Minister visits Celtic Renewables on launch of new Circular Economy Bill

New legislation to tackle waste by improving recycling rates and increasing reuse has been published by the Scottish Government.
The Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill was introduced by Lorna Slater MSP, the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity.
The ambition of a circular economy is to generate a society where products are used and re-used for as long as possible, maximising their value and minimising waste, and where by-products are captured and used to create additional valuable commodities.
Minister Slater visited the Celtic Renewables plant at Grangemouth to see first-hand how by-products of the whisky industry are processed into high-value low-carbon green chemicals.
"There are huge economic opportunities in the circular economy, and we have already seen businesses in Scotland creating jobs by turning what we might otherwise throw away into valuable new products and services," she said.
Celtic Renewables has raised in excess of £50 million (€58 million), taking the innovation from University lab scale to now having built the first biorefinery in the country – the first of its kind anywhere in the world – where the pioneering company produces green acetone butanol and ethanol.
“This first commercial plant is the pivotal step to launching our ambitious international growth plans. It is the exemplar to building larger scale facilities across the country and internationally in the next 3-5 years, for which significant new investment and Government support will be required to realise the company’s bold ambitions for global deployment,” added Mark Simmers, CEO Celtic Renewables