Shanks Helping Scotland Meet Its Zero-Waste Target With New AD And Recycling Facilities In Glasgow
Recycling 95% of waste and generating enough renewable energy to power 3000 homes
Shanks Group Plc (‘Shanks'), one of Europe's leading waste management businesses, today officially opened two recycling and recovery facilities in Glasgow.
An anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in Cumbernauld, Glasgow, will process 60ktpa of food waste, generating 22,500MWhr of renewable energy, enough to power more than 3,000 homes. A joint-venture with Scottish based Energen Biogas, the facility will treat organic waste from local authorities and food waste producers, maximising the amount of recyclable material recovered from food waste.
A materials recycling facility (MRF) in Blochairn will operate 24 hours a day and process 150,000 tonnes of waste and co-mingled recyclables per year from municipal customers, such as North Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire Councils, as well as commercial and industrial customers. It has been designed to achieve a 95 per cent recovery rate from both non segregated general waste as well as effectively sort co-mingled recyclate to extract the maximum useful resource including cardboard, paper, aluminium, glass, wood and metals. The remaining waste will be converted into solid recovered fuel (SRF) for heat and power.
Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said:
"We must reduce our impact on the local and global environment. Shanks' new facilities are able to recycle 95% of waste collected and generate enough renewable energy to power 3,000 homes. This clearly demonstrates that sending rubbish to landfill is increasingly becoming a thing of the past. Minimising the amount of waste we create in the first place is the best course of action, but from the waste we do produce we need to recycle and recover as much value as possible."
Mervyn Bowden, Head of Energy Management at Marks & Spencer, said: "Our energy supply partnerships with providers such as npower, who are at the forefront of renewable energy generation, are key to our Plan A target to procuring 100% 'green' electricity by 2012. We've advocated Anaerobic Digestion as the best means of dealing with organic waste for some years and have been working closely with Energen and Shanks on their plans. We're delighted that the plant is now operational."
Ian Goodfellow, Shanks' UK Managing Director said: "At Shanks, we are continually investing in recycling and recovery technology to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill and incineration. Scotland's vision where all waste is seen as a resource is one we are firmly aligned with and we are very pleased that with the opening of these new plants we can contribute to making a zero-waste Scotland a reality."
Robert Etherson, Operations Director at Energen Biogas stresses the roll-out potential for AD in Scotland:
"AD plants, such as this in Cumbernauld, provide a fantastic opportunity to grow the renewables industry in Scotland and improve resource efficiency. I believe we really are at the forefront of a revolution in sustainable waste management in Scotland where AD technology will play an increasingly large role."
Both plants have started to receive waste from customers and Shanks expects the AD plant at Cumbernauld to be operating at 100 per cent in 12 months. Customers include Glasgow Airport, Strathclyde University and NHS GGC (NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde).
Shanks has a long history in Scotland. The company began as construction firm Shanks & McEwan, based in Glasgow. Today, the Scottish region represents over half of the company's UK commercial trading profit and over one third of UK employees are based in Scotland.
SOURCE: Shanks Group Plc