Glasgow City Council has approved a major planning application for a new Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre (GRREC).

The decision, made on the 29 January, will see waste management company Viridor, manage the city’s residual waste for the next 25-years at its £154 million GRREC in Polmadie.

Black bag waste collected from Glasgow householders will be sorted at a Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) to extract any remaining recyclable materials, while an anaerobic digester will be used to break down organic waste into energy. Any remaining waste will be heated to produce synethetic gas to reportedly provide enough energy to power 22,000 homes and heat 8,000.

However, capturing and transporting heat produced from combined heat and power plants has been notoriously difficult in the UK, with the disruption and cost of laying the appropriate pipework often cited as a obstacle.

According to Viridor, the city stands to save £254 million over its 25-year contract, and will provide the area with a further 254 jobs . Other community benefits listed by the company include employment and training programmes and an ‘extensive’ education programme across city schools.

Steven Don, Scottish Regional Manager for Viridor, remarked: “I am delighted that planning has been secured for GRREC. The project will not only help move the city towards a zero waste economy, but will deliver world class next generation green infrastructure whilst reducing council tax payer exposure to costly landfill levies.

“The impressive facility will transform the way in which the city’s annual 200,000 tonnes of domestic green bin residual waste is managed as well as positioning Glasgow as a leading force in Scotland in the provision of a cleaner, greener strategy for transforming waste in line with other European cities.

Glasgow City Councillor Gordon Matheson added: “This is a great step forward for Glasgow on the road to becoming one of Europe’s most sustainable cities. Without this facility, we would not only be faced with the depressing prospect of piling millions of tonnes of waste into the ground over the coming years; but we would also pay through the nose to do it.

“Our competitors - the likes of Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands – have the highest recycling rates in Europe. It is no secret that they have achieved that by embracing a mix of modern, but proven, technologies that not only boost recycling but recover energy from what remains.

“That is an approach that has huge potential here in Glasgow. Our future is cleaner, more affordable and puts the city’s waste to work for the benefit of its people.”

Construction will commence in summer 2013 with completion expected in early 2016.

Read more about the GRREC.