Falkirk Council signs 10-year deal to turn household waste into energy at Earls Gate plant

Falkirk Council has entered a new partnership that will ensure all waste that previously ended up in the ground will instead be turned into local energy. The council has appointed waste contractors Cireco on a ten-year contract to convert household waste from the area into electricity and steam at the new Earls Gate Energy Centre in Grangemouth.

When the energy centre becomes operational in late summer 2023 it will be capable of handling 37 thousand tonnes of household waste per year that is not recyclable.

The waste will be collected as normal from homes and household recycling centres, before being transported to Earls Gate in Grangemouth where it will be burned at extremely high temperatures of around 1000C and converted into ash, heat and flue gas that can be safely captured under the strictest national emission standards.

The power generated by the process is enough to supply the energy needs of running the plant as well as 20,000 homes.

Councillor Bryan Deakin, spokesperson for climate change, said: “Having this new facility available within the Falkirk Council area, not only provides local employment opportunity, but significantly contributes towards our carbon emission reductions in line with the council’s Climate Emergency Action Plan.

“It offers a much safer and environmentally friendly way of treating waste than landfill disposal which is especially harmful to the environment. Using this system means clean energy is created with the minimal of waste products generated.

“It is a very modern and hi-tech solution to what is a challenging problem. I am proud that Falkirk is one of the first councils to be taking these steps.

“There will be no changes to any of our current recycling and residents should continue to use their kerbside bins for material that can be recycled. Of course, avoiding waste in the first place is always the best solution.”

Robin Baird, chief executive officer of Cireco, said “We are delighted to have been selected by Falkirk to handle collected household and commercial waste for the next ten years. We welcome the opportunity to work in partnership with them over the contract term to meet their needs in the ever-changing resource management sector.”

The new contract also fulfils the Scottish Government requirement of diverting biodegradable waste from landfill by December 31, 2025.

An independent review of the role of incineration in Scotland concluded that incineration has a role to play in managing Scotland’s unavoidable, unrecyclable residual waste in a safe way.