The contract has an option for a three-year extension, which means it could be worth £58 million over the full seven years, tender documents show.
The waste will be sent Viridor’s energy from waste (EfW) plant in Dunbar, which has a capacity of 300,000 tonnes per year. However, the volume of waste it will receive from Highland council is unclear.
Highland council produces around 109,000 tonnes of household residual waste per year, and recorded a 35.5% recycling rate in 2020, Scottish government data shows. However, it sent around 60% to landfills across the region.
Several landfill sites are used to handle the council’s residual waste, including the Stoneyhill landfill site in Aberdeenshire, run by Suez, council-owned landfills at Seater and Granish and a further site at Duisky near Fort William.
This is estimated to cost the council more than £11 million per year.
RDF
The Scottish government’s delayed plans to ban biodegradable waste to landfill are also due to come in from 2025, meaning landfill is no longer an option.
The council has planning permission to build a waste transfer station on the former Longman landfill site north of the city. This will include a materials recycling facility (MRF) to remove recyclable materials and a facility to create RDF, which can be supplied to plants across Europe and the UK (see letsrecycle.com story).
However, this is still under development and could take until at least 2027 to be completed.
Viridor are delighted to be working with Highland Council
- Steven Don, Viridor
Tender
As a result, the council launched a tender for the treatment of residual waste last year, in which Viridor beat two others to win. The deal does not include haulage.
According to tender documents, the new contract will start on 1 January 2023 and will for an initial four years, with the option of a further three.
The contract was welcomed by Viridor. Steven Don, head of contracts for Scotland, said: “Viridor are delighted to be working with Highland Council providing residual waste treatment at Dunbar ERF, reducing Highland Council reliance on landfill in preparation for and ahead of the Scottish Government landfill ban on biodegradable municipal waste.”
Highland council approved Viridor’s statement, but declined to give further information on the contract including tonnages and the future of the waste transfer station.
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