Gillespie was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2026 King's Birthday Honours announced on 8 June. His work has spanned composting, organics recovery, soil restoration and resource efficiency, from managing the Australian Capital Territory's worm farm to developing the City to Soil concept, which returns organic resources to the land rather than to disposal. He is also the author of The Waste Between Our Ears.

Simper, 42, of Saddlebow, admitted owning a van caught by an Environment Agency drone at Kenfield Farm in January 2024, then failed to respond to four notices requiring her to name the driver. King's Lynn magistrates fined her £200, with costs of £1,701.08 and a £108 victim surcharge. In a separate case, Webb, 32, was fined £200 by Norwich magistrates after his tipper truck was filmed at Clockcase Road, plus £850 costs and an £80 surcharge. Both were charged under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

The Environment Agency has watched both sites since 2018. Last year it prosecuted two other men over Clockcase Road, and a third man is due to stand trial in November.

The variation consolidates the separate permits for the energy-recovery plant and its neighbouring waste transfer station into a single environmental permit, amends the listed emission points and adds European Waste Catalogue codes covering the temporary storage and transfer of hazardous and clinical waste, which will not be processed on site. The Environment Agency said the decision followed extensive review and two public consultations, with emissions monitored around the clock and the data assessed for any breach of permit conditions.

Planning permission for the Beddington plant was granted by Sutton Borough Council in 2013 and upheld by the Mayor of London the same year, a consent that already covered the higher waste volume. The site has drawn sustained local opposition over air quality since it began operating.