Glasgow council spends £13m sending rubbish for recycling outside city

Glasgow City Council spent nearly £13m sending the city’s rubbish away to other parts of the UK including England and Northern Ireland.

A senior councillor told colleagues the city doesn’t have the infrastructure to handle all waste, with £12.8m spent on moving the rest outside Glasgow.

Thrown away food from flats is sent to North Lanarkshire, garden waste to South Lanarkshire and some material to be recycled goes to Yorkshire and Northern Ireland for processing.

Cllr Laura Doherty, the convener for neighbourhood services and assets, said this was because some materials required specialist treatment not available in Glasgow.

She said the situation will change when a new plant opens at Easter Queenslie in 2027.

Councillor Stephen Docherty had asked why the local authority was spending millions transporting the waste instead of using facilities in the city.

Cllr Doherty replied: “Glasgow City Council does make use of its own facilities to manage waste wherever possible.

“Our transfer stations at the material recovery facility in Blochairn handle significant volumes of recyclables and all general household waste is sent to the Glasgow recycling and renewable energy centre in Polmadie where it is converted into energy.

“However like many major cities we don’t yet have the full infrastructure required to process every waste stream locally. Some materials require specialist treatment or facilities that are not available within the city boundaries.”

Stressing how the council will be able to recycle more in the future, Cllr Doherty said the Easter Queenslie facility would be “cutting edge”.

She said: “Easter Queenslie is a key component for the transformation of our waste programme across the city to reduce our carbon impact of waste on the environment and significantly improve our recycling rates.”

Story by Local Democracy reporter Sarah Hilley.