There are no incinerators in Northern Ireland burning municipal waste. Any future municipal waste incinerator would require a permit from the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) to operate, would be required to meet the standards of the Waste Incineration Directive and would be required to assess the impact of such an operation on the environment. EHS would also carry out its own assessment of the impact before any permit issued and this would include the use of computer software to model the impact of emissions on local air quality.
There are a few incinerators in Northern Ireland handling industrial waste although the incineration facilities for industrial or indeed other waste are not extensive. All such operations are required by the regulators to meet UK and European standards of operations. These standards, in particular the emission limits on discharges to air, are set at a level to ensure that there can be no meaningful impact on local air quality standards or any detriment to health. All incinerators undergo regular monitoring to ensure these standards are consistently met.
The impact of all incinerators is also assessed by the regulators as part of the process of determining applications for the environmental permits that each incinerator must hold in order to operate. For the larger incinerators this includes the use of computer software to model the impact of emissions on local air quality.
There are no current plans to introduce compulsory recycling schemes in Northern Ireland.