Scottish Cabinet Secretary opens £25m glass recycling facility

Richard Lochhead MSP has opened a £25m glass recycling facility in Newhouse, North Lanarkshire. It is one of three facilities of its kind globally. The Newhouse recycling centre, owned by […]

Richard Lochhead MSP has opened a £25m glass recycling facility in Newhouse, North Lanarkshire.

It is one of three facilities of its kind globally.

The Newhouse recycling centre, owned by green firm Viridor, aims to reduce reliance on imported materials for whisky and beverage bottles.

It will recycle glass from 17 Scottish local authorities.

It recovers up to 97% of input materials, achieving up to 99% product purity, Viridor claims.

Developed on a recovered ‘waste crime’ site closed by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Police in 2012, the 70,000 Sq Ft site aims to create 30 full-time jobs.

Mr Lochhead said: “Glass packaging is important to a number of Scottish food and drinks manufacturers and glass recycling makes sense for our economy and the environment.

“A more circular economy will conserve our finite resources, help support jobs in our communities and improve our quality of life.”

A Scottish whisky distillery recently installed a £12 million bio-energy plant built on-site to supply it with green energy.

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