Lyn Fraley - 5-Feb-2007 - The Environment Agency announced today (Monday 5 February 2007) that it will allow Cemex to use tyres as a substitute fuel at its cement plant in Rugby, following a strictly-controlled and monitored trial.

Area Environment Manager, Ian Withers, says: "We have studied the report and the results of the tyre trial in great detail before coming to this decision. We are satisfied that Cemex has met the requirements of its Permit and can now burn tyres in accordance with the conditions in the Permit.

"Our role is to make sure that Cemex uses the best available techniques to protect human health and the environment. I want to reassure people that we would not have made this decision unless we were completely satisfied that the impact of burning tyres would not be detrimental, compared with standard fuels. Amongst other things the trial has shown that burning tyres results in a reduction in nitrogen oxides, when compared to burning traditional fuels. This will reduce the level of nitrogen dioxide in the Rugby environment.

"In our experience, few applications have been subjected to such intense scrutiny and debate as this one. We have committed substantial resources to engaging with and informing the public over an extended period of time and we have ensured that people’s views have been taken into account in making our decision.

"We understand our responsibilities to the people of Rugby and we will continue to monitor the site to ensure that the company operates in line with the strict conditions in their Permit. We have already demonstrated that we are prepared to stop the plant operating, and even prosecute if necessary, should Cemex not adhere to the Permit conditions."

Under the Tyres Protocol, Cemex was encouraged to undertake three months’ public consultation and prepare a detailed report of the trial. We assessed the report and addressed any issues raised by consultees to decide whether the use of tyres as a partial substitute fuel could continue. We have made today’s decision based on the company’s ability to meet a number of "Critical Success factors", which were set by us before the trial started.

Now that we have made the decision, our next step is to prepare the Decision Document, which will be placed on the public register at the Environment Agency’s office in Tewkesbury and at Rugby Borough Council offices as soon as possible. It is likely to be available within 14 days.

Notes to Editor

Background:

On 16 August 2001 the Rugby Group Limited (now Cemex) submitted an application for a Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) Permit, which included a proposal to burn used chipped tyres as a partial substitute (up to 40%) for the normal fuel, coal and petcoke.

We agreed with the applicant that the application would be dealt with under the requirements of our Tyres Protocol that sets out a preferred method of consultation to be employed prior to and during the determination of an application to burn used tyres in cement kilns.

The operator consulted widely on the application, and was allowed additional time to consult with the public, the Warwickshire Health Authority, Rugby Primary Care Trust, English Nature (now Natural England) the Food Standards Agency and Rugby Borough Council. Warwickshire County Council and the Health and Safety Executive were also consulted although they are not statutory consultees for this Application.

A number of public meetings were held in late 2001 and spring of 2002. We carried out further public consultation by means of a local discussion "surgery" in March 2002 to which an open invitation was extended. We have also regularly attended the Rugby Cement Community Forum.

The tyre trial began on 19 May 2004, but stopped on 1 July 2004 following an incident at the plant. Although the incident was not connected in any way with the use of tyres as a fuel, we decided that the company must demonstrate to us that they could operate responsibly before we would allow the tyre trial to recommence.

Formal trials re-started on 21 October 2005, and lasted until 26 December 2005. Under our Tyres Protocol, Cemex then had to submit its report on the trial for three months’ public consultation before we would assess it to decide whether the use of tyres as a partial substitute fuel could continue.

We received the report on 24 October 2006. Since then we have been studying the evidence presented in the report and the results of our own monitoring systems.

Under the requirements of the Tyres Protocol, in order to be granted a Permit to burn tyres as a partial substitute fuel on an ongoing basis, Cemex had to demonstrate to us that it could meet the following success factors, set by the Environment Agency before the trial started:

there will be no net environmental detriment to the local environment resulting from a change in emissions caused by the use of tyres as a substitute fuel. This assessment will be based on the methodology in H1 (Agency Horizontal Guidance Note: Environmental Assessment and Approval of BAT and will take into account other benchmark criteria established to protect the environment and human health.

The process efficiency when using tyres will not decrease (subject to normal variations). This includes the amount of waste produced. Waste in this case includes recycled materials or reworked clinker.

All inspections by Agency officers of the tyre trials will produce acceptable assessments in line with existing Agency compliance assessment tools including the Operator Performance Risk Assessment (OPRA) and Operator Monitoring Assessment (OMA).

There will be no increase in abnormal operations as a result of using tyres, including Electrostatic Precipitator (EP) trips.

Emission Limit Values (ELVs) will be complied with at all times.

The Operator will demonstrate that modulating fuel feeds between coal and tyres can be achieved without adversely affecting kiln stability or emissions.

The monitoring information obtained for the baseline and trial periods will be quality assured to ensure it is representative and complies with at least the requirements of the Tyres Protocol.