Air pollution concerns after UK ‘wins fight to water down rules on waste emissions’ The loophole allows for greater emissions of nitrogen oxides from waste plants in specific cases

The air pollution crisis in the UK could get worse after the Government successfully lobbied to water down new EU rules on waste incinerators’ emissions, according to environmental campaigners.

Greenpeace claims UK delegates at a meeting in Seville in April to draft new guidelines on incinerator emissions led a successful push to retain a loophole on the release of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from waste plants.

The loophole, in a footnote of the Waste Incineration BREF – an EU reference document detailing standards for waste plants – allows for NOx levels in specific cases to reach 180mg per cubic metre, 20 per cent higher than the normal upper limit.

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Early deaths

It comes amid mounting concern that the UK already has levels of air pollution above legal EU limits in many cities, resulting in 40,000 early deaths a year, according to the Royal College of Physicians.

Green Party analysis has revealed that England is expected, by the end of the financial year, to be burning more of its rubbish in incinerators than it recycles for the first time.

According to Greenpeace, a delegate at the Seville meeting confirmed that the UK group was vocal when the negotiations turned to NOx levels at incineration plants.

“The UK were being quite forthright and persistent and talked a lot about economics. Most of the time, they were either speaking to weaken the standards or they were silent,” said the delegate, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Vote early next year

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs denied that the UK had been lobbying to weaken EU rules on toxic emissions but said it had supported “the proposal for inclusion of a footnote where higher NOx limits are allowed in specific cases, both for environmental and economic reasons”.

EU member states will vote on the draft proposals early next year, ahead of them being phased in by 2024.

Britain has said it is “committed to maintaining environmental standards” after Brexit.

The shadow environment minister David Drew MP said: “Instead of working to secure cleaner air for public health, the government is increasing our reliance on incinerators.”

The Chancellor Philip Hammond is expected to announce new policies to cut pollution in next Monday’s budget, with an incineration tax said to be under consideration.