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Waste to continue to be landfilled until Aberdeen incinerator fires up

Work is progressing on the Aberdeen Incinerator at East Tullos Industrial Estate, but it won't be fully operational for some time yet. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson
Work is progressing on the Aberdeen Incinerator at East Tullos Industrial Estate, but it won't be fully operational for some time yet. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson

The non-recyclable waste of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray will continue to be sent to landfill until the Aberdeen incinerator fires up.

Construction on the £150 million Ness Energy Project incinerator in East Tullos has been progressing, and the building works are almost complete.

Once it is finished, the new facility will take in waste that can’t be recycled from the three council areas of Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray.

When the site is fully operational, it’s planned to burn 150,000 tonnes of unrecyclable material every year, and create electricity and heat in the process.

When it’s fully operational, the Aberdeen incinerator will take non-recyclable waste from Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson

But until it’s ready, non-recyclable waste from all three local authorities will continue to be sent to landfill.

When will the Aberdeen Incinerator be ready?

Workers are putting the finishing touches on the facility currently. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson

A council report in September last year said that “hot commissioning” of the Aberdeen incinerator was due to start in the winter, and the facility was due to be “fully operational” by summer 2023.

Hot commissioning is the process of actually firing up the incinerator to burn waste.

A spokeswoman for Aberdeen City Council said this process is “expected to begin” at some point before the end of March.

What further work needs done at the Aberdeen incinerator before it can start burning waste?

The council says that construction of the new plant is “largely complete”.

The main construction work still needing finished is the curved aluminium roof of the new facility, and this will be completed during the hot commissioning period.

There has been a lot of visual progress at the site in the past year.

Here’s what the incinerator looked like back in May 2022:

The under-construction incinerator in East Tullos. Image: Paul Glendell/DC Thomson

And this is what progress was like a few months back in September 2022:

An aerial image of the under-construction Aberdeen Incinerator
An aerial image of the under-construction Aberdeen Incinerator. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson

Finally, here’s what it looks like now:

The majority of construction work at the Aberdeen incinerator is now complete. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson

Where is all the non-recyclable waste going while construction finishes?

Aberdeenshire bin lorry
Bin lorries in Aberdeenshire. Image: DC Thomson.

EFW Ness Limited, a subsidiary of Acciona Industrial UK, is the contractor for the Aberdeen incinerator.

Due to a contract with all three councils, it has been obligated to take and manage the non-recyclable waste from Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray since October 29 2022.

In case the incinerator was not ready to burn waste by this deadline, (which it was not), the contractor developed a “contingency delivery plan”.

This plan, which is now being carried out, is to continue with the existing approach for all three councils — sending all the non-recyclable waste to landfill.

An Aberdeen council spokeswoman added: “The short-term contingency services replicate the three council’s previous arrangements, namely landfilling of non-recyclable waste within the region, and end as waste begins to be delivered to the Ness facility in the coming months.”

Stoneyhill Landfill site near Peterhead, which is where landfill waste from homes in Aberdeenshire goes currently. Image: DC Thomson.

Rubbish which can’t be recycled in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire is sent to the Stoneyhill Landfill site near Peterhead.

And Moray Council gets rid of this kind of waste at Dallachy Landfill.

Prior to the fire at the Suez centre in Altens last year, Aberdeen City’s non-recyclable waste was being sent to incinerator sites in northern Europe, which are similar to the one currently nearing completion at East Tullos.

‘Sending waste to landfill is not a contingency plan’ says environment campaigner

The £150 million Aberdeen incinerator. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson

Kim Pratt, circular economy campaigner at Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “Sending waste to landfill is not a contingency plan.

“It shows how little the councils and Acciona have done to manage Aberdeen’s’ waste properly.”

She also argued against incineration being used a solution to Scotland’s waste problems, and said more should be done to increase recycling rates.

Ms Pratt added: “Over 60% of rubbish could have been recycled, so the councils are wasting important resources.

“We need to transform the way we use materials in Scotland to waste less, and reduce our impact on the planet.

“It’s vital more is done to prevent valuable reusable or recyclable materials burning in incinerators, or ending up in landfill.”

More reading on the Aberdeen incinerator:

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