Teesside Waste Incinerator Project Faces Fresh Scrutiny After Shocking Licence Breaches

Plans for new Tees Valley Waste Incinerator are facing renewed scrutiny after a damming Environment Agency report into a similar facility based in South London.

28th August 2025

Locals living on Teesside are likely to have reason to raise their eyebrows, as fresh concerns emerge about Viridor, the company behind the planned waste incinerator project in our region following a damming Environment Agency report which revealed Viridor Breached its Environmental Permit nearly 1000 times, raising questions over whether the business is suitable for such a large scale development.

A recent report revealed a staggering 916 licence breaches by Viridor’s Beddington Lane incinerator in South London between September 2022 and March 2024, casting a long shadow over the company’s environmental track record and adding a twist to the ongoing Teesside project.

The Beddington incinerator, operated by Viridor under a £1 billion, 25-year contract with the South London Waste Partnership, has been revealed as a persistent polluter, exceeding daily emissions limits for Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) on 916 occasions in just 18 months. Additionally, the facility is said to have breached its operating licence 12 more times for other violations, with faulty air quality monitoring equipment compounding the issue. These breaches have raised concern about the health impacts on nearby communities, particularly in Croydon, where infant mortality rates have reportedly risen since the plant became fully operational in 2019.

Viridor's incinerator site at Beddington South London

For Teesside, where Viridor is set to develop a new Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) at the Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility site, this news is a stark wake-up call. The proposed incinerator aims to process up to 450,000 tonnes of residual waste annually, generating electricity and heat while claiming to support the region’s net-zero ambitions. However, the Beddington revelations paint a troubling picture of Viridor’s ability to manage such facilities within strict environmental limits. Local campaigners and residents question whether the Teesside project could bring similar risks to air quality and public health.

The report highlights Viridor's pattern of lax oversight and inadequate enforcement at Beddington, with the Environment Agency (EA) being described as a “toothless watchdog” for failing to impose significant penalties against Viridor, despite nearly 1,000 breaches of its EA permit discovered.

Sutton Council’s Liberal Democrat leadership, once a cheerleader for Viridor, has now turned critical, with Council Leader Barry Lewis demanding stricter controls after years of what critics call “grovelling obsequiousness” to the company. This shift in stance, coupled with the EA’s admission of errors in emissions monitoring, raises doubts about Viridor’s operational competence and the reliability of regulatory safeguards which have been put in place.

Here in Teesside, where the incinerator project is still in the planning and consultation phase, these developments add a significant twist to an already contentious issue. Viridor has promoted the Teesside ERF as a state-of-the-art facility, promising to divert waste from landfills and contribute to sustainable energy production. Yet, the Beddington case suggests that such promises come with hidden costs. The South London facility’s breaches involved excessive emissions of NOx, a pollutant linked to respiratory issues, and other harmful substances like sulphur dioxide and hydrogen chloride, which have been detected at levels far exceeding international standards.

Local environmental groups, such as Teesside’s Clean Air Campaign, are already voicing concerns about the plans as well as several local councillors across Teesside's four major local councils. Teesside's Clan Air Campaign is urging residents to scrutinise Viridor’s plans and demand robust, independent air quality monitoring from the outset.

As the Teesside incinerator moves forward, the Beddington scandal underscores the need for transparency, rigorous oversight, and community engagement. Local councils, including those as part of the Tees Valley Combined Authority, must hold Viridor to account and ensure that any facility meets the highest environmental standards.

For now, the Beddington EA breaches serve as a stark reminder that shiny promises of “energy recovery” must be weighed heavily against the real risks to public health and the environment.