Glasgow RREC

Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre is situated in the south side of Glasgow City at Polmadie. The facility delivers a saving to Glasgow of 90,000 tonnes of CO² every year.

You may be aware that that the Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre (GRREC), which is operated by Viridor, has been offline for the past few months after cracks were discovered in three of the facility's smoke tube boilers during routine inspections. Although these did not pose a risk to the environment, the local community or our employees, we took the decision to keep the facility offline while necessary works are carried out.

We are now progressing the repairs, and taking the opportunity provided by the downtime to undertake certain upgrades. We are pleased to confirm that we currently expect GRREC to be back up and running by the end of March 2027. We are working closely with Glasgow City Council and our contractor partners throughout the repair programme to ensure the facility can return to operation safely and efficiently. As part of this final phase of works, local residents and businesses may notice a number of activities taking place on site. These are all important steps in the recommissioning programme.

Crane movements

Between now and the end of the year, two large cranes will be positioned on site to support key engineering works, including the lifting of equipment and materials. These activities are not expected to cause significant disruption or additional noise, although the cranes will be visible from the surrounding area.

Works to the anaerobic digestion system

In the coming weeks, we anticipate works to parts of the anaerobic digestion (AD) system. During this period there may be an increase in vehicle movements, and, on occasion, some odour associated with the works. We will be carefully monitoring this and taking measures to minimise any potential impact.

Recommissioning activities

As we move towards returning the facility to service, a number of testing and commissioning activities will be required. This includes processes such as steam blowing and initial plant start-up. These activities may result in some temporary periods of increased noise. Every effort will be made to minimise disruption where reasonably practicable, and these activities are necessary to safely test and prepare the facility for operation.

We remain committed to keeping you informed as the work progresses. If you have any questions or would like to speak to us about the update, you can contact us directly at

Of the tonnage of household waste that is collected annually by Glasgow City Council, the vast majority, 72%, was sent to landfill back in 2016.

With annual hikes in landfill tax and ambitious Scottish Government zero waste targets focusing on waste reduction, reuse, enhanced recycling and recovering renewable energy from what remains, the council has been working towards great change.

The Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre (GRREC) works with Glasgow City Council to manage city wide blue, brown and purple bin recycling, diverting 90% of green bin residual waste away from landfill, saving millions of pounds, releasing recyclable resources from household waste and producing valuable heat and power from one of the most advanced waste management facilities in Europe.

The facility produces enough energy to power the equivalent of 26,480 households and heat the equivalent of some 8,000 homes, delivering a saving to Glasgow of 90,000 tonnes of CO² every year.

At the same time it will deliver a saving to the city of circa £254m during the 25 year contract, creating new jobs, including 20 apprentices, and 254 work experience placements, supporting local social enterprises and small and medium sized businesses throughout the build programme and beyond.

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