Update On Kerbside Recycling and A Green Vision for Skye
One of the latest improvements to The Highland Council’s recycling services is the introduction of kerbside recycling in the more rural areas of the region. The new recycling service that operates in Inverness-shire, Lochaber, Caithness, Nairnshire, parts of Ross-shire and Skye & Lochalsh has proved a great hit with residents wishing to recycle. Figures show that over 1500 tonnes of material has been collected since the new recycling services began in December 2008. This is really good news and the Council would like to thank everyone for taking part in the new service.
Paper, cardboard, food tins, drink cans, and plastic bottles are accepted in the blue bins for recycling which are collected on a 4 weekly basis. Not only are the majority of householders on the rural routes taking part in the new scheme but there is also very little contamination in the blue bins which means the quality of the material that is sent for recycling is excellent.
Once the materials have been collected they are bulked up locally before being transported to a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Grangemouth. The recycling materials are separated into different types through a system of conveyor belts, screening and also manual sorting. After the materials have been sorted they are baled up ready to be sold on to reprocessors.
With all the recent improvements to the recycling facilities across Highland, figures show that more than one third of household waste in Highland is now recycled which is excellent, however we still need to keep up the good
work in order to reach the Council’s goal of recycling 40% by 2010.
Chairman of TEC Services, Councillor John Laing said: “The overwhelming efforts by householders means that our rates for recycling and composting are up and the amount of waste being produced in Highland has reduced by approximately 2% but this is not enough to ensure we reach the challenging targets set by The Scottish Government.”
The Scottish Government’s draft Zero Waste Plan aspires to recycling increasing to 70% by 2025 and that waste going to landfill is reduced to 5% by the same date. In March, The Highland Council produced a joint Waste Strategy with Moray Council which identified a range of services and technologies to help fulfil these targets. The strategy states that recycling services alone will not meet the challenging targets therefore The Highland Council is proposing to develop a network of in-vessel composting plants to deal with organic waste such as kitchen waste. In addition, the report proposes that small scale Energy from Waste facilities would be required to deal with the 25% of residual waste that cannot be recycled or composted.
Councillor Laing continued: “Since the closure of the landfill site in Portree in March 2007 residual waste collected in Skye and Lochalsh has been transported by road to a landfill site near Falkirk. Last year, nearly 8,000 tonnes of waste was transferred by this method incurring one of the highest disposal costs in Scotland. Finding a more local solution for the treatment of our waste could bring both financial and environmental benefits.”
Last year the Council moved forward with plans to develop a small scale Energy from Waste (EfW) plant to manage waste in a sustainable and practicable way for Skye and Lochalsh. The report considered a number of options aimed at maximising recycling and composting combined with the treatment of residual waste in a sustainable manner. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), assisted by the Council, undertook a Life Cycle Analysis based on this strategy which concluded that the best option, from an environmental perspective, to treat residual waste in Skye and Lochalsh is to provide a local, small EfW plant with heat recovery linked to a local district heating scheme.
Consultants have recently been commissioned to further develop this proposal, examining a range of thermal treatment technologies and district heating networks to determine both the financial and technical viability of the proposal. It is hoped that they will publish a report outlining the most suitable technologies early in 2010.
The Skye plant would be the first facility of this kind in the Highlands and would offer numerous advantages for Skye and Lochalsh including reduced transportation of waste by road, and the replacement of fossil fuel heating systems for a considerable number of properties in Portree.
A potential development site has been identified adjacent to the existing Waste Transfer Station at the former landfill site in Portree. Earlier in the year the Waste Transfer Station was extended to provide additional capacity for the extra recycling materials collected from the new blue bin kerbside service in Skye and Lochalsh.
EfW technology is not new for Scotland as Shetland has successfully operated an EfW plant for many years which provides a district heating scheme to approximately 900 homes and businesses on the Islands. This technology has also been widely used for decades for the treatment of residual waste in European Countries.
For more information on recycling in your area and waste minimisation please visit: http://www.www.highland.gov.uk/; email recycle@highland.gov.uk or call 01349 868439.
Help shape Scotland’s Zero Waste Plan and have your say by visiting: www.scotland.gov.uk/zerowasteplan