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Mulleadys Waste in Drumlish welcomed Environment Minister Darragh O’Brien, and Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Robert Troy, for the official opening of its new €7 million state-of-the-art recycling processing facility. READ MORE BELOW PHOTO

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Caption: At the official opening of Mulleady Group’s new €7m recycling processing facility were Donna Mulleady, Anthony Mulleady, Minister Darragh O’Brien, Karen Duffy, Anne Mulleady, Brendan Mulleady and Niall Mulleady Picture: Frank McGrath

The upgrade enables Mulleadys to now process a staggering 500 tonnes of recyclable material per week, not only from their own customers but also from additional operators.

The impressive facility was several years in the pipeline as the €7 million project navigated through the different stages, from planning to EPA approval and development.

Explaining what the new addition means for their business, Niall Mulleady says, “The plant the investment was in was solely for dry mix recyclables.”

“We had an existing plant and we upgraded that plant via this investment. So as a result, we have more, just over doubled our throughput. We’re able to handle all of our own material, plus we’re able to take in material from neighbouring counties and from other third party operators as well.”

Speaking about the launch, Niall says, “We were very happy that Minister Troy was able to bring Minister O’Brien to the facility. We just felt it was right to have the Minister for Environment there to see what we’re doing given it’s in our space. He was very impressed by what he saw on the walking tour and realised what goes on here.”

Naill adds, “I don’t think people realise what happens when they put their bin out. They just think it goes into a lorry, they don’t understand where it goes or what’s involved to get it through the next steps.”

Mulleady’s dedication to the Best Available Technologies means their next upgrade is already in the advanced planning phase. Explains Niall, “We’ll be doing a small upgrade in early summer which will hopefully give us around another 10-15% increase in throughput.

“We’re also trialling some AI robots, which we believe is certainly the first of this manufacturer. It’s a different type and it’s out in recent years. We’re trialling that to see how it works. That’s going to be an exciting part of the project or part of the upgrade.”

Asked if the introduction of robotics would threaten jobs, Niall confirmed it would “not have any interference with jobs at all.”​

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