£1m high-tech green machine idle for 3 years

• The faulty composter at the Creed Recycling Centre in Stornoway

The in-vessel composter (IVC) was bought for Western Isles Council's 10?million Creed Recycling Centre in Stornoway to process 4,000 tonnes of organic waste every year.

But the machine has failed to recycle a single bag of rubbish since it was installed in 2007 because of technical problems with its heating system. Instead, rubbish has been sent straight to landfill.

Officials are now embroiled in a dispute with contractor Earth Tech, now known as Aecom, over the faulty composter, which was manufactured by subcontractor, HotRot Organic Solutions.

Green Party MSP Robin Harper said: "This is seriously bad news for local taxpayers and for Western Isles Council. They have decided to show a bit of vision and to make a real effort to reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill, and instead it's all still piling up. It's time for the company to sit down with local officials and get this composter up and running as soon as possible."

When the Creed Recycling Centre was built in 2007, it was hailed as a revolutionary investment that would significantly boost recycling figures on Lewis which was, at the time, struggling behind its island counterparts. As well as the IVC, the development included an anaerobic digester - the first commercial scale machine of its kind in the UK.

The IVC enables composting of food waste that has not been properly separated from other rubbish, such as scraps left in a plastic tub. Because the waste could be contaminated with traces of meat or other animal products, it is heated to kill bacteria.

The problem is understood to be in a heating element of the machine, which must, to meet legal health and safety requirements, heat the compost to 60C during the composting process.

Kenny MacLeod, head of waste management at Western Isles Council, said: "Mechanically, the machines have been working very well - but they are not heating the compost to the required temperature, so we cannot use any of it.

"We have used it to process a certain amount of rubbish as it does result in a reduction in weight - but we can't legally use what is produced as compost - it has to go to landfill."

He added: "We are continuing to try to work with the main contractor to come to a solution for this problem."

Made up of four units, the IVC is described on HotRot's website as "very easy and inexpensive to operate".

Western Isles MSP Alasdair Allan said: "I would like to see the site functioning at its maximum efficiency and I realise the in-vessel composter would help to achieve that. "

A spokesman for Zero Waste Scotland said: "Getting the right infrastructure in the right place is key to delivering our aims for zero waste. Householders and businesses want to send less to landfill and we work with councils and others to help make this happen."

Earth Tech and HotRot both declined to comment.

n [email protected]