Rubbish treatment machines to be built for £135mBy Bruce Whitehead
A LOCAL authority has been accused of abandoning its recycling policy after it confirmed talks are under way to build three large rubbish treatment machines costing £135m. Glasgow City Council proposes to build autoclaves at Polmadie, Dawsholm and Easter Queenslie which can take all types of waste without the need for sorting. But environmental campaigners have condemned the move, arguing that the technology does not produce recyclable material and that the heavy investment will create an incentive to produce more waste to feed the machines.
Autoclaving was developed for medical waste, and involves the high-pressure sterilisation of waste by steam, which destroys bacteria. Although the technique has yet to be adapted for municipal waste, a council spokesman said discussions were in progress with manufacturers to develop a system for Glasgow. The official said doing nothing was not an option when the city's recycling rate was only 17% and the authority faced possible landfill fines of up to £25m.
He added: "Councillors are eagerly investigating all possible methods of making the autoclave plants self-sustaining and carbon-neutral. We have to reach a Scottish government target to recycle 40% of our city's waste by 2010, and the only way to do that is to take the pressure off the blue bins system by building new technology to deal with the problem."
The official said the city's blue recycling bins only accepted paper and plastic bottles, and said new investment was needed in order to deal with an increasing range of packaging, including plastic, metal and cardboard food trays, and glass.
However, Stuart Clay, a Green member of the council's environmental committee, says investing such huge sums in new technology will inevitably mean that the council will encourage the production of more waste to feed it.
"What's really needed is to reduce waste in the first place. Retail in particular must reduce the amount of waste packaging it supplies to consumers. But dealing with waste by using a big machine is wrong."
Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland said: "Glasgow should not be compounding its failure to invest properly in recycling by adopting an energy and resource-wasting technology like autoclaving."
Glasgow residents seem confused about what types of waste can be sent for recycling in the council-supplied blue bins. Alan Melville, 53, a graphic designer in Newlands, says he was disappointed to find out that about 30% of the material he recycles would go to landfill because the system cannot handle soft plastics. "This was down to the poor publicity when the council launched the blue bins," he says. "They now need to tell us exactly what can and cannot go in."
But Janie Drummond, a pensioner in Baillieston, said she was perfectly happy with her blue bin, and knew exactly what could and could not go into it. "I find it very useful, and it's big enough for my needs."
Glasgow city council insists it has to minimise penalties it has to pay for failing to hit landfill reduction targets. It said landfill taxes will reach £18m by 2011. "In addition, the Scottish government has introduced a landfill penalty when the amount buried exceeds an annual limit, amounting to a further payment of £7.6m by 2011, so in total we are facing increased costs of about £25m. At £135m, the autoclaves would promote Glasgow to the top of the recycling table while saving millions in fines."
But Dr Michael Warhurst, an environmental chemist who advises Friends of the Earth UK, pointed to the high energy consumption of autoclaves, and added: "Even if you produced fibre fuel from the autoclave process, it is still inferior to composting because methane remains in the fuel, which contributes to global warming. Far better to reduce, re-use and compost."
