Scottish councils sign £700m waste recycling deal

Five Clyde Valley councils partner with Viridor to redirect landfill waste for recycling

Five Scottish councils have signed a waste recovery contract worth £700 million with waste management firm Viridor, which will collect and recycle the districts’ municipal waste that was previously destined for landfill.

The contract will run for 25 years and is to begin on December 1, 2019. The councils in North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, East Dunbartonshire and North Ayrshire are all part of the new deal, which was negotiated for and signed by head council authority in the Clyde Valley, North Lanarkshire.

Viridor will be responsible for collecting municipal waste from the partner districts; the waste will then be taken for recycling at Viridor’s plant in Bargeddie, North Lanarkshire. Any surplus waste that is not suitable for recycling will be sent to Viridor’s waste to energy facility, which is to be built in Dunbar, East Lothian.

North Lanarkshire council expects 190,000 tonnes of waste to be collected for recycling, which was previously going to landfill sites, costing the local authorities landfill tax and damaging the environment. According to Viridor director, Paul Ringham, the firm hopes to redirect 90 per cent of the partner councils’ waste from landfill sites.

The partnership between the Scottish councils is the first to come about since Sir John Arbuthnott, former chairman of the Greater Glasgow Health Board, suggested in a 2009 review that Clyde Valley councils could benefit financially from working together.

Council leader for North Lanarkshire, Jim Logue, said: “This is an important contract in terms of the scale of waste processing and environmental benefits. By working in partnership, we are delivering improved services for residents, best value for taxpayers, creating new jobs and recycling more waste which would otherwise go to landfill.”

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