Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the Government’s policy is on the incineration of waste.

The Government’s policy is that incineration should not compete with greater waste prevention, re-use and recycling. As part of the Government’s overall waste policy energy from waste plays a role in meeting the UK’s landfill diversion targets.

The Government is committed to recovering the maximum amount of energy from incinerated waste. It also encourages and supports the utilisation of heat and/or the production of other outputs beyond electricity.

The Resource and Waste Strategy will be published later this year and will set out how we will maximise the value we get from resources and minimise waste. It will set out how we will achieve zero avoidable plastic waste, double the UK’s resource productivity by 2042, and achieve zero avoidable waste of all kinds by 2050.