A RENEWED planning application for a Borders drinks container recycling plant which will create 29 new jobs has been given the green light.

Biffa Waste Services has been awarded a prestigious contract to run a Deposit Return Scheme in Scotland with the aim of making the country a “cleaner, greener place”.

In October last year, High Wycombe-based Biffa was awarded a certificate of lawfulness from Scottish Borders Council to operate a bulking station on land south of HE Builders at Carlaw Road on the Pinnaclehill Industrial Estate in Kelso.

Kelso Bulking Station is to be used to bulk recyclable bottles and cans that have been collected from establishments in the area registered with the scheme, prior to transportation to a counting centre that will be developed in Grangemouth.

The bulking station will handle approximately 4,700 tonnes of material each year and the scheme will include all single use drink containers manufactured from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, metal and glass and will cover both alcoholic and soft drinks.

Now a new planning application submitted earlier this month to establish on site a pit-mounted weighbridge, a weighbridge office, a covered glass storage bay, the installation of a 2.4m high fence and provision of perimeter lighting and double gates, has been endorsed by the council’s assistant planning officer Euan Calvert.

A report submitted with the application says: “The bulking station would result in significant job creation as Biffa estimate the facility would generate up to 29 full-time jobs on site.

“The jobs would range from shop floor operators, drivers, office staff to logistics personnel which Biffa would seek to fill locally.”