All four Green Party councillors at North Yorkshire Council have warned that incinerator contracts “are far from the silver bullet they’re claimed to be” after revelations of major emissions breaches at Viridor’s Beddington incinerator in Sutton. Viridor is the same contractor recently linked with the proposed Tees Valley (TVERF) incinerator project.
North Yorkshire’s Green Councillors sent a letter to all 7 councils involved in TVERF in May to warn of the risks based on the experience of being tied into a contract with Thalia at Allerton Park incinerator (AWRP). These include financial risks, public health risks, and locking into contracts that stop councils improving recycling and complying with new national waste policy, which also means missing out on public funding.
A Compliance Assessment Report (CAR) from the Environment Agency found that between September 2022 and March 2024, Viridor’s Beddington plant exceeded legal daily emissions limits for nitrogen oxides (NOx) on 916 occasions.
Sutton Council has formally written to DEFRA to oppose Viridor’s bid to expand the facility, citing the breaches and what it called “a lack of proper monitoring and scrutiny by the Environment Agency.”
The company has attributed the breaches to human error by an accredited third-party contractor, but Sutton Council and campaigners have raised concerns about systemic weaknesses in oversight.
The revelations have strengthened calls from campaigners and councillors across the UK for councils to re-examine long-term waste contracts, warning that incinerators create financial and environmental risks while undermining recycling.
Cllr Warneken (speaking on behalf of North Yorkshire Green Party):
As we’ve seen with our own incinerator at Allerton Park in North Yorkshire, these facilities are far from the silver bullet they’re often claimed to be. They can quickly become a headache for councils, locking them into burning rather than recycling, and committing communities to years of emissions. Even under normal operating conditions, the regulation of those emissions raises serious questions.
The Sutton case highlights not only doubts about whether councils can rely on contractors to monitor emissions effectively, but also wider concerns about the level of oversight provided by the Environment Agency. This combination could prove to be a ticking time bomb for public health.
If councils already have ample incineration capacity to meet projected waste levels, why take the additional risk — both to the public purse and to people’s health?
