technical information submitted by Viridor alongside responses received during two rounds of public consultation before issuing the revised permit.
Opposition to increasing the Beddington ERF’s capacity
The decision comes despite strong opposition from Sutton Council, which last year urged the Environment Agency to reject Viridor’s application.
In a letter sent to Environment Minister Steve Reed on 22 August 2025, the council said it was “astonished” that the regulator was continuing to consider the proposal given recent findings relating to the facility’s environmental performance.
The intervention followed the publication of a Compliance Assessment Report (CAR) by the Environment Agency, which concluded that Viridor had breached its environmental permit at the site.
According to the report, there were 916 exceedances of daily emissions limits for oxides of nitrogen (NOx) between September 2022 and March 2024 across the facility’s two waste treatment lines.
Responding to the criticism at the time, Viridor said it takes its environmental responsibilities “seriously” and operates with a “zero-breach policy”.
The company said the issue stemmed from a human error by an accredited third-party contractor responsible for emissions monitoring, which resulted in historic under-reporting of NOx emissions data.
Viridor said it self-reported the matter to the Environment Agency in March 2024, commissioned an independent investigation and subsequently introduced additional training and oversight measures for contractors involved in emissions monitoring.
The company also noted that both the Environment Agency and the UK Health Security Agency concluded that the breaches did not result in exceedances of Air Quality Standards.
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