Glasgow Approves Viridor Facility

The Glasgow City Council’s planning applications committee has approved U.K.-based Viridor’s plan to build a £154 million Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre (GRREC) in Polmadie, Scotland. The approval, made on Jan. 29, 2013, follows the company’s submission of an application in September 2012.

According to Viridor, the GRREC will operate a three-step process comprising a smart materials recycling facility to enhance recycling, anaerobic digestion to capture food and organic material and an advanced conversion facility to recover renewable energy from post-recycling material that remains. Construction of the project is expected to begin by the middle of this year with completion expected by early 2016.

“I am delighted that planning has been secured for GRREC. The project will not only help move the city towards a zero waste economy, but will deliver world class next generation green infrastructure whilst reducing council tax payer exposure to costly landfill levies, says Steven Don, Viridor’s regional manager for Scotland.

“The impressive facility will transform the way in which the city’s annual 200,000 metric tons of domestic green bin residual waste is managed as well as positioning Glasgow as a leading force in Scotland in the provision of a cleaner, greener strategy for transforming waste in line with other European cities.