How we are regulating Kronospan, Chirk

Overview

Fersiwn Gymraeg ar gael yma.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) regularly receives reports from the local community about noise, dust and odour emissions from the Kronospan factory. We want to reassure people that we take every incident report seriously and are focusing our efforts on addressing the issues raised.

We review all incidents related to Kronospan reported by local residents, requesting the operator to investigate and provide feedback to NRW on each one.

We continue to ensure that the site complies with its environmental permit, which is designed to safeguard the environment and protect human health.

However, improvements are ongoing with regard to dust, odour and noise management. We will continue to work with the operator to ensure these are implemented as soon as possible.

Background 

Kronospan Limited has been operating a wood panel board manufacturing plant in Chirk for many years. To legally operate, Kronospan must hold an Environmental Permit in accordance with the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.

The permit granted by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is available on our public register and can be found here:

Environmental permits set legally binding limits on emissions to air, land and water, and include other requirements to prevent and minimise the environmental impact of permitted activities. The permit implements industry standards known as ‘Best Available Techniques’ (BAT).

Planning matters are not within the scope of the environmental permit; these remain the responsibility of the local planning authority.

June 2025 update 

Noise

An improvement condition was placed on Kronospan requiring it to produce and submit a Noise Management Plan to NRW in line with relevant standards.

The initial response was rejected by NRW and Kronospan was required to make a new submission, including an up-to-date assessment of noise emissions from the factory.

This required measurements of noise when the factory was operating and when it was shut down. This data has now been collected, and NRW is due to receive a full response to this improvement condition, which will be assessed by our noise monitoring specialists.

The outcome of the noise impact assessment may require Kronospan to make improvements to reduce noise emissions and to ensure compliance with its permit. NRW will ensure this is completed.

During the first quarter of the year, a significant number of noise reports attributed to Kronospan were found to be linked to the adjacent Mondelēz factory. Wrexham County Borough Council is the appropriate regulator for that facility and was notified of the issue.

On 10 April 2025, NRW received 11 reports of noise. Kronospan investigated and reported that between 07:05 and 07:30 there had been a high-pressure steam release from a valve following the start-up of some equipment. Steps have been taken to prevent this from occurring again.

Dust

NRW has received regular reports of nuisance wood dust. In March and April 2025, our officers carried out unannounced site inspections at Kronospan that identified permit non-compliance relating to dust control measures for recycled wood handling and processing in the log yard.

NRW required Kronospan to implement short-term measures to minimise the dust impact from these operations, which were completed, with separate actions set for longer-term, more robust methods to be implemented by the end of May and June 2025.
NRW will assess compliance against the required improvements.

Odour

NRW has received regular reports of odour, particularly in May and June. NRW officers visited the site unannounced twice during the first week of June. An off-site odour was detected on both occasions, but on-site inspections did not identify any significant problems with Kronospan’s existing odour control systems.
Emissions from Kronospan’s processes have strict emission limit values to ensure emissions are minimised and to protect air quality. Some emissions are also odorous, and work has been undertaken to measure and understand the contribution from various processes.

Kronospan has been undertaking trials to reduce emissions from an emission point known as WESP21.

WESP21 is authorised to release emissions from a dryer that dries waste wood before it is used to manufacture particleboard and has been identified as the most odorous emission point at the site.

Dosing has been shown to reduce odour and, in February 2025, Kronospan investigated the impact of increased oxidant dosing rates on WESP21. This did not identify a further reduction in odour emissions, but the WESP is now being dosed at the optimum rate.
Kronospan is now investigating options to treat odour from another emission point known as WESP32, which is the tall chimney at the centre of the site that often emits a visible haze. The findings of the trials so far and future options to reduce odours will be discussed with Kronospan in June 2025.

NRW has recently received contact from members of the community raising possible links between fuels being burnt at Kronospan and off-site odours.

Kronospan is authorised to operate two incinerators to burn virgin wood and non-hazardous waste wood. These have been in use for over 10 years and run continuously, except for occasional planned downtime and maintenance. The incinerators produce heat and steam used in the manufacturing process and are subject to emission limits and regular monitoring, with data reported to NRW.

While combustion of waste wood may give rise to some odour, all the evidence from odour sampling exercises at Kronospan, and as detailed in industry guidance, indicates that the most significant odour emissions are from the drying of waste wood related to WESP21, which has been the focus of odour reduction trials as described above.

NRW has audited the waste fuels being used in these boilers, and this information can be found on the public register.

NRW’s Permitting Service recently carried out a review of Kronospan’s incinerators to ensure they meet ‘Best Available Techniques’ for the industry. This led to a permit update issued in June 2025, including changes to emissions monitoring and limits, along with a number of improvement conditions to be completed over the next 18 months.

What we are doing to regulate the site

Local NRW officers carry out regular compliance assessments to ensure permit conditions are being met. These activities include incident investigations, planned and unannounced site inspections, and reviews of emissions monitoring data and other reports required by the permit. All of this information is available on our public register.

The environmental permit includes conditions requiring Kronospan to prevent, or where that is not practicable, minimise such emissions. This requires the use of ‘appropriate measures’, also known as Best Available Techniques (BAT), as set out in industry guidance.

NRW’s role is to ensure that Kronospan uses appropriate measures to prevent and minimise emissions and complies with the conditions of its environmental permit. This is assessed during the permitting process and through site inspections.

NRW may take action if it suspects a permit holder has breached a permit condition or broken the law. Actions might include:

• giving advice,
• changing permit conditions,
• serving an enforcement notice, which will state what must be done to fix problems and by when,
• serving a suspension notice if there is a serious risk of pollution - meaning the activities must stop,
• issuing a formal warning, formal caution, or prosecution.

Oriented Strand Board (OSB) variation

When an operator intends to make changes to its permitted activities, it must apply to NRW to ‘vary’ the permit. The application will be determined by NRW Permitting Officers in accordance with our legal obligations and will ultimately be granted or refused.

NRW has received a substantial permit variation application from Kronospan for the operation of an oriented strand board (OSB) manufacturing process, which is currently being assessed by our Permitting Service.

Once NRW has undertaken all relevant technical assessments and completed its determination of the application, if we are minded to grant the variation, a further public consultation will take place before a final decision is made.

Our public participation statement, which can be found on our website, outlines why and when we consult.

More information on the application can be found by visiting our public register.

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Image sourced from Wikimedia.