Viridor’s new residual materials recycling facility (rMRF) at Bargeddie in North Lanarkshire has reached an important milestone with a period of site testing now underway.
The £22m state-of-the-art, fully enclosed recycling hub is at the centre of the Clyde Valley Partnership, a consortium of five local authorities led by North Lanarkshire Council (and including East Renfrewshire, East Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire and North Ayrshire). Each will work in collaboration to deliver improved recycling and residual waste treatment.
Testing of the facility has now entered its second phase with waste from North Lanarkshire being delivered and processed through the plant’s systems. The next step will be to gradually increase the amount of waste, allowing the site team to make final adjustments before the Clyde Valley Partnership contract officially commences in December.
Following the opening of Viridor’s £11m clean materials recycling facility (cMRF) in 2009, permission was granted in 2015 to build the new rMRF.
This is an exciting project which, when fully operational, will see the Bargeddie Hub divert up to 190,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste away from landfill annually and play a crucial role in delivering Scotland’s ambition to achieve a zero-waste, circular economy
Clean materials are recyclable items like plastic drinks bottles, which can be made into other products. Residual waste is black-bag material which will be processed to identify and remove any clean materials before the remaining non-recyclable material is transferred to Viridor’s Energy Recovery facility in Dunbar, where it will help to create low-carbon electricity.
Ron Hardy, local authority contracts manager for Viridor in North Lanarkshire, said: “This is an exciting project which, when fully operational, will see the Bargeddie Hub divert up to 190,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste away from landfill annually and play a crucial role in delivering Scotland’s ambition to achieve a zero-waste, circular economy.
“We are now reaching a crucial stage of our project where we are starting to fully test the facility by gradually increasing the amount of waste to make sure everything is ready for December.
“We are committed to working closely with the local community and are actively engaging with our neighbours and stakeholders on our plans.”
Andrew McPherson, Head of Regulatory Services and Waste Solutions at North Lanarkshire Council, said: “Commissioning of the new Bargeddie facility is a key milestone within the Clyde Valley Residual Waste Project and our ambitious targets to reduce household waste going to landfill.
“The technology used at the energy from waste plant makes it possible to transform waste previously sent to landfill into green energy, helping reduce our carbon footprint and improve the environmental impact of our daily lives.”
Over £33m has been invested in the Bargeddie Recycling Hub since 2009. The Clyde Valley Partnership will see up to 190,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste diverted away from landfill each year and will officially commence in December 2019.
