BURNING WASTE AND BURNING MONEY AT SAME TIME – COUNCIL TAKES A RISKY COURSE.

Aberdeenshire Council has moved to go down the line of building a large incinerator plant for waste. This is in partnership with Aberdeen City Council, who have a site in Torry.  Also Moray Council wish to export their waste to the area.

I had the opportunity in the debate of moving an amendment to the motion to proceed with the joint venture owned by the three councils.  The text of the motion s below. There have always been alternatives, but owning yesterdays technology for tomorrows issues is nuts. The Council is taking one hell of a gamble because of the certain changes coming about with how deal with materials in the current waste stream.

Proposed by Councillor Paul Johnston, seconded by Councillor Martin Ford.

• That the Council notes the report and the proposed agreement (with Aberdeen City and Moray for a new Incinerator)
• The Council resolves not to adopt this agreement  or to  proceed to the Inter Authority Agreement (IAA) stage 2 due to unacceptable levels of financial and environmental risk.
• The Council resolves to bring to the earliest possible meeting, a report on steps to minimise the materials to incineration as part of any interim measure and plan to phase out the landfill and incineration of Biodegradble Municipal Waste (BMW) in line with zero waste targets.
• The Council notes the existing and future overcapacity of incineration facilities for refuse derived fuel in Scotland, UK and Europe.
• The Council seeks agreement with Aberdeen City and Moray to maximise the recovery of valuable material from Biodegrade Municipal Waste (BMW) by use of Energy from Waste (EfW) through Anaerobic Digestion (AD) and through the use of composting and bio digestion to achieve zero waste objectives for biodegradable materials.