Waste recycling firm bids for Midlothian site as it looks to expand business

An award-winning waste recycling firm is looking to expand into Midlothian with plans for a new site on the outskirts of Loanhead.

Hamilton Waste and Recycling, which operates from its Smeaton Bing base in East Lothian, has applied for a change of use of brownfield land at Eldin Industrial Estate just off the A720.

The firm, which has won UK awards for its recycling expertise, says the new waste management site “would allow waste operations to be located in a strategic location close to the Edinburgh City Bypass and waste arisings in Midlothian”.

READ MORE: Scotland’s first carbon neutral waste site to open seven days a week

Applying for the change of use of the land to allow waste processing with a washer plant and stone crusher on the site, the firm’s agents told Midlothian planners the new site would “complement” the existing East Lothian site.

They said: “Both pieces of plant will complement their existing waste management facility at Smeaton, East Lothian, being well located adjacent to the city bypass to work in unison with operations being undertaken at Smeaton, and waste arisings in Midlothian.”

The application says in addition to the wash plant and stone crusher the firm wants to operate waste bulking process in an existing shed on the site with skips unloaded in the shed during “times when the Edinburgh Bypass is heavily congested” and waste stored before being moved to Smeaton for processing.

It added the majority of the waste the firm receives is from the construction
industry and all the processed material to be sold from the Loanhead site will go back into the construction and utility industries.

Applying for permission to go ahead with the new site, the firm said noise assessments carried out on its behalf suggested the impact of its operations which it proposed to run from 7am to 6pm six days a week was low.

The noise assessment noted two homes within 100 metres of the site boundary and said that the main background sound heard at the properties was traffic from the A720.

It said: “The proposed development is on an area of long-standing industrial use, including uses with a similar noise profile to the proposed development.

“The area has a relatively high background noise level, being in close proximity to the A720, implying a necessarily high tolerance for noise for residents.

“The assessment has taken a robust view of activity noise to present the worst-case scenario when in reality the specific sound level will mostly be lower than the predictions with plant not in constant use.”

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