FEATURED PROJECT

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Featured Project

Western Isles Waste Management Facility - Recycling and Recovering in Rural Areas

The Project

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (the Western Isles Council) has contracted with Earth Tech UK, in conjunction with Balfour Beatty, Hot Rot and Linde, to design and build state-of-the-art waste management facilities. The new plants will be based in the Hebridian isles of Lewis and Benbecula, northwest Scotland, and provide recycling and recovery services for waste collected throughout the islands. The facilities, which will completed in October 2006, will include the first commercial scale anaerobic digestion plant of its kind in the UK.

The Project's Benefits

These facilities will be the cornerstone for the Council's municipal waste management service delivery, allowing it not only to meet, but exceed the challenging targets for recycling and landfill diversion, set by the Scottish Executive. This will ensure that the Western Isles is able to play its part in helping Scotland meet the requirements of the European Landfill Directive.

In addition to addressing issues associated with remote island communities and their waste management needs, the project will also provide "green" solutions to some of them. Biogas from the plant will be used to generate enough electricity for the plant to be self-sufficent. Any surplus power can then be fed back into the national gird to provide safe "green" power for the islands. In every sense of the word, that is "energy from waste".

The Technical Process

The facility will utilise Linde's dry digestion to turn source-separated biowaste into biogas that will generate "green" electrical power. The solid digestate from the process will be used to produce a high-quality compost. In the second stage, any residual waste is mechanically screened to separate out metals and plastics to produce a low-grade soil conditioner.

Working towards a better tomorrow

Earth Tech UK, in conjunction with our partners, Balfour Beatty, Hot Rot and Linde, is proud to work alongside the Western Isles Council on the UK's first integrated waste management facility of its type. This project wil provide vital solutions to the region's recycling needs in order to preserve the local environment for future generations to enjoy.