Waste transfer plans thrown out

Efforts are being made to find waste solutions for the city

City councillors have thrown out plans for a controversial waste transfer site in Edinburgh.

About 50 campaigners had gathered outside City Chambers ahead of a meeting to decide whether to allow the site, at Portobello, to be built.

Waste group Viridor wanted to build the facility to move industrial waste from lorries onto rail before being transferred to landfill.

But local people said it would be a major blot on the landscape.

Hundreds of residents had written to Edinburgh City Council to object to the plan being approved.

Peter McColl, from Portobello Opposes New Garbage Site (Pongs), said: "It is within hundreds of meters of people's houses.

It will be good for the city and good for the environment Dan Cook Viridor

"It will not be screened properly during the winter. It is a huge building, it's 17m (50ft) high.

"We are looking at a building that will dominate the skyline in Portobello and a facility that doesn't need to be there."

The site the company chose is the former Freightliner rail terminal next to the east coast main line.

The rubbish would have been compacted at the site and then taken to Dunbar for burial.

Dan Cook, from Viridor, said: "We have been in dialogue with the local community since consultations last year and have taken on board a lot of the points they have made.

"We are proposing this facility to get waste off the road onto rail because it is widely agreed that getting more freight onto the rail rather than our congested roads is good.

"So this development is providing an essential service, it will be good for the city and good for the environment."

Recycling call

Environmental group WWF Scotland has said it would prefer the company to concentrate on recycling industrial waste rather than taking it to landfill.

Spokesman Dan Barlow said: "We produce far more business waste than we do household waste and our levels of recycling are still quite low, so at the moment nine million tonnes of business waste is produced each year and the majority of that goes to landfill.

"We need to turn this around and invest much greater effort into reducing how much of this waste is produced."

Council officers had recommended that the site be approved, but it was rejected by councillors by nine votes to three.