One of the most advanced waste recycling plants in Northern Ireland is to create up to 40 new jobs over the next 18 months. The announcement by Derry-based City Waste Ltd follows a three-year development and investment plan worth £5m.
City Waste has created 60 new jobs since January this year. With a current workforce of 86 the firm now dominates the independent sector in the north west.
Managing Director Gerry Farmer says the company is now in position to offer immediate alternatives to land fill for councils and commercial customers.
“Recycling technology has evolved rapidly over the last decade and the City Waste plant is now equipped with the best possible equipment available,” he says.
Among its energy recovery and waste recycling services City Waste manufactures SRF (Solid Recovered Fuel) which is manufactured to a tight specification and is primarily used as a fossil fuel replacement in cement manufacturing.
“Unlike the traditional use of refuse derived fuel (RDF) which generates hazardous ashes that must go to landfill, SRF is 100% consumed in the process with no residues,” he says.
“It is much more complex to make and we made the business decision to go the extra distance and give customers the maximum landfill diversion possible,” says Mr Farmer.
“We aim to make City Waste reliant only on energy we can generate ourselves from waste to prove the point that it is clean, efficient and very economic.”
“Ten years ago, this business was rudimentary and recycling and recovery was only in its infancy as a concept,” he says. “In the ensuing decade, European legislation and technological development have combined to create a much more efficient, measurable and environmentally sound waste management sector.
“At City Waste, we are proud to be among the first in Europe to have invested so heavily in state-of-the-art machinery and plant. It places us on the same level as the best operators in the world.”
The company has already secured contracts with private and public sector organizations for a range of waste management services.
“We are unique in Ireland in that we can manage any kind of collection and recycling including municipal black bag waste, notoriously one of the most difficult to deal with because of the unpredictability and variety of its contents,” says Mr Farmer.
“More than 75% of the waste materials collected at our advanced materials recycling facilities in Mobuoy Road outside Derry City is recycled. This means landfilling waste materials is massively reduced and matches EU requirements.”
City Waste also focuses on recoverable items and currently recovers cardboard, paper, plastic, timber, green waste, soil, aggregates and mixed metals from its waste stream.
The firm has been operating from the Mobuoy Road site since 2004. It has been completely refurbished since a fire damaged part of the plant in March this year. The plant is serviced by a fleet of 20 waste collection vehicles.