Recycling company Re-Gen has begun constructing its £30 million resource recovery park on the Invest NI Carnbane Business Park, an eight-acre site in Newry.
The park is expected to accommodate multiple operations – including the manufacture of solid recovered fuel (SRF), making products from dry recyclables, a garage, and engineering workshops.
A research and development unit will be located on-site, alongside a four-storey office block and new headquarters for the Re-Gen Group – which compromises of Re-Gen Waste, Re-Gen Robotics, and Connex Offsite.
Re-Gen has announced that 250 people will be involved in the building of the new manufacturing and industrial units. As well as this, the company says that the project could secure 300 company jobs in Newry and County Armagh.
Joseph Doherty, Managing Director at Re-Gen, said: “This is an exciting development for the Re-Gen Group. We consulted widely on our plans to allow the community to have their say and our design team has taken their comments on board in developing the proposals for the site. This has been a very constructive process.
“Employing special mechanical manufacturing processes, we will be producing SRF as a fossil fuel replacement on the site. We are progressing R&D trials and we will also develop products from dry recyclable [materials] such as paper, plastic and glass on the site.
“We have a dedicated business development team working with Councils across Great Britain and Ireland to process their recycling materials.
“Recycling resources are important and we are committed to developing the circular economy of paper, card, plastic and glass. We will continue to work with manufacturers and outlets in Northern Ireland, [the] Republic of Ireland and Great Britain.
Our focus is on innovation and developing manufacturing facilities that close the recycling loop, create jobs at home and ultimately boost the Northern Ireland economy.
“We take environmental quality standards very seriously and work closely with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in order to operate our materials recovery facility.”
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How will the government and DMOs address the challenges of including glass in DRS while ensuring a level playing field across the UK?
There's no easy solution to include glass in the DRS while maintaining a level playing field. Potential approaches include a phased introduction of glass, potentially with higher deposits to reflect its logistical challenges. The government and DMOs could incentivise innovation in glass packaging design and subsidise dedicated return points for glass-handling. Exemptions for smaller businesses unable to handle glass might also be necessary. Any successful solution will likely blend several approaches. It must address the differing priorities of devolved administrations, balance environmental benefits with logistical and cost implications, and be supported by robust consumer education campaigns emphasizing the importance of glass recycling.