The Millerhill Recycling and Energy Recovery Centre (RERC) has announced it has treated one million tonnes of non-recyclable waste.
The facility in Edinburgh, which is operated by FCC Environment, treats non-recyclable waste that would otherwise be sent to landfill.
Opening in 2019, the Energy-from-Waste plant processes up to 155,000 tonnes of residual non-hazardous waste each year, approximately 135,000 tonnes of which comes from households within the Edinburgh and Midlothian regions, and the remainder from businesses.
The Millerhill RERC generates up to 12MW of electricity and up to 20MW of heat, which the facility says is enough to power approximately 22,000 homes and to meet the average heating needs of approximately 10,000 homes.
Commenting on the milestone, General Manager Mark Keast said: “From the 1,000,000 tonnes of waste we have taken in since 2019, we have exported more than 600,000 MWhrs of electricity and recovered almost 20,000 tonnes of metals from the incinerator bottom ash.
“This is equivalent to 160,000 tonnes of carbon emissions avoided if this waste had been handled in any other way.
“In terms of quantifying this, our calculations show that the carbon saved is the equivalent to more than 5,500 return flights from Edinburgh to Heathrow which is a pretty good outcome for waste that has no other home than landfill.”
The Millerhill RERC is part of a partnership between the City of Edinburgh and Midlothian councils, and FCC Environment.
It forms part of the council’s commitment to increasing recycling in the Edinburgh and Midlothian region, as well as reducing the amount of waste being sent to landfill, in line with the Scottish Government’s Zero Waste Plan.
The plant is located between the active railway yards operated by Network Rail and the former Monktonhall Colliery.
Previously used as a marshalling yard, the site was purchased by the City of Edinburgh and Midlothian councils to provide waste treatment facilities for the use of both local authorities.
The facility is also an ‘integral part’ of the low carbon district heating network to the new Shawfair town in the north of the council area on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
