Two Scottish councils sign 20m food waste contract

Under the 20-year contract, which was signed last week (February 28), Alauna will design, finance, build and operate an anaerobic digestion plant which would be capable of handling up to 30,000 tonnes of food waste every year.

Alauna is a joint venture between Kelda Water (a subsidiary of Yorkshire Water) and Scottish Water Horizons.

The facility will be located at a former rail marshalling yard near Millerhill in Midlothian. Construction of the plant is expected to begin in 2014 with the opening scheduled for 2015.

Feedstock for the plant will come from households in the regions. Digestate produced by the AD process will be used as an agricultural fertiliser in crop production at nearby farms.

Edinburgh introduced a food waste collection service in April 2011. At present, food waste is taken to Scottish Water Horizons Deerdykes anaerobic digestion facility in Cumbernauld for recycling. Meanwhile, Midlothian said it is working to introduce the service over the next few years. Residents in the area will be provided with a five litre kitchen caddy and a 20 litre food waste bin to support the roll out.

Delighted

Councillor Jim Orr, environment vice convener for Edinburgh council, said: This facility will play a central role in our ongoing plans to reduce landfill disposal and increase recycling. A staggering one third of the rubbish in our bins at home is made up of food waste, and the introduction of food waste recycling in Edinburgh last year has already led to a drop in the amount of waste being buried in the ground. I look forward to working in partnership with ARE and Midlothian Council on this exciting project.

Peter Sharpe, managing director of Alauna, added: We are delighted to have been appointed to deliver such an innovative project that will make a significant contribution to the sustainability of the local communities and environment. Weve been working hard with the councils to finalise the contract details and we are pleased that these are now all agreed and we can look forward to helping realise their aspirations.

Procurement

The contract was procured under Zero Waste, a project between Edinburgh and Midlothian councils which was set up in response to the Scottish Governments Zero Waste Plan (see letsrecycle.com story).

The councils are also undertaking a separate procurement of a residual waste treatment contract and initial dialogue with four remaining bidders is nearing conclusion with an invitation to submit detailed tenders is expected to be issued later this year.