Up to 72,000 tonnes of domestic waste to be incinerated each year to generate power, Highland Council announces
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THOUSANDS more tonnes of household rubbish is to be burned by Highland Council to generate electricity, the local authority has announced.
It has confirmed plans to send more mixed waste to an incinerator power plant in East Lothian rather than bury it in landfill.
The council has already been sending mixed waste from households in Skye, Lochalsh, Badenoch & Strathspey to the Viridor Energy Recovery Facility in Dunbar since the start of the year.
But it is now moving onto a second phase of this "transition" process, which will see mixed waste from green bins in the Inverness and Nairn areas also sent to the plant. Mixed waste from Ross & Cromarty will follow from this October.
It total, the council's five-year contract with the Viridor site could see up to 72,000 tonnes of waste sent to be "processed" at the incinerator site each year.
Related: Highland Council aims to issue smaller household waste bins
The move comes ahead of a Scotland-wide ban on the landfilling of biodegradable waste at the end of 2025.
And Highland Council has argued that this process will be better for the environment than current landfill options, as waste buried underground releases methane as it slowly decomposes – a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than CO2.
It highlighted the accepted "waste hierarchy", which "gives preference, after reuse and then recycling, to recovering value from mixed waste such as energy recovery, with disposal in landfill being the least preferable option".
Chairman of Highland Council’s communities and place committee, councillor Graham MacKenzie, said: “I am delighted to see the council take this important strategic step towards a more sustainable waste disposal solution and I am proud that these changes are being implemented in Highland well ahead of the Scottish Government’s ban on landfilling biodegradable waste on December 31, 2025.
“Energy recovery is not only a safe and cost-effective waste disposal method but is better for the environment as it creates less greenhouse gas emissions compared to landfilling waste, even with the haulage taken into account.”
He continued: “However, reducing our consumption and increasing recycling is still vitally important and ultimately has a greater impact on reducing our carbon emissions and conserving natural resources.”
It is unclear if waste to be burned at the Dunbar facility will or won't include potentially recyclable material, after the council revealed that nearly two-thirds of general waste currently disposed of in domestic green bins has the potential to be recycled or composted. In its announcement, the council did not say if this would all be removed from the rest of the waste before any biodegradable matter was burned. The Courier has approached Highland Council for clarification.
Cllr MacKenzie added: “In a recent analysis of waste in Highland carried out last year, a staggering 61 per cent of the material in green (refuse) bins was found to be material that could be recycled using the facilities provided by the council, or composted. A large proportion of this was food waste with the remainder being metals, clothing, paper, card, electrical items, glass bottles and jars all of which are easily recyclable. This goes to show there is plenty of room for improvement when it comes to recycling.
“Our business waste customers will also see reductions in their carbon emissions when the waste we collect from them is diverted to energy recovery, helping them to adopt a more sustainable business model. We recognise how important this will be for businesses going forward and we are pleased to be able to offer options higher up the waste hierarchy within Highland.”
Environmental charities such as Greenpeace have previously hit out at the world's reliance on plastics, and have produced videos highlighting issues with the burning of plastic waste as its oil-based nature means carbon which had been locked up underground for millions of years before being turned into plastic is then released into the atmosphere.
Highland Council's contract with Viridor runs for five years dating back to the start of 2023, with a three-year optional extension.
Steven Don, head of contracts Scotland, Viridor, commented: “We are delighted to be working with Highland Council to divert non-recyclable residual waste away from landfill, capturing its inherent energy to generate electricity. Highland Council’s objectives to promote waste minimisation and to maximise recycling through utilisation of the council’s recycling services are fully aligned with Viridor’s purpose of building a world where nothing goes to waste.”
The Highland Council currently collects and disposes of around 125,000 tonnes of waste produced by households and business waste customers each year. At present, 35 per cent of this material is recycled.
To find out more about the energy recovery process, see the video at www.viridor.co.uk/energy/energy-recovery-facilities/dunbar-erf
For tips on how to reduce your waste or for information on recycling, visit www.highland.gov.uk/recycle or email recycle@highland.gov.uk
