Visit to mixed recycling plant in Shotton, North Wales

Cllr Fiona McRae, Cllr Hamish Vernal, Cllr Iris Walker at UPM Shotton

Cllr Fiona McRae, Cllr Hamish Vernal, Cllr Iris Walker at UPM Shotton

On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of visiting the Mixed Recycling Plant in Shotton, along with my colleagues, Cllr Fiona McRae and Cllr Hamish Vernal. Aberdeenshire Council at the moment transport 11,000 tonnes per annum of newspaper and pamphlets to the plant which are then recycled back in to paper for the newspaper industry.

UPM Shotton is the UK’s largest 100% recycled newsprint paper mill. Operating in the UK for more than 25 years (the site previously housed British Steel), the site has it’s own renewable energy power plant – reducing on site CO2 emissions by 100,000 tonnes a year. A £17 million state-of-the-art Materials Recovery and Recycling Facility started up in 2011.

It was fascinating to see how co-mingled household waste (which Aberdeenshire residents are going to benefit from in the near future) is transported, sorted and recycled on site.

The Scottish Government has set new targets for councils under the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 meaning sending certain materials such as biodegradable waste to landfill will be banned. Co-mingled recycling will be phased in over two years beginning late 2013 or early 2014.

 

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