Is this Britain’s barmiest green energy scheme?
Isles export waste, then buy it back
A NEW green scheme in Scotland’s most northerly islands has been condemned as ‘crazy’ for sending thousands of tons of household waste on a merry-go-round journey around the country.
For years, most of the rubbish generated by homes and businesses in Shetland has been burnt in a local incinerator plant to provide a constant supply of environmentally friendly hot water for homes, schools and a hospital in Lerwick.
But to meet strict new eco targets the waste must now be sorted at great cost, then sent by ferry and lorry for recycling on the UK mainland at sites up to 600 miles away.
As this will leave the incinerator short of fuel to provide hot water, Shetland Islands Council must then import tons of ‘refuse-derived fuel’ (RDF) – made of the same waste as the rubbish sent away.
‘It’s a crazy situation that ships will be bringing in more waste to be burnt on Shetland,’ said Friends of the Earth Scotland director Dr Richard Dixon.
‘A lasting sensible solution needs to be arrived at over the next ten years. Ideally, the district heating scheme would be powered by solar or wind energy or perhaps methane harvested from algae, while waste is recycled close by.’
The problem arises from new rules laid down by the Scottish Government requiring the council to send most of the islands’ rubbish to recycling plants in England and Wales, hundreds of miles away.
The rules requiring all councils to provide a recycling service for households were introduced in 2014 but Shetland was allowed to opt out because of its isolated location and the environmental benefits of the heating scheme.
Two studies commissioned by the Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) quango insisted this was the ‘greener’ option, yet now the exemption is to be scrapped, and from July 1 the islands will be forced to recycle household rubbish in the same way as every other council.
Paper and cardboard – carbon neutral when burnt – are expected to be taken to Shotton in North Wales, while cartons are likely to go to Halifax in Yorkshire, both journeys of 600 miles.
Meanwhile, metal that has always been sold to local scrap merchants will now probably end up 350 miles away in Alloa, Clackmannanshire.
Shetland burns nearly 7,000 tons of rubbish a year – just over twothirds of the waste produced by the 22,000 inhabitants. The high temperatures generated by the Gremista incinerator near Lerwick fuel an efficient district heating scheme providing cheap hot water to 1,000 properties including houses, Anderson High School and Gilbert Bain Hospital. Meanwhile, council documents show the cost of providing homes with recycling boxes will come to £580,000, paid for by taxpayers Scotland-wide through ZWS, which gets its funds from the Scottish Government and European Union. Taxpayers in Shetland must then find between £267,500 and £750,000 to kit out a centre to sort the rubbish, with recurring annual costs of £50,000.
A report to councillors admits: ‘Once container replacements and sorting line operating costs are accounted for, it is estimated that there will be an increase in treatment/disposal costs.’
On top of this, the recycling scheme will leave the council short of fuel to meet its contractual obligations to supply energy to Shetland Heat, Energy and Power, which runs the heating scheme.
To do so it must import refusederived fuel from the mainland. This could mean importing the same rubbish it has just exported, clocking up countless more road
‘A sensible solution needs to be arrived at’
‘Generating heat from waste is a good thing’
and sea miles in the name of shrinking its carbon footprint.
A council spokesman said: ‘We are required to make arrangements to meet legislation and take steps to avoid incinerating metals and hard plastics. The council is rolling out recycling collections across Shetland.
‘The amount of RDF waste required to replace the recyclable material removed will depend on the recycling rate and the calorific value required to maintain the incinerator.’
Sheffield University recycling expert Professor Lenny Koh said: ‘The principle of generating heat from waste is a good thing.
‘The logistics involved here of shipping waste to the mainland and then procuring more to come back in is a bad thing on the face of it, but the council would have to produce a full life-cycle assessment of the waste to determine whether this plan is beneficial or harmful.’