The Green Investment Bank has confirmed that it will be helping to fund a new energy-from-waste plant in Scotland which will require £142 million of investment. The construction phase of the new development is set to begin shortly near Edinburgh, after Zero Waste signed a contract worth £450 million with FCC Environment, who will be responsible for both delivering and operating the new renewable energy plant.

The project will include debt financing of £28 million from the GIB, which is funding the build as part of a consortium of investors that includes Credit Agricole, Siemens Bank and Investec. The new plant will have 14.1MW of capacity and be located at Midlothian's Millerhill. Each year it will process as much as 155,000 tonnes of waste that would otherwise have been diverted to landfill. This waste will first be pre-screened to extract any recyclables before being incinerated to produce up to 94,000 Mw of electricity. At the same time, it will cut greenhouse gas emissions by c. 30,000 tonnes annually, which is equivalent to taking just under 14,000 cars off the road during the project's working lifetime.

The site is already enabled for CHP readiness, meaning that it will eventually also be able to supply heat from the processes within the plant to surrounding businesses and homes.

The design, construction and operation are being handled by FCC Environment. The project was commissioned by a JV between Midlothian Council and the City of Edinburgh Council, called Zero Waste. During the build phase, up to 350 new jobs will be created, and once the facility is fully online in 2019 it will sustain forty long-term jobs.

The project is being progressed as part of Scotland's ambitious plans to move to a zero-waste, sustainable economy.