Announced today (April 12), the deal will see bales of RDF produced at Avondale Environmental Ltd’s specially-modified facility at Polmont near Falkirk, before being exported to Europe via nearby Grangemouth port.
Situated next to its Polmont landfill facility, Avondale Environmental previously operated a £20 million materials recycling facility (MRF) at the site until it was mothballed in May 2013 resulting in the loss of 70 jobs (see letsrecycle.com story).
At the time, Avondale chief executive John Holt cited increasing operating costs and a reduction in the availability of recyclable materials for the closure of the 200,000 tonnes per year capacity MRF, which had only been in operation since early 2012.
Avondale facelift
However, the Polmont facility has since undergone a £3 million facelift in preparation for the new RDF contract announced today, which saw the first shipment of RDF transported to Scandinavia last week, according to Probio Energy.
Probio explained that the ‘high-tech’ Avondale RDF plant operates a zero-waste policy “requiring producers to sort, reduce, recycle and process waste as Scotland moves away from landfill”.
Commenting on the deal, Probio Energy general manager Kris Baker-Rain said: “We are delighted to have signed this contract and to be working with Newport Paper to export waste from the UK to Scandinavia where it will be used as fuel.
“The deal has not only created 21 jobs, with the capacity to increase production at the site, but is also ensuring that subject to successful trials more than 100,000 tonnes of waste is diverted from landfill. The deal has put us in a good position for 2016 and has added to our increasing list of customers as we continue to expand our business in traditional and non-traditional markets abroad.”
Michael Yannakoyorgos, strategic development director for Newport Paper, added: “This is an exciting new long term contract for diverting waste from landfill which will ensure our own and our client’s commitment to improving the economic and environmental wellbeing of our community.”
Probio Energy
First established in 2013, Probio Energy’s head office is situated at Hartlepool Marina close to waste firm Niramax, with which the firm struck a three-year deal earlier this year to export 30,000 tonnes of RDF each year to Bulgaria (see letsrecycle.com story).
In January 2015, Probio also agreed a deal with Hull-based Transwaste Recycling & Aggregates Ltd to export in excess of 200,000 tonnes of baled RDF to EfW plant in Scandinavia (see letsrecycle.com story).
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