| Comment | In case you did not know, beside the civic recycling centre is a big grey structure, this is the Glasgow recycling and renwable energy centre (GRREC), run by Viridor in partneship with GCC. With the closure of landfills imminent, it aims to recycle 90% of Glasgow waste, here's how it works - Household waste comes in,bag openers burst open bags and off it all goes to the smart recycling facility, where air jets separate off cardboard , paper and plastics, ferrous metals are recovered by magnet and other metals by eddy current,organic material is sent to the pulper. Now it gets interesting - paper and plastic is shredded and sent to a high temp burner,metals sold and organic material is broken down to produce a gas and fuel for the burner, this heats water and creates steam to power a turbine which powers the plant , excess is sold to the grid. The ash which is captured (you will only see steam from the chimney) is used in the manufacture of cement. The reason you separate cardboard and plastic is they were sold to markets such as China, that has collapsed so they have to go in the burner now but at least that generates energy not just landfill. It's far from perfect but it's a vast improvement on the old Polmadie site which just burnt waste. |
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