New € 21m Panda facility launched by minister
CENTRE WILL BE UP AND RUNNING BY END OF THE YEAR
Picture shows from left Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government, John Gormley TD with Eamon Waters, Managing Director of Panda Waste.
PANDA Waste, Ireland's leading waste management company, marked the ground breaking of Ireland's first mechanical biological treatment (MBT) plant at its base near Slane on Friday.
The Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government John Gormley TD officially conducted a sod turning ceremony for the facility, which is being developed at a cost of over € 21 million with private enterprise funding. Forty new jobs will be created as a result of opening of this new facility.
The new facility will be in full production by the end of 2010 and will convert over 250,000 tons of black bin waste (previously destined for landfill) into coal substitute for cement production, high grade compost for agricultural use and 1.3MW of electricity to be fed directly to Ireland's national power grid.
'Our decision to proceed with MBT technology was inspired by Minister John Gormley's long-term support for the project as a significant part of Ireland's environmental movement.
'We are proud to unveil this next generation of cutting-edge recycling technology in Ireland,' stated Eamon Waters, Managing Director of Panda.
The new facility consists of an Anaerobic Digester (AD) and Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) process.
The AD plant will convert both collected organic waste (brown bin material from households) as well as organics collected from black bins, into a high-grade compost suitable for land spreading.
The AD plant will extract gasses from these materials, which are responsible for greenhouse pollution in landfills, and convert them into electricity which will be fed directly back into the national electricity grid.
The RDF process recovers all the high calorific materials (plastic, paper, cardboard) from black bin household waste and converts it into a fuel capable of replacing almost the equivalent weight of coal.
Panda has already secured contracts for all of the waste that the RDF the plant will be able to process. Of the 250,000 tons of waste per annum Panda are licensed by the EPA to accept into its Meath site, over 90% will be recovered.
Panda was acquired by Eamon Waters in 1990, has a turnover in the region of € 50 million and employs over 200 people in three facilities, one in Meath and two in Dublin.
Panda has over 60,000 domestic customers (50,000 of whom are in Dublin) with over 3,000 commercial customers nationwide.
