Councils turn up the heat on giant new incinerator plans

Published on Monday 4 May 2009 09:57

A GIANT incinerator providing energy for thousands of homes is being lined up to deal with Edinburgh's household waste, it was revealed today.

The "energy from waste" plant, which burns rubbish to produce electricity, would be big enough to handle around 200,000 tonnes of waste a year – around the same amount currently produced by the Capital.

A site at Millerhill in Midlothian has been chosen for the new waste management facility, where it is hoped that much of the waste can be transferred using rail links.

The joint initiative by Midlothian and Edinburgh councils has seen private companies invited to come up with ideas on how to deal with household waste from both local authorities and avoid tough new EU landfill fines.

But the Evening News understands that incineration – which is sure to prove highly controversial – is the front-runner.

The development is likely to cost up to 100 million, with city leaders indicating they would consider using the controversial private finance initiative to fund it.

The Scottish Government has ruled that no more than 25 per cent of municipal waste is to be used to generate energy by 2025, but it is understood the plan for Millerhill is to open it up to commercial and business waste also.

Once a waste processing option is chosen later this year, it is hoped an outline planning application can be submitted by early 2010, with the plant running by 2014.

Green groups today warned city leaders against going down the incineration route, describing it as a "a cheap and nasty solution".

But Russell Imrie, Midlothian Council cabinet member for strategic services, said energy from waste was worth considering. He said: "We are getting people to come in and give us an idea of the options open to us.

"The energy from waste idea is interesting because it does give you the possibility of heating or supplying electricity to huge developments like the ERI or the bio-quarter. But we will need to consider all of the factors, including traffic into the site and other environmental considerations.

"Whatever happens, we should not underestimate the size of the challenge facing us in terms of these major financial penalties." City officials have long favoured the "energy from waste" approach but a series of wrangles over locations for plants and shifting Government recycling targets in recent years has delayed any concrete plans coming to fruition.

A spokesman for Friends of the Earth Scotland said: "The solution to Edinburgh's rubbish mountain lies in reducing the waste we produce in the first place, and recycling what we can't reduce.

"Simply burning this waste is a cheap and nasty solution, and leaves a residue of toxic ash which still needs to be disposed of."

Councillor Robert Aldridge, the city's environment leader, said the council remained "open-minded". He added: "We will be looking for bidders to submit proposals about what technology would best meet the needs.

"We have started the process of seeking expert advice to help us take this project forward.

"The next stage will see contractors coming forward with proposals, we will ask these are in line with the Scottish Governments zero waste policy, which both councils have signed up to."

DISPOSAL OF RUBBISH HAS LONG BEEN A BURNING ISSUE

THE prospect of building incinerators to handle Lothian's waste has long been a controversial subject.

Where projects have been proposed, they have been met with objections ranging from health fears about the particulates produced during incineration to the number of lorry journeys needed to service the plants. Plans by private firm Viridor for an incinerator near Dunbar, which would have dealt with 450,000 tonnes of waste a year, were put on hold last year after the Scottish Government set tough new recycling targets which ruled that no more than 25 per cent of municipal waste can be sent to incinerators which burn rubbish to produce electricity.

This left the five Lothian and Borders councils in difficulty because they had spent five years – and 2 million – producing a Lothian-wide waste strategy that would involve 50 per cent of their residual waste going to an energy from waste plant.