Contractors are being sought to construct a multi-million pound waste transfer centre in Inverness – aimed at saving Highland Council at least £11 million a year in landfill costs.
The plant will deal with municipal waste and take shape on a site in the city’s Longman area, having been approved by councillors last year.
It is being built in response to a Scottish Government ban on dumping biodegradable council waste in landfills from January 2021.
The local authority still sends more than half its waste to landfill but is bidding to address that and published an advert online this week seeking tenders to make the project a reality.
It envisages an incinerator joining the waste-processing plant at the chosen site at some point in the future.
A Highland Council spokesman said: “Due to future changes in legislation that will impose a ban on the landfill of biodegradable municipal waste, the council has deemed it necessary to provide a waste transfer station in Inverness as part of its waste management strategy.
“We are now seeking tenders for such a facility.”
From January 1 next year, it will no longer be permissible for refuse collected by the council to be sent to landfill.
Highland Council currently collects and disposes of around 144,000 tonnes of waste produced by households and commercial waste customers each year.
At present, 43% of this material is recycled.
The remaining refuse, which accounts for 57% of Highland waste (82,700 tonnes), is sent to landfill at a cost of about £11 million annually.
The council’s answer to that is the approved ‘Materials Recovery Facility’.
It will initially comprise a large rectangular building of about 100 metres by 34 metres at the Longman site.
The closing date for potential suppliers to submit a bid is October 30.
The project is then expected to take about 20 months to complete.
