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Residents have another opportunity to find out more about SITA UK’s plans to reduce the amount of Aberdeenshire household waste sent to landfill by 70 percent.
A second set of public exhibitions has been arranged in mid-June to enable people to ask questions and learn more about SITA UK’s proposal to develop the Stoneyhill Resource Recovery Park.
Members of the community had an opportunity to look at the proposals at exhibitions in March this year, when they were asked to give their feedback on the plans to develop modern and sophisticated waste treatment facilities in the county.
SITA UK is now holding this further set of exhibitions, where people can look at the final proposal for the resource recovery park, and find out more about a separate planning application to amend the closure date of Stoneyhill landfill site from June 2012 to December 2024.
The exhibitions will be held on:
Tuesday, June 14 – 2pm to 7pm – Red House Hotel, Cruden Bay
Wednesday, June 15 – 2pm to 8pm – Longhaven Hall, Longhaven
As part of SITA UK’s contract to manage the treatment and disposal of Aberdeenshire’s non-recycled waste for the next 15 years, the company is planning to divert 70 percent of waste from landfill – in line with Scotland’s Zero Waste Plan – with a combination of waste management technologies.
At present, Aberdeenshire produces about 150,000 tonnes of household waste a year, of which 50,000 tonnes is sent for recycling, while the remaining 100,000 tonnes is sent to landfill.
SITA UK plans to develop a mechanical biological treatment (MBT) facility, incorporating in-vessel composting (IVC), and a gasification plant, in a rural location adjacent to the existing Stoneyhill landfill site, which is 1.5km west of Longhaven and 7km south west of Peterhead.
The resource recovery park would help Aberdeenshire to meet strict new Government targets on the disposal of waste, while also producing enough electricity for the National Grid to power around 6,000 homes, which is the equivalent of a third of the homes in Peterhead. Some of this power will be used in the MBT process.
The facility would also lead to the creation of approximately 200 jobs during the peak periods of construction and 40 permanent operational jobs.
While the proposed new facilities would reduce the amount of Aberdeenshire’s waste sent to landfill, the existing Stoneyhill landfill facility would still have an important role to play in the disposal of waste in the future.
SITA UK is, therefore, preparing a separate planning application to amend the closure date of the existing landfill site to allow the permitted void to be filled over a longer period of time, and this proposal will also be on show at the exhibitions.
Martin Cracknell, SITA UK’s Strategic Development Manager in Scotland, said: "The majority of feedback we have received so far has been positive, and we are very much looking forward to sharing our final proposal on the resource recovery park with residents at the next set of exhibitions. If people want to know more or have questions, we urge them to come along and talk to us."
Mr Cracknell said questions had been raised at the last exhibitions about emissions produced by the gasification facility.
He added: "The waste industry is strictly regulated by Scottish, UK and European legislation. There are stringent regulations in place, and the emissions will be continually monitored for as long as we operate the facility."
