The Scottish New Generation Group visited the Glasgow Market Group’s Composting site and Shanks’ MRF on 10th April 2008. Jim Cunningham and his colleagues from Glasgow Markets Group and Terry Wright from Shanks gave the group very interesting and informative tours of each site.

Glasgow City Council runs an In-vessel Composting site at their Fruit Market site. They operate 2 1811 Hot Rot units to process fruit and vegetable wastes from the markets along with waste cardboard and wood packaging. The inputs are deposited on a picking table to allow any contamination to be removed before automatic loading into a shredder mixer prior to the mix being loading into the first Hot Rot unit. The process is continuous flow and is managed by a control unit that allows remote monitoring and control. The material is retained in the two in-line vessels for approximately 16 days where it is agitated and monitored prior to screening. The compost then undergoes further maturation in an open fronted shed.

Shanks operate an expanding network of Material Recycling Facilities (MRFs) designed to recover a variety of materials from household and commercial waste streams. The MRF at Blochairn, Glasgow provides a solution to local authorities implementing kerbside recycling schemes and companies introducing recycling to meet legislation, reduce costs and to benefit the environment. At the facility recyclable materials are removed from the waste stream using a mix of automated (trammel, magnets etc) and manual methods. Recyclable materials are then baled and sent for re-processing. The residual waste is landfilled.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable and popular visit. Thanks to Jim Cunningham and his colleagues, and Terry Wright for their time and answering all the questions.