CLIMATE activists have blocked the entrance to an incinerator site in Aberdeen in a bid to draw attention to the pollution caused by the facility.
Around 100 activists from Climate Camp Scotland formed a picket-line at the incinerator located in East Tullos Industrial Estate near Torry, preventing waste trucks from entering the site, at around 7am on Saturday morning.
Activists held banners which read: "Climate Justice For Torry" and "Hauns Affa Torry".
They said the site, which has been operational since 2023, pollutes the air with particles which can cause respiratory and cardiovascular illness.
Located just 300 metres from the Tullos Primary School, the energy from waste facility burns unrecyclable waste and sends the electricity generated from this process to the national grid.
A small amount of the electricity is used to power the facility itself.
It was opened last year despite the Scottish Government's 2022 moratorium on new waste incinerators being built in Scotland and some opposition from locals.
It is used by Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council and Moray Council and was welcomed as a "modern and more environmentally friendly solution" to landfill.
However, campaigners say the practice still causes issues for the local environment particularly in terms of air pollution.
"This incinerator is a grotesque building, squatting in our community like a great cockroach, and converting non-renewable natural resources into toxic ash and carbon dioxide," said Ishbel Shand, a Torry resident and campaigner for Friends of St Fittick's Park.
"It is a malign symbol of the rampant consumerism that is destroying our planet.
"This isn't energy from waste - it exists to waste energy. How on earth did this ever become acceptable?"
Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman gave her support to the protest, adding that the industrial area of Torry had been forced to shoulder the impacts of heavy industries.
"For decades, Torry has borne the brunt of industrial development without seeing the benefits," she said.
"Old Torry was demolished for oil and gas developments in the 70s.
"Torry lost its beach at Nigg Bay to the South Harbour.
"And it has to deal with the waste from the City and the Shire - with the incinerator and sewage works looming over communities.
"With life expectancy in Torry more than 10 years lower than elsewhere in Aberdeen, this inequality and injustice must stop.
"We need an end to private profiteering and fossil capitalism. Torry needs justice."
The facility was built and is managed by EFW Ness Ltd, a subsidiary of Acconia Industrial Ltd, and is operated by Indaver UK.
Indaver UK has been contacted for comment.
