IMPEL Waste Incineration Subgroup Visit to London

On 1-2 of November 2023, a two-day event took place in London, UK, organised within the umbrella of the IMPEL project “Waste Management and Circular Economy”. 

The event was attended by 14 environmental experts (mainly inspectors and permit writers) from various different countries.   

The first day consisted of a visit to Veolia’s SELCHP municipal waste incinerator including the following: 

• A tour of the plant where participants learned about the waste incineration process, and some of the challenges faced by the operator such as dealing with nitrous oxide cylinders in the waste which explode and damage the furnace 
• A description of plans to expand the current district heating network which the plant supplies heat to 
• Discussions on topics related to the operation and permitting of incinerators such as 
• The challenges of establishing new district heating networks in the UK 
• Radioactivity monitoring, and semi-wet scrubbing systems for acid gases 
• Working with operators to reduce NOx emissions 
• The derogations process and forthcoming changes to IED which will require operators to meet the lower end of the BAT-AEL ranges 
• Requirements for continuous mercury monitoring and dioxins sampling 

The second day of the event consisted of a morning visit to the Day Group’s Incinerator Bottom Ash Treat Plant in Greenwich including: 

• A tour of the plant (which processes the bottom ash from the SELCHP plant that we visited the day before) 
• Demonstration of some of the dust control measures at the site 
• Discussion on the possibility of end-of-waste status for incinerator bottom ash in the UK and elsewhere 

During the event, meetings were also held to present and review the outcome of the Waste Incineration BATCs questionnaire, discuss the self-monitoring plan, and present ideas for future work of the Waste Incineration Subgroup.