Binn Farm gasification plant approved by Perth and Kinross Council

Oct 21 2011 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

DEALING with the vast amounts of waste generated by our modern society is a contentious issue, and was debated at length in Perth and Kinross Council chambers this week when the development control committee was considering an application from SITA UK Ltd for the erection of a gasification plant at Binn Farm near Glenfarg.

Planning consent had previously been granted to SITA for an energy to waste incinerator on the rural upland site. The application before councillors sought to replace that proposed waste treatment with a gasification plant, described by the applicants as “emerging as an effective way to manage waste at a community scale”.

The committee was told in a report by development quality manager Nick Brian that the gasification plant had similar capacity to the previously-approved incinerator but would be housed in a smaller building.

SITA UK’s planning manager Ann Marie Wilshaw explained to the committee that the gasification plant would treat 60,000 tonnes of municipal waste each year which would otherwise go to landfill. The energy from the waste would create enough electricity to supply the equivalent of 8000 homes, and the facility would create 20 to 25 permanent full-time jobs.

“This operates under the tightest environmental legislation in Europe and is the most appropriate solution to reducing landfill,” Ms Wilshaw told councillors, who went on to ask probing questions on topics such as dealing with residuals and particulates.

The committee also heard deputations against the scheme from Michael Gallagher, of Green Alternatives to Incineration in Scotland, and Ann Sangster, of Abernethy Community Council.

Mr Gallagher voiced concern over the potential risk to health, and criticised shortcomings in the monitoring of waste incinerators. He cited the controversial waste incinerator at Baldovie in Dundee which he said was found to have emitted a hundred times the legal limit of dioxins, and also problems with a gasification plant SITA was installing in Dumfries.

Mrs Sangster spoke of the incompetence of SITA UK, whose landfill site at Binn Farm had caused terrible smells in the Abernethy area for years.

She asked the committee to defer their decision on the application until the gasification technology was “properly regulated and operated safely so we may have confidence in our future.”

It was pointed out to the committee and objectors that SITA UK must apply to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) for a licence to operate the gasification facility before the Binn Farm development can begin and the company would also have to comply with 19 conditions relating to the planning consent, which was unanimously approved by the committee.

After the decision, Martin Cracknell, SITA UK’s strategic development manager, commented: “There is a real need for new waste management facilities and I believe that the proposals contained in our planning application can meet the needs of the Perth and Kinross area, while also meeting the impending challenges of the Scottish Government’s Zero Waste Plan.
 
“Gasification is emerging as an effective way to manage waste at a community scale, recovering energy from residual waste that would traditionally have been landfilled and helping to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.”