The Altens East facility was opened last week (20 October) by Aberdeen city council co-leader, councillor Jenny Laing, and David Palmer-Jones, chief executive of Suez Recycling & Recovery UK.
Mixed recyclables collected from homes and businesses are sorted at the facility, before being sold as high-quality materials for re-processing, said the company.
The facility is capable of processing 20 tonnes of mixed recycling an hour, including glass, cardboard, newspaper, plastics, and metals.
Aberdeen
The recycling and resource facility was developed by Suez on behalf of Aberdeen city council and forms part of Aberdeen city council’s Zero Waste project aimed at increasing recycling rates and reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill.
According to Suez, the facility diverts 71,000 tonnes of Aberdeen’s waste from landfill every year, helping the city to meet Scottish Government recycling and recovery targets and saving residents in the region of £6m in landfill tax per year.
‘Delighted’
Commenting on the opening of the site, councillor Jenny Laing said: “I am delighted to open this fantastic new facility as it will further our commitment to be a Zero Waste city by encouraging recycling as much as we can.
“We have already increased our recycling rates by 25% since the introduction of a new recycling-priority bin to residents six months ago and the new facility will mean more of this waste will be made into new goods which is good for the environment and our residents.”
David Palmer-Jones, chief executive officer of Suez Recycling & Recovery UK, added: “This state-of-the-art facility is the first of its kind in Scotland and SUEZ recycling and recovery UK is delighted to be working in partnership with Aberdeen city council in creating a society where there is no more waste.
“The facility has created almost 50 jobs for local residents and we are looking forward to further deepening our relationship with the local community.”
The recycling and resource facility enables Aberdeen city council to meet the requirements of the landfill ban which comes into effect at the end of 2020, the company said.
BHS
The turnkey Single Stream and Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) systems provided by Bulk Handling Systems (BHS) process 20-tonnes-per-hour (tph) and 30-tph, respectively. The MRF will process 140,000-tonnes-per-year, BHS said.
The systems feature advanced recycling technology from BHS, Nihot and National Recovery Technologies (NRT). The facility is designed for high performance, featuring five BHS Tri-Disc screens, six NRT optical sorters, and a Nihot Single Drum Separator as the heart of the recovery process.
Designed to comply with the Scottish Government’s Code of Practice on Sampling and Reporting at Materials Recovery Facilities, the systems features numerous belt scales to weigh inbound and outbound materials and automated labeling of outbound bales.
“This MRF includes an abundance of new technology that is producing products that have exceptional quality,” said BHS CEO Steve Miller. “Employing NRT optical sorting on glass, news and mixed paper really sets the Aberdeen plant up for long term success with regards to product quality.
“The recyclables leaving this facility are of the highest purity found anywhere in the industry. We expect this MRF to be a top performer for Suez for years to come.”
EfW
Waste which cannot be recycled is also processed, and is currently shipped to northern Europe for reprocessing in energy from waste (EfW) plants.
However, in the future this waste will be processed at the Aberdeen £150m EfW plant – the NESS Energy Project – to provide renewable energy, Suez said.
Planning permission for the plant was granted in October 2016. The plant will process non-recyclable waste from Aberdeen city council as well as neighbouring local authorities, Aberdeenshire council and Moray council. (see letsrecycle.com story)
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