By Alan Richardson

A PIONEERING Perth recycling plant is running at only half capacity because of the government’s failure to come into line with an EU directive, The Courier can reveal.

The owners of Shore Recycling, the only facility of its kind in Scotland, claim they are being hamstrung by the inaction, which has let slip the implementation of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Directive (WEEE)—due this month.

The directive will eventually pass responsibility for disposing of old electrical goods on to the owners, meaning they must be recycled and not sent to landfill sites with general rubbish.

A recent £5 million upgrade means Shore Recycling staff are ready and able to cope with the expected influx of old computers, cookers, stereos and other electrical equipment, but they can only watch as half of it continues to be binned.

Dismayed managing director Malcolm Todd said yesterday, “It’s shocking that over 50 million pieces of electrical equipment either go to landfill or are exported when there is an overdue directive to ensure this material is recycled here.

“Companies like ours, which have had the courage and foresight to invest ahead of the directive, are being penalised by the delays, which is extremely galling.”

The first deadline for the directive was August 2004 and the industry is awaiting the results of a third round of Scottish Executive consultation, with no timetable for implementation yet in place.

Shore Recycling can now work 24/7 to recycle half-a-million televisions and computer monitors and a further 50,000 tonnes of general electrical equipment.

Mr Todd said, “Installing this state-of-the-art technology is the final stage of a total investment of £10million at the plant over the last four years, with the creation of 90 full-time jobs and many others in the haulage and logistics sector.”

Shore Recycling, which prevented Scotland from having a “fridge mountain” that plagued the rest of the UK in 2002, is contracted to most of Scotland’s 32 councils to deal with this issue and can process 800,000 fridges a year.

To date, 15 Scottish councils have extended their cover to encompass television and monitor recycling ahead of the WEEE directive.

Despite the frustration, the company welcomed an announcement from the Scottish Executive that grants will be made available to the councils dealing with “hazardous WEEE before the directive comes into force.”