We are the lead authority of a consortium of five local authorities - East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire councils - to deliver improved recycling and residual waste treatment.

Following a competitive tendering process, we agreed a £700 million, 25-year contract with Viridor Waste Management in May 2016. The contract is delivering long-term, sustainable waste management of 190,000 tonnes of residual household waste annually. The rubbish being treated through the contract is residual household waste, which cannot be recycled and would otherwise be sent to landfill.

This helps the partner councils comply with the Scottish Government Zero Waste Plan and Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012.

The contract began on 7 January 2020.

What it means for each authority

Bin lorries are taking the waste to a local transfer centre:

• East Dunbartonshire - Mavis Valley
• East Renfrewshire - Greenhags
• North Ayrshire - Shewalton
• Renfrewshire - Linwood

Each transfer centre is owned by the partner authority and operated by Viridor.

Viridor transports the waste from the transfer centres to its Materials Recovery Facility at Bargeddie in North Lanarkshire.

In North Lanarkshire, bin lorries are delivering waste directly to the facility at Bargeddie.

The waste is treated at Bargeddie, removing plastics and metals, to produce a refuse-derived fuel. This is transported to Dunbar ERF where it is burned at high temperatures, under carefully controlled conditions, to produce 258GWh of low carbon electricity - enough power for the equivalent of 70,656 homes.

You can find out more about the processes the waste goes through at Bargeddie in this video.

There is also a virtual tour of the Bargeddie site in this video.

The amount of household waste delivered by each local authority to Viridor through the contract can be up to:

• East Dunbartonshire - 24,000 tonnes
• East Renfrewshire - 20,000 tonnes
• North Ayrshire - 34,000 tonnes
• North Lanarkshire - 71,000 tonnes
• Renfrewshire - 41,000 tonnes

Community benefits 

A number of community benefits will be delivered over the term of the contract.

Employment opportunities are being created across the partner council areas and Dunbar, particularly aimed at long-term unemployed and young people, over the 25-year contract.

Viridor are working with small and medium-sized businesses to establish a Clyde Valley supply chain and ensure local companies in the partner area can bid for supply contracts.

A Clyde Valley G04SET (science, engineering and technology) educational partnership has been set up with the Engineering Development Trust to encourage more secondary school pupils into STEM subjects.