CONSTRUCTION work at a multi-million-pound waste incinerator is now complete.

Final tests are being carried out at the energy recovery facility (ERF) at Oxwellmains, with low-carbon energy already being generated at the site, to the south-west of Dunbar.

The completion of Viridor’s ERF marks the latest milestone in a project delivering a 300,000 tonne per year energy recovery facility to Scotland.

A key part of the £477m investment by Viridor in Scotland, the ERF will divert non-recyclable waste from landfill in line with the Scottish Government’s ambitions and contribute to Scottish energy security.

More than 100 contractors put in more than two-million man hours to the project, with more than 600 workers on site at its peak.

Scott Reynolds, Dunbar ERF operations manager, said that the site had already started generating low-carbon energy for the national grid and, over the course of the coming year, would create 30MW of base-load low-carbon energy direct to the electricity grid.

The energy generated – which, according to Viridor, is comparable to 39 wind turbines – is enough to continuously power 39,000 homes.

Mr Reynolds said: “Viridor is pleased to be working with the Scottish local authorities and businesses to put non-recyclable waste to work.

“With the construction phase of the project now complete, we are carrying out final plant testing as we process non-recyclable waste, using this as the fuel to create electricity.

“The new facility includes a visitors’ centre, where we look forward to welcoming interested groups to encourage the next generation to put the right stuff in the right bin.

“We will be talking about recycling here at the plant because we want to ensure valuable recycling opportunities are not missed.

“The waste which comes here should only be waste which cannot be recycled, allowing us to attach a purpose to it through energy recovery.”

The plant is constructed on 1,300 piles, or vertical foundations, upon which sit more than 50,000 tonnes of concrete and steel to support the processing equipment of the 47-metre-high building.

The facility features two boilers, each processing 20 tonnes of waste each hour, and managed and controlled through 15km of pipework and 250km of cabling.

Waste received at Dunbar ERF will include residual household waste from East Lothian Council, as well as the local authorities in North and South Lanarkshire, in addition to non-recyclable commercial collections from Edinburgh and the Lothians.