A £100 million incinerator plan for Ayrshire should be ‘dead in the water’ following an independent report urging the Scottish Government to stop more from being built.
That’s the view of South Scotland Labour MSP Carol Mochan who claimed the proposed incinerator at the Barr Killoch facility, near Ochiltree in the east of the region, is now a ‘non starter.’
She said: “The Scottish Government have to take this review seriously and I will be pushing them to accept its recommendations.
“If the SNP are genuinely committed to preventing climate catastrophe, incineration is not an option, and this review makes that plain.
“In terms of the proposed incinerator at Ochiltree – that plan should be dead in the water. I have opposed it from the beginning but more importantly, so have the residents in and around the site.”
Barr Environmental want the incinerator at their Killoch site. They previously had planning consent for an energy-from-waste facility at their plant, using gasification technology.
However, they now want to update that consent through a new planning application in order to make use of more energy efficient ‘moving grate’ technology.
Moving grate technology converts waste into ash, flue gas and heat.
Barr Environmental say that the new facility will “safely, cleanly and sustainably” manage up to 166,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste each year and generate enough electricity to meet the needs of 40,000 homes.
They claim the plans would enable Barr to create 17 new jobs and safeguard 60 which are already part of their existing operations in East Ayrshire.
The cost of the proposed new facility is expected to be in excess of £100m.
But the planning proposal has come under fierce opposition from the local community who are concerned over the potential impacts to people's health and the environment.
Now this latest review, published on Tuesday and compiled by Dr Colin Church, chair of the Independent Review, has recommended a cap on future incineration capacity.
Gavin Ramsey from Barr Environmental, said they were pleased the report had been published and they look forward to receiving “more clarity” on the recommendations made.
Circular economy minister Lorna Slater said the government would “consider” the recommendations “carefully" and provide a response to them in June.
She added: “It is clear from the review that although incineration has a role to play in managing Scotland’s unavoidable, unrecyclable residual waste in a safe way, that role is inevitably limited.
"As we transition to a circular economy, Scotland will need significantly less incineration capacity than is currently projected and it is vital that we do not have more capacity than we need.”
Dr Church added: “The evidence I received shows that, whilst well-regulated incineration does have a role to play in managing unavoidable residual waste in Scotland, the capacity currently being proposed is likely to be more than needed, so a lot of it should not be built."
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