Chief Executive of ACE Ireland, Richard Hands, Minister of State with special responsibility for Circular Economy, Ossian Smyth TD and CEO of Beauparc, the parent company of Panda, Brian McCabe in Ballymount
New partnership aims to improve the recycling process of cartons
THE Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment has announced a new partnership with Panda aimed at significantly improving the recycling process of cartons in Ireland.
As part of the collaboration, ACE Ireland has funded the installation of robotic sorting technology at Panda’s materials recovery facility in Ballymount.
ACE says that the robot can accurately identify, pick, and sort cartons at the MRF into their own dedicated streams.
The automated sorting technology, which was developed by Recycleye and Fanuc, has the capacity to deliver 33,000 picks over a ten-hour shift, and is capable of scanning, detecting, and picking materials across 28 classes including beverage cartons.
The sorted materials will then be sent onwards to ACE’s specialised carton recycling facility in the UK operated by Sonoco Stainland.
The Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment represents Tetra Pak, Elopak and SIG Combibloc, the leading manufacturers of beverage cartons for the Irish and European markets.
ACE delivers sector-wide environmental initiatives on behalf of its members.
Brian McCabe, CEO of Beauparc, the parent company of Panda, said the firm receives c.90,000 tonnes of mixed dry recyclable materials into the Ballymount facility per annum from over 400,000 homes, all of which needs to be sorted into different waste streams.
“The installation of this latest generation of robotic sorting technology in Ballymount will allow us to significantly increase the quality of target materials extracted from sorting lines in the MRF. We anticipate over 500 tonnes of cartons will be sorted per annum for onward recycling with an expectation that this will further increase as we bed in the new technology,” McCabe explained.
“Ireland has the unique advantage of having a 100% kerbside collection system in place for household mixed dry recycling. Our message to the consumer is to place cartons into the green or blue recycling bin – clean, dry, and loose – along with their other recyclable materials.”
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