Viridor must act quickly and decisively to restore trust and confidence in the Beddington ERF

28 August 2025 – The South London Waste Partnership (SLWP) has written to the Managing Director of Viridor insisting that they act quickly and decisively to restore trust and confidence in the Beddington Energy Recovery Facility (ERF).

This follows the recent publication of a Compliance Assessment Report (CAR) issued by the Environment Agency (EA) which identified 16 separate historic breaches of the ERF’s Permit. 

The breaches relate to the period 8 September 2022 to 14 March 2024. During this 18-month period, it has come to light that the ERF’s emissions management system was incorrectly calibrated, resulting in inaccurate monitoring and reporting of Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) levels being released into the atmosphere.  This calibration issue was caused by human error on the part of an accredited external company; but the EA has been clear that the mistake is ultimately Viridor’s responsibility. The findings of the EA investigation were also critical of Viridor for not spotting the issue sooner.

The EA’s Air Quality Management and Assessment Unit and the UK Health Security Agency have conducted detailed analyses of the corrected emissions data and have concluded that the heightened NOx emissions levels did not result in a breach of Air Quality Standards and therefore they do not consider there to have been a significant public health impact. 

Despite this, the EA has decided to award Viridor with a total non-compliance score of 91. This is likely to place the Beddington ERF in compliance Band E for 2026 (on a scale of A to F), which is unacceptable. It is however reassuring that this compliance banding means the EA will be keeping a much closer eye on monitoring Permit compliance going forward. 

Aside from any additional enforcement action the EA may decide to take, the SLWP has informed Viridor that it will be reviewing what contractual penalties should be applied. 

Andrea Keys, SLWP Partnership Director, said:

“With 16 breaches of the Permit and a total non-compliance score of 91, the EA report paints a very concerning picture around Viridor’s management of the facility. The EA findings are unacceptable and Viridor must act to put things right. The Beddington ERF is a state-of-the-art facility that provides a vital waste management service for the SLWP boroughs. We expect the facility to be highly compliant with its environmental Permit; there is no excuse for it not being so.

“This incident will undoubtedly have damaged trust and confidence in the ERF amongst local residents and stakeholders. Viridor must act quickly and decisively to restore that trust and confidence. I have written to Viridor’s Managing Director setting out our concerns and disappointment and proposing some urgent actions Viridor could take to help provide reassurance.

“The SLWP will be meeting with Viridor in the coming days to review the actions they are taking to ensure an incident of this nature cannot be repeated.”

Ends.