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180,000 tonnes of industrial waste to be diverted from landfill in 2007 with new Greenstar recycling facility at Millennium Park, Ballycoolin, Dublin 11
9th October , 2006
- Ireland's largest automated materials recycling facility opened in €25 million investment
- Greenstar named winner of the Repak award for the best large recycling operator
- Two acquisitions worth €20 million also announced
Greenstar, winner this week of the Repak award for best large recycling operator, has today (9 October 2006) announced the opening of the largest automated materials recycling facility (MRF) in Ireland in Ballycoolin, north County Dublin, in an investment worth €25 million. Called Millennium Park, the facility will recycle over 70% of the Commercial & Industrial (C&I) waste and more than 85% of the Construction & Demolition (C&D) waste it processes, thereby diverting 180,000 tonnes from landfill every year. Millennium Park will be officially opened by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dick Roche TD, on Monday 16 October.
The Dublin region currently produces 670,000 tonnes of commercial waste per year with just 35% of this recycled rather than going to landfill or being exported for further treatment.
Licensed to accept 220,000 tonnes of C&I and C&D waste per year, the Millennium Park facility could handle over a third of the commercial waste produced in Dublin and recycle between 70-85%.
Greenstar Chief Executive, Steve Cowman, commented: "The opening of Millennium Park today will significantly increase the volume of commercial waste that can be diverted from landfill in the Dublin region. As well as helping the region meet the recycling targets set out under the Dublin Waste Management Plan (2005), Millennium Park is also an important infrastructural asset and a response to the Plan's call for investment by the private sector in material recycling facilities.
However, though Millennium Park is a major step forward, it is also just a small part of the overall solution needed to solve Ireland's over reliance on landfill. If we are to develop comprehensive capacity to treat different waste types appropriately and environmentally, it is essential more facilities exist to provide integrated waste management solutions throughout Ireland.
The Forfas Waste Benchmark Report released in June clearly shows that there has been limited progress in addressing Ireland's waste infrastructure deficit as required by the last National Development Plan, 1999-2006. If Ireland is to remain competitive and meet the waste needs of its businesses and people, much more investment is needed in infrastructure and Greenstar intends to keep leading the way."
Millennium Park brings Greenstar's total investment in the waste management sector to €240 million over the last six years, the largest investment of any private company in the sector focused on addressing Ireland's critical lack of waste infrastructure. The opening of Millennium Park follows on from Greenstar's securing of €200 million of debt refinancing in February this year, which has been earmarked for infrastructural development and consolidating acquisitions. Greenstar has also today announced the acquisition of South-East based Ormonde Waste and Cork-based Hannon Recycling in two transactions worth €20m.
Innovations at the facility include the application of best in class technology such as air separation / density separation technology permitting more effective recovery and a higher quality of material to be produced at the end of the process. It is an automated process, which increases the quality of the recyclable outputs and the percentage of the material diverted from landfill.
The facility is now fully operational and will be accepting waste from the Greater Dublin area. The Millennium Park MRF meets all EPA requirements and will be operated to the highest standards of international and environmental best practice.
For further information contact:
Sarah Ryan / Oonagh Daly, Drury Communications
01 260 5000 / 087 6767452 / 087 8554406
 View our new state of the art facility at Millennium Park, Dublin
Download Millennium Park Brochure pdf (4.28 MB)
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