Jobs boost as Shanks opens new waste plants

The anaerobic digestion plant in Cumbernauld will process 60,000 tonnes of food waste a year

Waste management group Shanks has opened two major recycling and recovery facilities in the west of Scotland, creating 40 jobs.

An anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in Cumbernauld will process 60,000 tonnes of food waste a year, generating enough power for more than 3,000 homes.

A materials recycling facility (MRF) in Blochairn will process 150,000 tonnes of waste and recyclables a year.

Shanks said about £20m had been invested in the two plants.

The AD plant, which is a joint venture with Cumbernauld-based Energen Biogas, will treat organic waste from local authorities and food waste producers, maximising the amount of recyclable material recovered from food waste.

The MRF plant will serve municipal customers, such as North Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire councils, as well as commercial and industrial clients.

It has been designed to achieve a 95% recovery rate from resources such as cardboard, paper, aluminium, glass, wood and metals.

The remaining waste will be converted into solid recovered fuel (SRF) for heat and power.

A total of 39 jobs have been created across the two sites - 33 at Blochairn and six in Cumbernauld.

'Zero waste' goal

Shanks UK managing director Ian Goodfellow 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."

Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said Shanks' new facilities demonstrated that sending rubbish to landfill was "increasingly becoming a thing of the past".

He added: "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."

Energen Biogas operations director Robert Etherson said AD plants provided "a fantastic opportunity" to grow the renewables industry in Scotland and improve resource efficiency.

He added: "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 Cumbernauld to be operating at 100% capacity in a year's time.

Customers include Glasgow Airport, Strathclyde University and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde.

Shanks is an international waste management group with more than 4,000 employees across its operations in Belgium, Canada, Netherlands and the UK.