THE MAIN WASTE management site in Moray is set to get even bigger as the local council seeks to centralise their operations.
A review of waste management depots in the region along with the need to increase capacity to handle residual waste that would have been sent to a proposed new waste plant in Aberdeen has brought about the proposal.
In a report to councillors meeting on Tuesday plans are laid out for the Moycroft site in Elgin to be expanded to cope with a consolidation of waste management in Moray.
If accepted that will see operations currently carried out at Brumley Brae in Elgin, which houses the council’s fleet of refuse vehicles, switched to Moycroft – as would the Waste Watchers materials recovery facility at Lossiemouth’s Coulardbank Industrial Estate.
The move will be particularly welcomed by residents close to the Lossiemouth facility who have recently had cause to complain about the smells emanating from the site, prompting a promise from Moray Council that the site – which had been moved from Buckie two years ago – would be moved to a “more suitable location”.
Waste management staff who are currently based at Ashgrove in Elgin would also be relocated to the new expanded facility for a move that the economic development and infrastructure services committee will be told would cost around £3.3million – including £1.7million for a new waste transfer station need to cope with additional throughput.
The report says: “By co-locating all the waste management operations in one facility it is estimated that this will yield an annual £40,000 efficiency saving which includes logistical benefits and reduction in ongoing maintenance of the Brumley Brae and Lossiemouth sites.”
It has been estimated that an additional 8000tonnes of refuse each year would need to be transferred from Moray to the energy-from-waste facility planned in Aberdeen when the existing landfill site at Nether Dalachy closes in a few years’ time.