The incinerator -- built seven years ago in Lerwick at a cost of 10 million pounds ($20 million) -- recycles trash into heat and hot water, The Scotsman reported.

The European Union has ordered local authorities to find alternatives to landfills. In addition to taking up space that could be used for other things, landfills produce methane, a greenhouse gas.

In Lerwick, householders like Jim Mullay, a retired postal worker, get heat and hot water at moderate cost. He pays 35 pounds ($70) a month for the utilities for his three-bedroom house.

"It's just hot on demand. You could let the hot tap run all day," Mullay told The Scotsman.

Some environmentalists fear that incineration will lead to less recycling.

"Using the sky as a landfill site is not the answer to our waste problem,” said Robin Harper, a Green Party member of the Scottish Parliament.