ENVIRONMENT Green light for new eco plan

Council sign up to 25-year energy deal

More than 80 per cent of general household waste will be converted into energy in a new contract between North Lanarkshire Council and Viridor Waste Management.

It will see 64,000 tonnes of waste from homes and household waste recycling centres being treated every year.

This material, which would previously have gone to landfill, will be treated at Viridor’s new ‘energy recovery facility’ in Dunbar, where it is converted into energy.

In December 2019, North Lanarkshire Council and four other Scottish local authorities will begin a 25-year partnership with Viridor to treat and process their residual waste at Dunbar, through the Clyde Valley Residual Waste Contract. The waste from North Lanarkshire over the next few months will help commission and optimise the new facility.

“This is a major step forward for the council in diverting the majority of our household waste from landfill,” said Andrew Mcpherson, head of Regulatory Services and Waste Solutions at the council.

“Our residents are helping us to recycle more plastic, paper, metal and glass through our kerbside service, but previously the rubbish from general waste bins went to landfill which is expensive and bad for the environment.

“Now, more than 80 per cent of that general waste will be converted into energy which feeds directly into the national grid to power homes and businesses.

“Through the Clyde Valley Residual Waste Contract with Viridor, we are securing long-term financial and environmental benefits in North Lanarkshire and other partner areas.”

Viridor’s £177million facility at Dunbar will generate 30MW of low-carbon energy every year into the national grid – enough to continuously power 39,000 homes.

Viridor’s head of local authority contracts in Scotland, Steven Don, said: “Recycling and energy recovery are both crucial and equally important components of Scotland’s waste and resource management systems because it’s important to achieve a responsible and resourceefficient way to deal with the materials that businesses and householders throw away.

“Energy recovery facilities provide an essential, safe, efficient and cost-effective solution to putting residual waste (that which cannot be recycled) to work to produce low carbon energy which contributes to Scottish energy security.”

The contract is a partnership of five local authorities (East Dunbartonshire Council, East Renfrewshire Council, North Ayrshire Council, North Lanarkshire Council and Renfrewshire Council) who engaged in a competitive tendering process for the treatment and processing of residual waste. It is designed to deliver improved recycling and residual waste treatment and will bring a number of community benefits along with helping to translate a ‘Zero Waste’ policy into practice.