Glasgow launches £7m in-house MRF tender

Glasgow received a £21 million grant from the Scottish government’s Recycling Improvement Fund to boost its 30% recycling rate.

The SNP-controlled authority set aside £17 million for the new 50,000 tonne MRF, with £4 million to be used to rollout a twin-stream service.

The planned plant will be housed on the council-owned land on Easter Queenslie Road, which used to be a household waste and recycling centre and a cleaning depot.

Launched on 18 October and running until 20 November, the council is now seeking a contractor to build and install the facility.

The notice says it is critical that the new MRF is “flexible and capable of processing a diverse range of separately collected material streams”.

It is anticipated that there will be 30,000 tonnes per annum of fibre and 20,000 tonnes of containers.

The site must also be able to process 30,000 tonnes per annum of commingled recyclable material and waste so that it is equipped to deal with the transition phase of the site.

Purpose

Glasgow explained in the tender that the purpose of the Plant is to:

– Meet the required needs for a minimum 10-year operating life

– Improve the overall recycling rate of the input materials compared to current performance

– Ensure the Works exceeds all regulations and standards

– Produce high quality output materials to ensure a sustainable long-term market for products; and,

– Design a brand new, state of the art, automated MRF incorporating best practice to be cost effective over the life of the contract with low picker numbers and low life cycle costs.

A full and detailed specification will be provided at the invitation to tender stage.

Contract

The council said it is working towards a post commissioning handover of the MRF from mid-2026, when it will roll out the twin-stream service. The council has a deal to send recyclables to Re-Gen Waste in the meantime.

This tender has been launched after a prior information notice for a supplier to design, install and maintain its planned in-house materials recovery facility (MRF) from 2026 in July (see letsrecycle.com story).

The council also held a market engagement day in August to “gauge the interest and capacity of potential contractors” prior to launching the full £7 million tender.

To find out more visit the MRF conference on 2 November, to book a ticket please click here.