Press release - 01 Oct 2009

SITA UK welcomes Aberdeen City Council’s approval to continue operations at Hill of Tramaud landfill site for a further 18 months

Leading recycling and resource management company SITA UK has welcomed Aberdeen City Council’s decision to allow it to continue operations at the Hill of Tramaud landfill site for a further 18 months.

The decision means the landfill facility, close to Bridge of Don, north of Aberdeen, will continue accepting waste until June 2011.

Under the previous permission, the site was due to close at the end of this year.

SITA UK applied for a variation in the conditions because there was expected to be a 120,000-tonne shortfall in the amount of waste landfilled by the closure date, which could have impacted on the long-term maintenance and drainage of the site.

The shortfall had arisen because delays in the planning process meant the landfill facility did not become operational for 18 months after Aberdeen City Council first granted SITA UK permission to re-open the site in December 2004.

Today’s approval means the company will be able to fulfil its original five-year commitment to landfill on the Hill of Tramaud site.

Annemarie Wilshaw, SITA UK’s Planning Manager, said today’s decision would give the company valuable extra time to completely fill the void.

“We very much welcome this decision today by the planning committee and believe it to be the best way forward for the landfill site and the local area,” said Annemarie.

“We have given an assurance that the 18-month closure delay will not lead to an increase in the amount of waste landfilled, over and above the already-agreed levels.”

SITA UK is working with Aberdeen City Council to divert waste from landfill to

maximise recycling, but currently the city’s residual waste still goes to landfill for disposal.

The company has invested significantly in the Hill of Tramaud site, particularly with regards its gas abstraction system, which greatly reduces odour, and it will continue to make improvements to enhance its efficiency.

However, the company has also gained planning permission for a new gas control and renewable power generation facility in the south east corner of the landfill site, which it hopes to have on line by early 2010. Once this is in place, the landfill gas will be used to generate renewable electricity, which will be fed into the local grid and will be sufficient to supply 1,660 homes. Producing power in this way saves 3,362 tonnes of CO2 emissions every year.