Panda opens €5m metals and plastics recovery system to “catch” items wrongly placed in black bin. New system part of €160m investment to improve Irish recycling rates.
Waste company Panda has opened a new €5m metals and plastics recovery system at its materials handling facility at Millennium Park in Dublin, designed to extract recyclable items that are incorrectly placed in black bins.
The new system will help ensure that metal and plastic items that are incorrectly put into black bins will be extracted from general waste and properly recycled.
“Most people make an effort to place metal and plastics in the recycling bin, but not everyone gets it right all the time”
The investment is part of a major €160m capital expenditure programme by Panda’s parent company Beauparc to further expand recycling initiatives throughout the Irish waste sector. The plan will create about 300 new jobs in Ireland.
The Millennium Park facility in Finglas handles up to 5,500 tonnes of waste per week and is the largest waste recycling depot in the State. Panda’s Irish facilities process waste material from more than 440,000 customers nationwide.
National recycling targets
The Minister of State for Small Business and Retail & Circular Economy, Alan Dillon, TD, who visited the new metals and plastics recovery system this week, said he was delighted to see the expansion of Panda’s recycling facilities at Millennium Park.
“Panda has invested significantly in Ireland in recent years to expand its recycling business, and it was great to see its new metal and plastics recovery lines in operation today,” Dillon said.
“I was pleased to hear about Panda’s plans for further significant investment to boost the circular economy over the next decade. It is vital that Ireland continues to improve recycling rates and investments such as these are essential to help us meet our national targets.”
Safety net for recycling mistakes
Beauparc CEO Brian McCabe said the new metals and plastics recovery system would have a significant positive impact on overall recycling rates.
“Most people make an effort to place metal and plastics in the recycling bin, but not everyone gets it right all the time,” McCabe explained. “This investment will allow us to catch more of the stuff that shouldn’t be in your black bin and to ensure that it is all recycled properly and efficiently.”
He added: “We spend a lot of time educating consumers about how to use their bins properly, both in Panda and working in partnership with Government and the Irish Waste Management Association, and we are committed to doing even more in this area, but we also want to ensure that if you get it wrong, we have a safety net.”
Panda intends to build a similar metal and plastics extraction facility to process waste in the south Dublin area and is also investing in imaging systems to track waste going into trucks, and in new education packs for its customers in relation to the correct use of bins.
“This system is effectively a new gatekeeper to make sure we can take metals and plastics that can be recycled out of black bin waste as it goes through our processing system,” McCabe said. “But it’s much better for everyone if metals and plastics can go into the recycling bin at the start of the process.”
Major expansion plans
Beauparc’s €160m Irish expansion plan, which is the largest in the company’s history, includes a number of long-term strategic investments.
The programme will see investment in a range of new processing facilities for construction and demolition waste, and municipal solid waste, as well as improved processing facilities for metal waste, wood waste, biological waste and medical waste.
“We are a circular economy business, and our key aim is to maximise the amount of material that we can recover and re-use across all parts of our business,” McCabe said.
Beauparc, which employs about 3,500 people across 70 operations in Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands, is also currently investing about €140 million in new and improved facilities at its overseas businesses.
Panda is Ireland’s leading waste management solutions company. Founded in 1990, it now has more than 440,000 customers across its domestic and commercial business in Ireland. Panda is part of Beauparc, which has operations in sectors such as waste collection, processing and disposal, energy generation, smart waste solutions, hazardous waste management, and food composting.
Beauparc’s operations handle approximately 4.3m tonnes of waste annually, and serve a diverse range of public, private, and commercial customers across the three countries in which it operates.
In August 2021, funds managed by Macquarie Asset Management acquired Beauparc to support its long-term growth plans through investing in the transition to a circular economy. With Macquarie’s support, Beauparc is currently transforming its business and is investing in new and existing facilities to expand its recycling and recovery capabilities beyond paper, metals, and plastics.
Main image at top: Beauparc CEO Brian McCabe and Minister of State for Small Business and Retail & Circular Economy Alan Dillon, TD. Photo: Fintan Clarke/Coalesce
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