Waste wood co-incineration plants environmental permit variation consultation

Overview

The Environment Agency is aware that hazardous waste wood from demolition activities and other sources is routinely chipped and blended with non-hazardous waste wood, and the resulting mixture sent to Chapter-IV compliant co-incinerators.

Although this mixed waste stream is pre-mixed hazardous, RPS 250 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hazardous-waste-wood-from-demolition-and-refurbishment-activities-rps-250 currently means it can be moved as non-hazardous under a waste transfer note, and so co-incinerators have not been required to have hazardous waste codes in their permits.

RPS 250 will expire in September 2023.  As we are currently reviewing permits for Chapter IV co-incinerators in response to the Waste Incineration BAT Conclusions, we are planning to include hazardous waste codes and other relevant conditions as part of the review process for the following plants:

EPR Eye Limited
EPR/BP3635LA/V007
Eye Power Station
Oaksmere Business Park
Eye
Suffolk
IP23 7DH

Welland Operations Limited
EPR/FP3701LZ/V002
Welland Bio Power
Pebble Hall Farm
Theddingworth
Northamptonshire
LE17 6NJ

Slough Heat and Power Limited
EPR/CP3031SX/V008
Slough Heat and Power Station
342 Edinburgh Avenue
Slough Trading Estate
Berkshire
SL1 4TU

ENGIE FM Limited
EPR/GP3509PX/V002
Birmingham Bio Power
Fordrough
Yardley
Birmingham
B25 8DW

Tilbury Green Power Limited
EPR/KP3936ZB/V005
Tilbury Green Power
Former Cargill Sweeteners Facility
Tilbury Dock
Essex
RM18 7NU

BWSC Generation Services UK Limited
EPR/NP3805BY/V003
Templeborough Biomass Power Plant
River View
Sheffield Road
Rotherham
S60 1FA

Equitix ESI CHP (Nottingham) Limited
EPR/QP3936AX/V003
Widmerpool Biomass Power Plant
Fosse Way
Widmerpool
Nottingham
NG12 5PS

Equitix ESI CHP (SHEFF) Limited
EPR/VP3737RS/V005
Holbrook Community Renewable Energy Centre
Rother Valley Way
Holbrook
Sheffield
South Yorkshire
S20 3RW

Enviropower Limited
EPR/XP3030XX/V008
Lancing Combustion Plant
Units 1-2
37 Chartwell Road
Lancing Business Park
Lancing
West Sussex
BN15 8TU

Veolia BioPower One UK Limited
EPR/LP3206SS/V003
Chilton Biomass Plant
Chilton Way
Chilton Industrial Estate
Chilton
County Durham
DL17 0SD

Mersey Bioenergy Limited
EPR/JP3132RV/V005
Widnes Biomass Facility
Mathieson Road
Widnes
Cheshire
WA8 0PE

Bioenergy Infrastructure Services Limited
EPR/NP3101SV/V003
Ince Bio Power
Plot 9
Protos
Ince
Cheshire
CH2 4LB

GB Bio Limited
EPR/WP3738DE/V003
Tansterne Biomass Power Plant
Hull Road
Aldbrough
East Yorkshire
HU11 4RE

We are planning to make the following changes to the permits for these plants:

• Add to the Activity Table a 5.1 (a) hazardous waste co-incineration activity and other relevant conditions for hazardous waste co-incinerators.

• Insert waste code 19 02 04* (premixed wastes composed of at least one hazardous waste) into the table of permitted waste types to reflect the mixture of hazardous and non-hazardous waste which is already being received by the plant.

• Include a limit on the proportion of hazardous waste wood within the 19 02 04* waste stream of 10% to prevent the plants from taking a higher proportion of hazardous waste than they are likely taking now.

• Specifically exclude waste wood types from specialist demolition activities (i.e. railway sleepers, telegraph poles etc – see RPS 250 for a full list) from the 19 02 04* mixture.

These changes will not have any impact on the operation of or emissions from the plants as they will simply formalise what they are already doing under RPS 250, and there will be no actual changes to the types of waste types received by the plant.

We can take account of

• Relevant environmental regulatory requirements and technical standards.
• Information on local population and sensitive sites.
• Comments on whether the right process is being used for the activity, for example whether the technology is the right one.
• The shape and use of the land around the site in terms of its potential impact, whether that impact is acceptable and what pollution control or abatement may be required.
• The impact of noise and odour from traffic on site.
• Permit conditions by providing information that we have not been made aware of in the application, or by correcting incorrect information in the application (e.g. monitoring and techniques to control pollution).

We cannot take account of

• Issues beyond those in the relevant environmental regulations.
• Anything outside the remit of the EPR, e.g. the proposed location of the site, which is done by the local authority via land use planning.
• Whether a site should have a formal designation under Habitats Directive or other conservation legislation.
• Whether the activity should be allowed or not as a matter of principle. For example we will not consider whether wood, gas, or coal should be burnt to produce electricity; only that the options and environmental impact of say wood has been considered. We will not consider whether a waste incinerator proposal should be turned into a sorting and recycle proposal, only that the incinerator options and effect have been considered.
• Land use issues when determining a permit application, even if changing the location of the activity would improve its environmental performance.
• The impact of noise and odour from traffic travelling to and from the site.
• The legally defined process we follow to determine a permit.
• The granting of a permit/variation if the operator is able to demonstrate that they can carry out the activity without significant risk to the environment or human health.