Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) his Department and (b) Public Health England has made an assessment of the effect on (i) air quality and (ii) human health of different stack heights of waste incinerators.

The Environment Agency assesses the effects of emissions on air quality, taking into account stack height, as part of the permitting process for municipal waste incinerators (MWIs).

When consulted, Public Health England (PHE) provides an expert and independent opinion to the regulator, the Environment Agency, on the potential impacts on human health of emissions arising from existing or proposed regulated facilities, such as MWIs.

PHE’s position is that well run and regulated modern MWIs are not a significant risk to public health. This view is based on detailed assessments of the effects of air pollutants on health and on the fact that modern MWIs make a small contribution to local concentrations of air pollutants. The assessment is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/municipal-waste-incinerator-emissions-to-air-impact-on-health

PHE has no plans to engage in work on the effects of air quality and human health of different stack heights of waste incinerators.