New WEEE facility opens in Dublin

Cedar Resource Management has announced the launch of a "state-of-the-art" Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) recycling facility in Dublin.

The facility is based in the Greenogue Business Park, Rathcoole and was officially opened on Friday by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dick Roche.

To date, Cedar has invested over €12m in its facilities in Dublin and Cork. Cedar said this investment would allow it to exceed legislative targets laid down for it by the European Union's WEEE Directive.

In the past year Cedar has processed 12,000 tonnes of WEEE. The launch of the Dublin operation will allow the company to expand on that as the new facility has the capacity to process 30,000 tonnes of electrical and electronic equipment annually.

"We are one of the leaders in Europe in transposing the WEEE Directive," said Roche. "We have been able to do this through partnership with industry, developing a sophisticated system that is now viewed as a model of how to implement a new producer-responsibility initiative for this waste stream. Ireland's performance to date has been stunning and has led to a resultant five-fold increase in recycling of electronic waste."

Cedar, which collects and recycles WEEE from around Ireland, has expanded its workforce by 30 this year and has plans to develop the business further in 2007.

The facility at Greenogue allows the complete recycling of waste equipment into small fragments of individual materials such as ferrous metal, non-ferrous metal, plastics, and glass. These materials are supplied back to smelters and plastic producers to manufacture new products.

"We're delighted to be officially launching our state-of-the-art WEEE recycling facility. Cedar has invested heavily to ensure that we have a world-class recycling plant for electrical and electronic equipment," said Brendan Keane, managing director of Cedar Resource Management.

"Industry and consumers in Ireland are taking a responsible approach to WEEE recycling and the level of activity in our facilities is testament to this. Cedar is proud to be associated with the fact that Ireland is exceeding its targets as set by the WEEE Directive."

Cedar also has plans to develop its Cork facility. "We are looking to expand the Cork site and do processing down there," said Sean McGarry, business development manager with Cedar Resource Management, speaking with ENN. He said this would require more staff being taken on at the site.

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