Beddington energy-from-waste plant exceeded air pollution limits on 916 occasions between 2022 and 2024. Viridor discovered in March that monitoring software had been incorrectly calibrated, leading to under-reporting of daily nitrogen oxide levels from August 2022 to March 2024. The Environment Agency was notified and confirmed 16 breaches of the plant's licence, one per quarter across two incinerators. The regulator is considering enforcement, including fines or, as a last resort, criminal proceedings. Sutton Council, which sends waste to the site, has urged the Environment Secretary to take action and said it was notified 16 months later. Viridor attributes the under-reporting to third-party human error and says it takes environmental responsibility seriously.
In March, Viridor realised that its monitoring software was incorrectly calibrated and that a reassessment revealed it had been breached daily pollution limits for nitrogen oxides regularly between August 2022 and March 2024. The Environment Agency (EA) was notified and a subsequent investigation confirmed 16 breaches of its licence - one for each quarter across its two incinerators. The regulator told the BBC it was considering further enforcement action.
Sutton Council, who sends waste to the site, has written to the Environment Secretary Steve Reed urging him to take enforcement action and say it was only told about the breaches 16 months after they were discovered. A Viridor spokesperson said it takes environmental responsibility seriously and the under-reporting was "human error". The plant provides waste disposal services for 400,000 households across four councils - Croydon, Sutton, Merton and Kingston.
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