Waste management business, Shanks Group plc (Shanks) announced today (13 May), that it has signed a five-year contract with Glasgow Airport in the hopes of helping it ‘reduce waste collections by 75 per cent’.

It is hoped the contract will help Scotland reach its 2025 ‘Zero Waste’ target of recycling 70 per cent of waste, and sending a maximum of five per cent to landfill.

‘Smart drum compactors’

Under the contract, Shanks will replace Glasgow Airport’s existing waste containerswith ‘EcoCassette’ smart drum compactors.

The compactor, which can reportedly hold the equivalent of 15 large mobile bins (15 cubic metres), have been designed and developed by EcoVision, Shanks’ subsidiary in the Netherlands and are swipe card operated to enable shared access.

According to Shanks, the compactors are fitted with GPRS enabled sensors, which will automatically notify the transport depot when the compactors are full, allowing ‘maximum use’ before emptying.

The existing bin lorry will also be replaced with a crane-mounted vehicle that can collect four compactors per visit, each with a different source-segregated waste stream.

The compactors will not be emptied on site but will be exchanged for a washed and empty container, which is expected to avoid any spillage or litter.

Any food waste collected from the airport will be processed at Shanks’ and Energen Biogas’ anaerobic digestion plant in Cumbernauld. The residual waste will be processed at Shanks’ mechanical biological treatment facility in Glasgow, where it will be turned into refuse-derived fuel.

Shanks hopes that by increasing the number of waste streams per visit, as well as only collecting full compactors, Glasgow Airport collections will be reduced by up to 75 per cent.

“Ambitious sustainability targets”

Peter Eglinton, Shanks UK Managing Director, welcomed the signing of the contract, adding that by implementing the “EcoCassette compactors [Shanks] will greatly improve on site operations while increasing landfill diversion and reducing carbon emissions”.

Gillies Crichton, Head of Assurance at Glasgow Airport, added: “At Glasgow Airport, we have set ambitious sustainability targets and are committed to reducing the environmental impact of our business. Developing a sustainable and cost effective approach to waste management is a clear priority and Shanks’ solution enables us to do this whilst also reducing carbon emissions and controlling costs.”

Read more about Shanks Group plc’s ‘EcoCassette compactors’.

Glasgow landfill to close

In related news, South Lanarkshire Council has unanimously denied Glasgow City Council's application to continue using its Cathkin landfill site until 2016.

The site had been scheduled to close in August 2012, but Glasgow council entered in a new planning application to continue to use the site.

South Lanarkshire has now issued Glasgow with an enforcement notice demanding all operations end at the dump by 'mid-summer' 2013 and ordering that all restoration should be completed by September 2014.

The landfill site has been a source of contention with South Lanarkshire residents, who have in the past complained about smells emanating from the site as well as heavy traffic leading to the landfill.

Glasgow's initial bid to open the landfill at Cathkin was refused by the council in the 1990s. This decision was later overturned by the Scottish Executive.

A South Lanarkshire Council spokesman said: “The decision was unanimous. The original permission, granted by the Scottish Office in 1999, was for landfill to be discontinued 13 years.

“This expired last year and we do not feel it is appropriate to permit an even longer period to allow the operations to continue.”

However, a spokesman for Glasgow City Council said that they will now appeal the decision.

“There will be no impact on waste collections in Glasgow", said the spokesperson. “The city is currently transforming the way it deals with waste and, over the next few years, Glasgow’s use of landfill will decrease dramatically as new recycling and renewable energy facilities come on line at Polmadie.

“In the meantime, the city still requires some capacity for landfill and has been investigating options, including extending the operating life, but not the size, of its existing site at South Cathkin."