Re-Gen Waste announces £20m investment in paper and glass re-melt products

Derived from local household waste including paper and glass, the advanced, absorbent paper product is currently undergoing R&D testing, in association with Queen’s University Belfast.

Both manufactured goods should be ready to bring to market in 2023 and will drive improvements in local Circular Product use for the Newry waste management company.

The new tranche of investment is expected to create 250 local jobs, deliver £20 million of value to the Northern Ireland economy annually and provide a strong alternative to incineration and shipping recyclable materials overseas.

Managing director, Joseph Doherty, said: “In the last 10 years SMEs in the Northern Ireland waste sector have been innovating and developing processes and plant, to move Northern Ireland towards a circular economy.

“This can’t happen overnight, but Northern Ireland is hitting its targets to become a zero-waste society.

“In 2019/20, Northern Ireland achieved a household waste recycling and composting rate of 51.9%. This is a dramatic step forward in our recycling rate, which continues to grow.

“The volume of household waste landfilled has decreased by 352,837 tonnes, down from 561,173 tonnes in 2009/10 to 208,336 tonnes in 2019/20 and is continuing to fall rapidly year on year.

“According to DAERA’s Compositional Study 2017, 55% of the black bin (residual waste) is recyclable material, which we will also extract for use in manufacturing these new products.”

Mr Doherty continued: “New policy and legislative measures such as Extended Producer Responsibility, Plastic Tax and a Deposit Return Scheme, will dramatically change the nature and volume of waste, post 2023.

“We are positioning our business to meet these new policies and are proud that the 23.1% increase in our recycling rate, has been achieved through private investment by SMEs in the waste sector, to extract and recover recyclable and compostable materials.

“We are pushing hard to innovate and develop manufacturing facilities that close the recycling loop, create jobs at home and boost the Northern Ireland economy.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper whenever you are able to do so.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper when you can safely.

You can also enjoy unlimited access to the best news from across Northern Ireland and the UK by subscribing to newsletter.co.uk

With a digital subscription, you can read more than five articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Thank you