Lifetime Recycling Village: The objective


The Lifetime Recycling Village is a project that has grown from the vision of a local man in the West of Scotland to a 15-strong project team attracting potential investors from around the world. Neil Gallacher and Willy Findlater explain the project’s ethos and rebut the claim that they’re proposing a mass burn incinerator.


Willy Findlater (Right) chief development officer Neil Gallacher Managing director Lifetime Recycling Village


T 8 November 24 2011


HE INSPIRATION behind the Lifetime Recycling Village in East Renfrewshire just off the M77 is simple. Sending waste to landfill equates to exactly that – a waste. Commendable


steps have already been taken to enhance Scotland’s renewable energy provision, due to its natural resources: a quarter of Europe’s tidal and offshore wind potential and a tenth of its wave power. Yet deployment of renewable energy developments that use the huge amounts of waste that are sent to landfill remains limited. The Lifetime vision arose because we recognised an opportunity to maximise the potential value of waste, both environmentally and economically. In the West of Scotland alone, as much


as six million tonnes of waste are sent to landfill each year. What we are proposing is to develop a


one-stop site for the sustainable treatment of up to one million tonnes of waste per year. We plan to use mechanical recycling, biomass gasification and plasma vitrification technologies; thereby ensuring the effective recycling of the entire mixed waste feedstock in line with government policies and targets. And that’s not all. Projects like the Lifetime Recycling


Village also bring tangible benefits for local communities and for the national economy.


The potential for job creation associated


with renewable energy developments is enormous; the UK’s large scale wind energy sector now employs more people than the coal industry. So, given the notable remaining scope for growth, there is huge potential for an employment boom in renewables.


Employment prospects Lifetime Recycling Village will bring new employment prospects to an area in Scotland with one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country. Last year in East Renfrewshire, 8.9% of


the population were unemployed compared to a national average of 7.7%. On top of this, the project will invest


in education and community facilities for the people of East Renfrewshire, working in partnership with universities to take an active role in teaching about renewable energy and waste management.


The clever bit One oft-repeated misconception is that we are proposing a mass burn incinerator. This is simply not true. In fact, what we are proposing is quite the opposite. We are in the recycling business first and foremost. The waste that comes into our facility will undergo extensive sorting and separating by our advanced technology equipment into metals, and we will recycle everything we can. The really clever bit comes next; when we will shred, dry, and mix any waste that remains, the biomass fraction, to prepare it into a high quality, clean fuel, to gain maximum efficiency in generating electricity. So it is a renewable fuel that is


gasified, not a bulk of waste that is burned. Finally, we will use plasma arc technology to vitrify air pollution control residues (APC) and fly ash residues from the energy plant as safe, re-usable material. Dirty gases are produced from the combustion process, and the Lifetime Recycling Village will collect and clean them, turning them into APC residues. In many waste management projects,


APC residues are disposed of in landfill, but what’s unique about the Lifetime model is that it will capture the APC residues and, through a third process of plasma vitrification, transform them into environmentally safe metals, glass, building blocks and compounds. These can then be remanufactured to generate commercially valuable products. So it’s a really neat, resourceful set of technologies, enabling maximum value to be taken from waste, as well as diverting nearly all the waste input from landfill. Another lesson we have learned is how


much value expert knowledge can add to a project. From the beginning, we have assembled


a wide ranging team from firms across Scotland and the UK, who are authorities on everything from the law, to large scale project design, to environmental regulations and requirements. Our transport consultants, Waterman


Group, for example, work across Europe, Asia, and Australasia on everything from airports to archaeology. We have also formed working partnerships with consultants in environmental modelling, transport assessments, socio-economic analysis, planning and in many other areas.


www. r e c y c l i n gwa s t ewo r l d . c o . u k


Investment partners We have been casting our eye overseas for potential investment partners who recognise the importance of adopting these technologies. Furthermore, rather than seeing developers of similar projects to ours as competitors, we recognise their expertise and are keen to work with them. We are working with Chris Williams,


managing director of Peterborough Renewable Energy (PREL), who is providing advice as Lifetime’s chief information officer. PREL have walked a similar path before us, having received planning permission from the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in November 2009 to build EnergyPark Peterborough; the UK’s first sustainable biomass plant. From the political perspective, we have


been reassured to see the policy landscape shifting slowly towards helping renewables developers like Lifetime, who desperately need government support to encourage investment in our projects at the initial start-up stage. It has been exciting to hear some comments made recently by energy minister, Charles Hendry, and others in support of biomass (both locally derived plant and waste material). It is increasingly recognised that biomass


must play a major role in the UK’s transition to a low carbon economy. Thanks to a gradual shift in the national


policy trend in the direction of supporting more green developers, and increasing recognition that now is the time to tackle waste in a sustainable and responsible way, we hope that the only way is forward for projects like ours.


& WA S T E W O R L D


RWW Recycling


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