What is the health impact?

All emissions to the natural environment are tightly controlled and will be monitored 24 hours a day. The plant must conform to guidelines set down in the Environmental Permit issued by the Environment Agency. After the combustion process is complete, all remaining emissions will go through a state-of-the-art cleaning process to ensure there is no impact on the environment or to local air quality.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA), which advises the government on public health matters has said; “Modern, well managed incinerators make only a small contribution to local concentrations of air pollutants. It is possible that such small additions could have an impact on health but such effects, if they exist, are likely to be very small and not detectable.”

The HPA has also said: “ ..there is little evidence to suggest that incinerators are associated with increased prevalence of respiratory symptoms in the surrounding population.