The facility was mothballed on May 31, with Avondale chief executive John Holt citing increasing operating costs and a reduction in the volume and market value of recyclable materials for the closure.
But, speaking to letsrecycle.com, Mr Holt said: We think it is a very good facility and an important one for Scotland – we havent spent all that money just to leave it not doing anything. Finding a package to reopen the MRF is critical.
He added: We are talking to the Scottish Government and councils about the situation but it is fairly early in the whole process.
Asked by letsrecycle.com if he be would be seeking funding from the likes of Zero Waste Scotland or Scottish Enterprise to reopen the MRF, he said: We havent looked at anything in any great detail these are only some of the available funding options for businesses.
Mr Holt added: There is no timetable for finding funding to re-open the facility.
The closure resulted in the loss of 70 jobs at the MRF, which first opened in February 2012 with the capacity to process 200,000 tonnes of waste each year.
‘We havent spent all that money just to leave it not doing anything. Finding a package to reopen the MRF is critical’
John Holt, chief executive
Avondale
Mr Holt said: Obviously if the MRF reopens and a number of the former employees were still available we would be looking at re-employing them, but at this stage it clearly is too early to say.
Around 60% of the waste received at the MRF was recycled or used to produce refuse derived fuel (RDF), while the remainder went to the firms on-site landfill operation. The landfill site also produces electricity for the national grid from methane gas harvested at the onsite landfill gas engines.
Shanks
The Polmont MRF closure followed the mothballing of waste management firm Shanks MRF in Blochairn, Glasgow, last year when the firm posted pretax losses of 35.3 million (see letsrecycle.com story). Shanks declined to comment on whether it would be seeking funding to reopen its facility.
However, the loss of capacity from the closure of the MRFs came as a potential a blow to Scottish Government, which as part of its Zero Waste Plan is targeting a 70% recycling rate and just 5% of waste sent to landfill by 2025.
Waste regulations passed by the Scottish Government in May (see letsrecycle.com story) will also require all businesses to separate paper and card, plastic, metal and glass for recycling by January 2014. Additionally, businesses producing more than 5kg of food will need to separate this for collection.
Regrettable
Despite this, Zero Waste Scotland said it had not provided funding for either the Polmont or Blochairn MRFs, but a spokesman said it encouraged recycling firms to take advantage of the support it offered.
The spokesman said: Its regrettable when any waste processing plant in Scotland closes with the loss of both capacity and jobs. Zero Waste Scotland has support available to the recycling industry to increase capacity and business growth and we would encourage firms to take advantage of this.
This support includes schemes such as the 1.5 million Market Development Capital Grant Programme for Priority Resource Streams in Scotland, which is aimed at increasing dry recycling capacity and quality.
Commenting on the market for MRF material in Scotland, managing director of non-hazardous business at Glasgow-based William Tracey, Robin Stevenson, told letsrecycle.com that if you have nice, clean material at the front end you wont have a problem finding an end market.
He added that he thought Scotlands zero waste targets were a challenge but achievable and that the firm, which operates a number of recycling facilities across Scotland, was heavily investing its own money in its Broxburn MRF in Edinburgh to comply with the Scottish waste regulations.
Mr Stevenson said: It will be interesting to see how January 1 regulations will work because not every business is set up to meet them at the moment and its unclear exactly how it will be regulated.
He added: But there is funding available for the right solution Zero Waste Scotland is very supportive to be fair and wants the private sector to be heavily involved.
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