Waste Incineration (Hansard, 20 July 1994)

§ Mr. Gummer

The Government have responded to the Royal Commission on environmental pollution's 17th report on incineration of waste today. Copies of the Government's response are available in the Library.The Royal Commission's support for incineration is based on the new generation of plant, which differs from the old in two important respects: first, provision will normally be made for electricity generation or combined heat and power, with the consequence that the process involves energy recovery and is therefore higher in the waste management hierarchy; second, the need to meet the new EC emission limits will provide much greater safeguards for health and local amenity. We agree with the Royal Commission that incineration of waste in suitably located plants designed to meet these new standards is an environmentally acceptable form of waste disposal and should no longer represent a cause for concern to those who live and work close to such plants. We agree also on the desirability of recovering energy from wastes as part of a sustainable approach to waste management. The Government will publish later this year, as a basis for consultation, a draft waste management strategy for England and Wales. This will set out in greater detail the potential role of incineration in relation to other waste management options.