TEHRAN – A French company is planning to spend more than $290 million to build a waste incineration plant in the northwestern city of Tabriz, in East Azerbaijan province, IRNA reported on Sunday.

Currently, the land required for the construction of the power plant has been provided to the French company for studies, and its study stages are underway, Alireza Asghari, director of waste management organization of Tabriz Municipality said.

He added that studying the project and signing a contract for the construction of the incineration plant are expected to be completed by May next year, and later it will be approved by the city council.

All costs for the construction and operation of this waste-to-energy plant will be spent by the French company and after the end of a 20-year contract, it will be handed over to Tabriz Municipality, he said.

Asghari went on to note that during its operation, 20 percent of the revenue from energy production will be provided to the municipality.

Pointing out that 40 percent of waste is separated and recycled in Tabriz city, he said that in the metropolis of Tabriz with a population of 1.8 million, 1,200 tons of waste is produced daily, and the construction of a waste incineration plant is one of the demands of the citizens and the urban management program for about 15 years.

A waste-to-energy plant is a waste management facility that combusts wastes to produce electricity. This type of power plant is also called a trash-to-energy, municipal waste incineration, energy recovery, or resource recovery plant.

Iran currently has six incineration plants operating in the cities of Tehran, Shiraz, Mashhad, and Noshahr.

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