In its report, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Air Pollution urged England to adopt a moratorium on large-scale waste incinerators, as Wales has done (see letsrecycle.com story).
It also surmised that local and national government should take a cautious approach to the development of infrastructure for EfW.
However, in a statement published yesterday (14 December), the ESA said the report did not draw evidence from the many studies which “conflict” with the information presented to the APPG.
The ESA, the private waste sector’s trade association, added that “much” of the information used by the APPG had been “rebutted” during “multiple” public enquiries.
Jacob Hayler, the ESA’s executive director, said: “It is very disappointing that the APPG has chosen to publish this unnecessary and misleading report that presents a one-sided and selective view on the safety of essential energy recovery facilities in the UK.”
Capacity
Mr Hayler said the UK did not yet have “sufficient” energy recovery capacity to avoid sending residual waste to landfill.
[Energy recovery facilities] will continue to play an important role even as recycling performance increases dramatically
– Jacob Hayler, the ESA’s executive director
He added: “Energy recovery facilities are among the most heavily regulated in Europe and play a vital role in our national infrastructure.
“In accordance with the waste hierarchy, they have helped to avoid sending hundreds of millions of tonnes of waste to landfill over the past few decades and they will continue to play an important role even as recycling performance increases dramatically, as we anticipate it will, over the next fifteen years.”
Studies
The ESA gave examples of studies which, it suggested, showed EfW in a more favourable light.
It cited a 2020 study by Air Quality Consultants for the Greater London Authority which conducted a literature review of 35 recent academic studies on pollutants emitted from EfW plants and related population exposure and health risks.
The literature review concluded that any potential health risks associated with direct emissions from “modern, effectively managed and regulated” EfWs in London were “exceedingly low”, though elsewhere in the report the conclusions were less positive (see letsreycle.com story).
The ESA also noted that the use of energy recovery in England is approved by Public Health England.
Mr Hayler said: “Multiple studies have concluded time and time again that any safety risk associated with emissions from modern well-run energy recovery facilities is very small, if indeed it exists at all – but this does not stop UK EfW operators from striving for, and meeting, ever-higher regulatory standards for these facilities.”
APPG
The APPG on Air Pollution is formed of eight ‘officers’ made up of one Conservative MP, four Labour MPs and a Scottish National Party MP, as well as Green and Lib Dem peers.
The group aims to “bring together parliamentarians, experts, and stakeholders to discuss and promote measures to tackle poor air quality; and to work to raise the profile of both the problem and its solutions in parliament”.
Register for free to comment