Glass recycling in Ireland

Glassco Recycling recently opened a €5 million, state-of-the-art recycling facility for glass in Naas, Co. Kildare. The new plant, with its staff of five, is capable of handling 50,000 tonnes of bottles and jars, which could save more than 15,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

The plant will be the first of its kind in Ireland to use colour-sorting technology for glass. Such a system not only enables the efficient sorting of waste glass by colour, but also allows for the effective elimination of contaminants, including ceramics and rubbish. The presence of contaminants can render large quantities of glass unsuitable for reprocessing back into bottles.

In the near future, Glassco also hopes to begin recycling other glass products that are not currently recycled effectively in Ireland, such as plate glass.

Zeki Mustafa, Managing Director for Glassco, commented: " The process not only adds significant commercial value, but it also creates a product which can be recycled over and over again with no loss of quality.

"At present, around 50 per cent of the 120,000 tonnes of bottles and jars collected for recycling in Ireland annually are either exported as waste product or sent to alternative markets due to inadequate processing infrastructure. This new plant means that Ireland can maximise the environmental benefits of glass recycling and substantially reduce carbon emissions."