A NEW £20 million re-cycling plant will create 70 jobs and process 200,000 tonnes of waste a year when it is fully operational.
Avondale Environmental said 60% of the waste it receives will be recycled or compacted into a compost-like dry fuel which can then be turned into energy.
The company is hiring 40 staff initially but that will increase to 70 within the first 12 months as an extra shift pattern is added.
The 200,000 tonnes capacity is equivalent to the amount of black bin bag waste created in Glasgow each year.
Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannanshire councils, plus businesses from the area, are expected to use the facility.
Although the site was opened yesterday, it is likely to be spring before it starts ramping up following a rigorous testing phase.
Avondale has plans to invest more and enhance recycling capacity in the future. By 2015, it hopes 90% of the material received at Polmont, near Falkirk, will be diverted from landfill.
Colin Cooper, managing director, said: "We are starting our commission trials now so it will be a couple of months before we start to put council waste through the site.
"We would see this as the first step on a three-phase plan and would like to think our second phase, a thermal drying facility to improve the fuel we get, would be up and running by 2015."
Lend Lease did the construction and project management, HSBC Corporate provided financing, with the equipment and technology coming from German company Stadler Engineering.
Avondale operates the adjacent landfill site, which employs 29 people. It expects to produce around nine megawatts of renewable energy from methane gas converted by onsite landfill gas engines and export enough electricity back to the grid to power 8,000 homes.
Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead, who opened the site, said: "The future of waste management is not in landfill, and I am pleased to see a landfill operator such as Avondale investing in a solution that offers a genuine alternative for black bin bag waste."
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