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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to assess the adequacy of levels of capacity in the provision of the incineration of waste.

The incineration of waste with energy recovery (also known as energy from waste) plays an important role in diverting waste from landfill but it must not compete with greater prevention, re-use and recycling of waste. We have a high level of confidence that we will have sufficient waste infrastructure, including energy from waste capacity, in place to meet the UK’s 2020 landfill diversion target. Going forward, the National Infrastructure Commission is looking at waste as part of its assessment of the UK’s major infrastructure needs on a 30-year time horizon. We will consider the Commission’s findings along with any capacity issues associated with waste infrastructure as we develop future policy on waste and resources.