A five-week trial has been approved by the Environment Agency

The Environment Agency says SembCorp Utilities can burn the tallow at its Wilton power station, near Redcar.

The Agency has approved the plans for a five-week trial and says the risk of potential BSE infectivity from burning the tallow is negligible.

The Agency made the decision after an application by the company in July.

It said it will allow the five-week trial to burn the tallow in one of the boilers at the power station after considering factors including handling, storage, likelihood of odours and assessment of potential health risks.

Food chain

Its assessments found there should be a reduction in emissions of sulphur dioxide and other emissions would be similar or less than those burning coal or oil.

Environment Agency regulatory officer David Tarttelin, said the Agency had consulted with a number of organisations.

He said: "We will examine the trial results in detail before a decision is made as to whether any further, longer term burning can go ahead."

The tallow will be from cattle culled as part of the over 30 month scheme, put in place by the then Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food in 1996 to support the beef market in the UK in the wake of the BSE outbreak.

Under the scheme, cattle aged over 30 months were taken out of the food chain even if they had not shown signs of BSE.