Waste project gets go-ahead

Published Date: 23 November 2009
SOUTH Lanarkshire Council has given the go-ahead for a £22.5 million project to process waste and produce electricity.
Proactive Energy said that its M74 "eco-park" development will be capable of producing five megawatts of electricity, enough to power 2,800 homes.Liquid manure, crops and other organic waste will be fed into a fermenter, inside which it will undergo "anaerobic digestion" to produce bio-gas and byproducts that can be turned into fertiliser.The bio-gas will be used to generate electricity, which will be fed into the national grid.Heat from the process will be supplied to other commercial and industrial occupiers on the surrounding business park.Councillor Graham Scott, chairman of South Lanarkshire Council's planning committee, said: "This is an exciting plan, and one of the most unique we have seen at this committee. "As an alternative to landfill, it is in itself to be welcomed, but the developer's commitment to recycling and re-use across the facility is genuinely admirable."