The Scottish Government has identified a significant shortfall in developed waste treatment facilities capable of dealing with waste after the introduction of the forthcoming ban on the landfilling of food, paper, garden and any other biodegradable household waste before January 1, 2021.

FCC’s proposed multi-million-pound, state-of-the-art waste management complex is designed to deal with this shortfall, whilst maintaining the current employment at Greengairs, as well as creating hundreds of new construction jobs and long-term high-quality employment opportunities throughout its lifetime.

Central to this masterplan will be the construction of an Energy from Waste (EfW) facility, the Drumgray Energy Recovery Centre (DERC) that will receive pre-treated residual, non-hazardous waste otherwise destined for landfill. FCC will use proven energy-from-waste technology, which will thermally treat the waste to generate electricity and heat. The Drumgray ERC will accept up to 300,000 tonnes of residual household and business waste per year, enough to export circa 25.5MW of electricity and the potential to supply heat to local homes and businesses.

FCC owns and operates six EfW facilities throughout the UK, with the most recent one developed at Millerhill, just outside Edinburgh. In partnership with Midlothian and the City of Edinburgh councils, FCC designed, constructed, financed and now operate the Millerhill facility, which now accepts the residual, household waste from within the two local authorities.

With the Proposal of Application Notice (PoAN) now submitted to North Lanarkshire Council, this has kick-started a comprehensive consultation programme.

Gillian Sinclair, development manager from FCC Environment, said: “This marks an important and exciting milestone in the future of the Greengairs Landfill site. The way that waste is dealt with in Scotland is changing rapidly and as a leading operator in this field, we need to be agile to this. This masterplan represents a significant investment into North Lanarkshire and by using proven, energy-from-waste technology, we are moving away from the landfilling of biodegradable waste to be in line with the Scottish Government’s ‘zero waste’ strategy.

“As the Greengairs masterplan continues to take shape, FCC very much look forward to continuing to engage with the local community and stakeholders over the coming months, allowing them to view, comment and take part in this next chapter for the Greengairs site.”

Along with the development of the EfW facility, the Greengairs masterplan will set out the future and reduced operation of the existing landfill site. The Scottish Government’s landfill ban will only affect biodegradable waste, meaning there will still be a requirement for some waste to go to landfill. The Greengairs site is well-positioned to accept this waste, albeit at a significantly reduced capacity than it currently does.

FCC aims to submit a planning application to North Lanarkshire Council later this year.