- ✗Food waste and garden waste sent to composting at escalating cost
- ✗Residual materials sent to FCC Environment-operated MRERC for incineration under a contract expiring ~2040
- ✗Edinburgh receives no income from material it collects — only pays disposal fees
- ✗Disposal costs rise every year — no ceiling on how high they can go
- ✗No plan for what happens when the Millerhill contract ends around 2040
- ✗Biosolids from Edinburgh's five water treatment works sent for land spreading under growing regulatory pressure
- ✗No local manufacturing jobs created from Edinburgh's collected materials
- ✗Materials that could be valuable are destroyed in a furnace
- ✓Food waste, garden waste and other materials go to a local manufacturing facility
- ✓Edinburgh has a long-term plan for its materials that takes it well past 2040
- ✓Edinburgh receives a monthly Circular Royalty™ cheque — growing every year for 30 years
- ✓Edinburgh's disposal cost is capped by the Beneficiation Fee formula — no open-ended escalation
- ✓By Phase Expanded (~2040), Edinburgh's full residual material has a structured home
- ✓Scottish Water's biosolids from Edinburgh's water works have a clear, stable destination
- ✓~788 jobs (Configuration A total) created in Edinburgh in Phase Initial; ~175 in Phase Expanded
- ✓Edinburgh's materials are converted into synthetic graphite, graphene compounds, recovered metals, and ultrapure water — manufactured products with real value
How This Fits Edinburgh's Community Wealth Building Plan 2026–2029
The City of Edinburgh Council has its own framework for judging whether economic activity actually benefits residents: Community Wealth Building (CWB), built around five pillars — Spending, Employment, Land and Property, Inclusive Ownership, and Finance — and adopted in support of the Edinburgh Poverty Commission's target to end poverty in the city by 2030. Below is an honest read of where this project sits against each pillar, using only what is already established elsewhere in this document — not a marketing overlay.
This is not a claim that Carbotura's facility substitutes for the Council's Community Wealth Building programme. It's a proposal that, if progressed, generates a new recurring locally-directed revenue stream and a base of permanent skilled jobs — the kind of outcomes the Council's own CWB Progress and Impact Framework is designed to track. Source: The City of Edinburgh Council, Community Wealth Building Plan 2026–2029.
How the Circular Royalty™ Flows Back to Residents
The Circular Royalty™ is paid directly to Edinburgh City Council — not to individual households. But what the Council does with it is a decision for the Council and its residents. The royalty income could be used to maintain services, reduce the need for council tax increases, invest in community infrastructure, or fund local priorities. The amount of the royalty depends on the Beneficiation Fee agreed at Waste Study, and will be confirmed at that stage.
What is certain: Edinburgh currently pays to dispose of its materials and receives nothing back. Under this agreement, Edinburgh pays a Beneficiation Fee and receives more back — every year, growing, for 30 years. That is a fundamental change in the economics of managing Edinburgh's materials.
Environmental Performance (Designed-For, Phase Initial)
These figures are based on Carbotura's ACM platform design at 100 TPD. Subject to independent verification at Waste Study.
Edinburgh pays Beneficiation Fee; receives Circular Royalty™ at 120%+ of corresponding fee from 13 months after corresponding Beneficiation Fee payment. At Year 30: Royalty = 148% of the current-year Beneficiation Fee. From Year 2 the Circular Royalty™ per tonne exceeds the corresponding Beneficiation Fee per tonne — a differential between two independently reported gross transactions, never a netted position.
Carbotura mines and remediates legacy mass at Regional Edinburgh landfill. Edinburgh receives $50/ton Exogenesis™ Royalty from Year 6 (~$1.52M/yr, ~£1.20M), stacking alongside the Circular Royalty™. Subject to Waste Characterization Study.
Your Materials. Your Royalty.
The Circular Royalty™ is not a rebate, a discount, or a bonus. It is a contractual payment — written into the agreement from day one — that Edinburgh City Council receives every single month for the life of the contract. Here is how it works, in plain English:
ABP Atlantic Site, Port of Edinburgh
Seafield
Scottish Water
What People Ask
Carbotura would build an Advanced Circular Manufacturing facility at the Port of Edinburgh. It's a modular factory that takes in materials — food waste, garden waste, biosolids, and similar — and converts them into manufactured products: synthetic graphite, graphene compounds, recovered metals, and ultrapure water. The facility is classed as a manufacturing operation, not a waste plant. Carbotura funds it, builds it, owns it, and runs it. Edinburgh City Council does not invest any money.
No capital investment. No construction debt. No operating costs. Edinburgh's only financial commitment is the Beneficiation Fee — a per-tonne Beneficiation Fee for delivering materials to the facility, set below Edinburgh's current disposal costs. Everything else is Carbotura's responsibility. If the facility underperforms, that's Carbotura's problem, not Edinburgh's.
The Circular Royalty™ is a monthly payment from Carbotura to Edinburgh City Council. It starts 13 months after the facility opens — so there's a first year where Edinburgh pays the Beneficiation Fee but hasn't received any royalty yet (separate transactions; royalty pre-launch). After that, rolling monthly payments begin at a rate of 120% of the original Beneficiation Fee per tonne. The rate goes up by 1 percentage point every year. From Year 2 onward, the per-tonne Royalty Edinburgh receives exceeds the per-tonne Fee it pays (separate transactions per the Separate Transaction Principle), and the spread grows every year until Year 30. The exact monthly amount depends on the Beneficiation Fee, which is confirmed in the Waste Study.
Yes — designed to be significantly better. Today, Edinburgh's residual materials go to incineration at the FCC Environment-operated Millerhill Recycling & Energy Recovery Centre (MRERC), which generates CO₂. The ACM manufacturing process is designed for near-zero emissions, near-zero residual, and no discharge. At 400 TPD (Configuration A), the facility is designed to avoid approximately 82,500 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year (per Registry §I). These are designed-for figures from Carbotura's platform — they'll be independently verified at the Waste Study stage. Edinburgh's household recycling rate is approximately 48% (SEPA 2024), which is excellent. This project handles what's left in a genuinely better way.
Edinburgh's current contract for sending residual waste to the Millerhill Recycling & Energy Recovery Centre (MRERC) runs until around 2040–41. After that, Edinburgh has no confirmed plan for where its materials go. Building the replacement infrastructure takes time — roughly 10 to 12 years from the start of the Waste Study to full Phase Expanded operation. That means the decision process needs to start now to ensure Edinburgh has something in place before 2040, not after. The first step — authorising a Waste Study — doesn't commit Edinburgh to anything. It just opens the door. The longer Edinburgh waits, the less time it has to plan.
Around 175 direct manufacturing jobs at Configuration A (400 TPD) — skilled technical and operational roles at the facility itself. Combined with indirect and supply chain employment, the total impact is estimated at around 788 jobs at Configuration A, scaling to approximately 3,150 jobs at Configuration C (2,000 TPD). These are permanent, local positions in Edinburgh — not construction or temporary roles. These figures are estimates based on Carbotura's standard 100 TPD module scaling module scaling; they'll be confirmed at Waste Study.).
Carbotura builds factories, not waste facilities. That distinction isn't just language — it determines which permits apply, which investors can participate, and whether the 30-year royalty structure is financially viable. Carbotura is filing a federal petition with the EPA confirming its process is manufacturing, not waste treatment. If a local or state authority were to classify the facility as a waste operation — even informally — Carbotura would not be able to proceed. The investment model requires manufacturing status. This is one reason Carbotura works closely with communities before committing capital: to confirm the regulatory path is clear.
This overview uses planning-basis estimates where confirmed figures are not yet available. The Beneficiation Fee per tonne, all Circular Royalty™ amounts, and all employment and economic figures are estimates that require Term Sheet phase verification. The structural relationships described — Edinburgh pays Beneficiation Fee, receives Circular Royalty™ from 13 months after corresponding Beneficiation Fee payment, per-tonne Royalty exceeds per-tonne Fee from Year 2 (separate transactions), capital obligation zero — are contractually standard and are not estimates. This document is prepared by Carbotura, Inc. for Edinburgh City Council. for Edinburgh. Contact: info[at]carbotura.com