Incinerator opponents fear forever chemicals

Plans to burn "forever chemicals" at a waste incinerator, revealed in documents supporting a licence application for the new facility, have led to contamination fears among nearby residents.

The plant on Heighington Lane in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, has been built and operator Fornax is awaiting a permit from the Environment Agency (EA), which the organisation said it is "minded" to approve.

Opponents have picked up on plans to burn per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including banned firefighting foam, which can have negative effects on the environment.

As a second public consultation nears completion, Fornax and the EA said the plant has been designed to safely destroy PFAS.

Products such as AFFF (aqueous film-forming foam), which was used to tackle fires before it was banned in the UK in 2025, would be disposed of at the plant.

Incineration is the only way to remove forever chemicals and it requires temperatures above 1,100C.

There are currently only two facilities in the UK that have licences to burn forever chemicals.

Opposition group STOP Heighington Lane Incinerator said it was not aware of forever chemicals being specifically assessed in the applicant's original human health risk assessment.

The group has called for a fresh public consultation and urged the EA to not finalise the operator permit "until the relevant evidence has been published, independently scrutinised and subjected to meaningful public consultation".

A spokesperson said: "We are also calling on our MPs to step up, demand answers from the Environment Agency and ensure that local families are given a genuine opportunity to challenge a proposal that could have long-term implications for their health and environment."

Local independent councillor Gerald Lee said residents are concerned about "the potential build-up of dangerous particles in the soil".

He has called for sampling to be carried out every six months for the first two years of the plant's operation, "rather than waiting until the end of that period before any meaningful checks take place".

Ian Jones, CEO of Fornax, said: "The two aging temperature incinerators that are currently dealing with PFAS in the UK are struggling to cope with the volumes coming through and more facilities like the Fornax plant are required.

"It is important to stress that no PFAS will be emitted from Fornax."

He said the plant will be destroying forever chemicals and "providing a vital service to manage the challenging waste in the North East of England".

The latest consultation is open until 1 December and Labour MP for Newton Aycliffe Alan Strickland, who previously said he opposed the development, called for residents to submit their views through that route.

An EA spokesperson confirmed the operator's original permit application did include waste codes which allow the incineration of PFAS-containing waste such as aqueous film-forming foams.

They said the agency was satisfied the plant's minimum operating temperature will be sufficient to ensure that PFAS will be "effectively destroyed" and that "the operators will continuously monitor pollutants with oversight from the EA".

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