Material Recovery Facility, Bargeddie

On the weekend of the 18 and 19 May 2024, SEPA received several reports from members of the public in Bargeddie relating to issues of abnormal fly numbers experienced within their homes.

SEPA officers inspected the Viridor site on Monday 21 May to investigate these reports. During the inspection of the site, officers viewed Viridor's fly monitoring and insecticide application logs and noted that in relation to recent weather conditions and an increase in fly numbers the site had increased insecticide applications.

Viridor advised that the site was undertaking a scheduled shut-down and not currently processing waste. During this time contractors were present on site carrying out maintenance on machinery. The site is the transfer station for waste from North Lanarkshire Council, therefore waste had been received, bulked up and sent out from the site throughout the scheduled shut-down.

During a walk around of the site, officers observed elevated numbers of flies within the waste process halls. Additionally, doors were observed to have been left open by contractors causing the escape of flies. 

Later, on Monday 21 May, Viridor advised SEPA that a scheduled insecticide application was to be carried out in the evening by their pest management contractor and that the importance of keeping doors closed has been reiterated to both staff and contractors. Viridor invited SEPA to attend the site later in the week as they believed that all issues had been resolved and that fly numbers on site were well controlled.

In response to these non-compliances SEPA has issued Viridor with a letter outlining actions to be taken.

Flies:

Viridor implement a Fly Management Plan which outlines the considerations and measures taken to reduce the presence of flies on the site. 

Odour:

All odorous air generated within the process buildings is routed through an activated carbon abatement unit installed at the site by Viridor. When operating as intended, this unit is highly effective at abating odorous air before release via the main stack attached to the process building. This odorous air is passed through dust and particulate filters before being passed through the activated carbon filtration media which absorbs odorous compounds.

In 2023 Viridor carried out a review of the odour abatement system installed on site to identify potential improvements. This review raised a recommendation to implement an infrastructure change to internal routing of the system to enable isolation of individual vessels during maintenance. This infrastructure upgrade is planned to be installed by summer 2024. 

Recently, Viridor have been trialling a change to the maintenance process of their odour abatement unit. SEPA are due to receive an updated Odour Management Plan reflecting these changes by the end of June 2024.

Public engagement:

SEPA will continue to liaise with Viridor and the public through regular stakeholder meetings.

SEPA will only make further contact with individual complainers in relation to complaints where necessary for evidence-gathering purposed and in most cases, complainers will not receive any further update from us in respect to a complaint. Relevant updates will be made available on the Bargeddie Materials Recycling Facility hub page.

Since 2023, there has been a significant reduction in the number of complaints received by SEPA associated with odour and flies from the communities surrounding Viridor in Bargeddie. Despite this, SEPA continue to monitor the site to ensure that Viridor continue to comply with licence conditions.

An inspection of Viridor on 09 April 2024 found no breaches in licence conditions, although subsequent odour monitoring carried out on 11 April 2024 did substantiate an odour that was deemed offensive by SEPA officers. In response to this, Viridor took swift and robust action to rectify an issue with the odour abatement unit which was resolved by 13 April 2024.

SEPA will continue to investigate issues of odour and flies associated with the site.

Flies:

Viridor have taken numerous management and procedural actions in order to achieve compliance with their licence condition relating to flies, these include:

• Implementing a Pest Management Plan which comprehensively outlines the fly monitoring and mitigation process on site.
• A change in the storage location of recycling waste fractions with all waste now stored within the main operations hall.
• Increasing the use of targeted, reactive application of insecticide during the working day.

Odour:

In 2023 Viridor carried out a comprehensive review of the odour abatement system installed on site to identify potential improvements. This review raised a recommendation to implement an infrastructure change to the internal routing of the system to enable isolation of individual vessels. This infrastructure upgrade is planned to be installed by summer 2024.

The above measures reflect the continued engagement that Viridor are making with SEPA to ensure compliance with licence conditions.
The activated carbon abatement unit installed at the site by Viridor, when operating as intended, is highly effective at abating odour which has arisen from internal processes within the process halls. This odorous air is passed through dust and particulate filters before being passed through the activated carbon filtration media which absorbs odorous compounds.

SEPA will continue to liaise with Viridor and the public through regular stakeholder meetings.

Since 2023, there has been a significant reduction in the number of complaints received by SEPA associated with odour and flies from the communities surrounding Viridor in Bargeddie. Despite this, SEPA continue to monitor the site proactivity to ensure that Viridor continue to comply with licence conditions.

An inspection of Viridor on 9 April 2024 found no breaches in licence conditions, although subsequent odour monitoring carried out on 11 April 2024 did substantiate an odour that was deemed offensive by SEPA officers. In response to this, Viridor took swift and robust action to rectify an issue with the odour abatement unit which was resolved by 13 April 2024.

SEPA will continue to investigate issues of odour and flies associated with the site both in responding to complaints made by the public, and as part of our routine monitoring going forward. The frequency of this routing monitoring will increase over the warmer months, and this will continue for the duration of the summer.

Flies

Viridor have taken numerous management and procedural actions in order to achieve compliance with their licence condition relating to flies, these include:

• Implementing a Pest Management Plan which comprehensively outlines the fly monitoring and mitigation process on site.
• A change in the storage location of recycling waste fractions with all waste now stored within the main operations hall.
• Increasing the use of targeted, reactive application of insecticide during the working day.

Odour

in 2023 Viridor carried out a comprehensive review of the odour abatement system installed on site to identify potential improvements. This review raised a recommendation to implement an infrastructure change to the internal routing of the system to enable isolation of individual vessels. This infrastructure upgrade is planned to be installed by summer 2024. 

The above measures reflect the continued engagement that Viridor are making with SEPA to ensure compliance with licence conditions.

SEPA will continue to liaise with Viridor and the public through regular stakeholder meetings.

Compared to last year, in 2023 so far there has been a significant reduction in the number of complaints associated with flies received by SEPA from communities surrounding Viridor. Despite this, SEPA continue to monitor the site in a proactive manner to ensure that Viridor continue to comply with licence conditions.

An inspection of Viridor on 19th July 2023 found no breaches in licence conditions. SEPA will continue to investigate issues of odour and flies associated with the site both in responding to complaints made by the public, and as part of our routine monitoring going forward. The frequency of this routine monitoring has increased, and this will continue for the duration of the warmer summer months. SEPA have, and will continue to, undertake inspections of the site and surrounding areas.

Following a meeting in early 2023 with Viridor management to discuss their plans for the warmer seasons and to reiterate their legal requirement to comply with licence conditions; to minimise the presence of insects and vermin on the site, and to prevent offensive odour out with the site boundary, Viridor have been actively engaging with SEPA to address issues raised over the previous years.

Flies

Viridor have taken numerous management and procedural actions in order to achieve compliance with their licence condition relating to flies, these include:

• Implementing a Pest Management Plan which comprehensively outlines the fly monitoring and mitigation process on site.
• A change in the storage location of recycling waste fractions with all waste now stored within the main operations hall.
• Increasing the use of targeted, reactive application of insecticide during the working day.

More generally, Viridor have been trialling different insecticide formulations whilst also increasing the frequency of application where appropriate.

Odour

Viridor are reviewing their current odour management system and have increased the monitoring frequency of the odour filtration material to identify issues earlier.

The above measures reflect the continued positive engagement with Viridor to ensure compliance.

SEPA will continue to liaise with Viridor and the public through regular stakeholder meetings.