Highland Council celebrates Inverness waste transfer station completed and ready for April launch
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The new Waste Transfer Station located in Inverness has been completed as Highland Council celebrates diverting waste from landfill well ahead of the Scottish Government ban.
Those travelling southwards along the A9 have been aware for some time of the huge building being constructed on the former Longman landfill site by Morrison Construction.
The facility was completed ahead of schedule at a cost of £14 million and it is expected to be operational by the start of April when it will become an “integral part of the long-term strategic waste management.”
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The Highlands produces 130,000 tonnes of waste a year
That is no small feat as the local authority currently collects and disposes of around 130,000 tonnes of household and commercial waste each year with 35 per cent of that recycled.
The station will process almost all forms of waste including mixed municipal waste, recycling from blue bins and from council recycling centres including cardboard, wood, metals, and soils and food waste from the wider Inverness and Nairn area.
Material will be weighed and bulked up at the facility before being transported for reprocessing to Viridor’s Energy from Waste facility in Dunbar where it will be processed to generate electricity that is exported to the National Grid.
While the recyclable materials will be delivered to the new Waste Transfer Station will be transported to reprocessors within the UK to be recycled.
The building is equipped with a mechanical ventilation system fitted with carbon filters to eliminate possibility of any odours and a state-of-the-art fire detection and suppression system.
Contributing to Net Zero
The chairman of the council’s communities and place committee, Councillor Graham MacKenzie said: “I am delighted to see this impressive new waste facility being completed for the Council. The way the building has been sensitively designed to ensure it blends into the existing landscape is exceptional.”
“With around 65,000 tonnes of waste and recycling expected to be processed through the site annually, this equates to almost half of all the waste and recycling in Highland and demonstrates the important role it will play in contributing to the Council’s long term waste management strategy.
He added: “By sending our mixed waste to an Energy from Waste plant, we will start seeing significantly lower carbon emissions from waste management activities in the Highlands, even with the additional transport requirements, which is brilliant news in contributing to achieving our Net Zero goals.”
Donald McLachlan, Managing Director for Morrison Construction Highland, said: “We are delighted to be able to hand over the waste transfer station to the council. This has been a fantastic project for our business to be involved with and we are pleased to be able to assist Highland Council in contributing towards their carbon reduction goals, with this high-quality efficient new facility.”
