 Rehab Glassco
new
plant,
a
€5
million
state-of-the-art
glass
recycling
facility
located
in
Naas,
Co.
Kildare
was
officially
opened
today
by
John
Gormley
TD,
Minister
for the Environment, Heritage
and
Local
Government.
The
new
plant
will
employ
5
new
staff
initially
and
is
capable
of
handling
50,000 tonnes
of bottles and
jars
a
year,
with
the
potential
to
save
over
15,000
tonnes
of
harmful
C02
emissions.
The new
plant
will be
the
first of
its
kind
in
Ireland
to
use
optical
colour
sorting
technology
for
glass.
This
system enables
the
company
to efficiently
sort
mixed
waste glass
by
colour
and
eliminate
contaminants
such
as
ceramics
and
rubbish.
The
company intends
to
recycle
other glass
products
such
as
plate glass
in
the
near
future,
which
is
currently
not
being
recycled effectively
in
Ireland.
 "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,"
commented
Zeki
Mustafa,
managing
director
of
Rehab Glassco
Inferior
or
contaminated
recycled
glass
is
sometimes
used
in
alternative
markets
such as road
construction or
water
filtration
which
can
actually
cause
additional
CO2
emissions
and
in
some
cases
putting
glass
waste
material into
landfill
sites would
be
better
for
the
environment.
 "At
present
around
50%
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."
Recycling
a
glass
bottle
back
into
a
new
glass
bottle
saves
enough
energy
to
power
a
100W
light
bulb
for an hour or
over
300kg
of
CO2
emissions
per
tonne.
The
new
plant
uses
the
latest
generation
of
ceramic
separators
which
effectively
remove
small
pieces
of
ceramics,
stones
and
porcelain which are detrimental
to
glass
recycling.
Small
pieces
of
ceramics
in
recycled
glass
can
render
large
amounts
unusable
for
re-melting
back into
new bottles.
 At
the
opening
of
the
plant
today,
Zeki
Mustafa
applauded
the
recycling
efforts
and
inroads
which
have
been
made
in
Ireland to date. He
commended
the
Irish
public,
the
government
and
Repak
for
their
efforts
in
promoting
glass
recycling
and
in
supporting Irish
waste companies
in the
process.
In
future,
he
would
like
to
see
better
education
to
ensure
the
quality
of
waste glass
and more
focus
on the
benefits
of
recycling
rather
than
just
tonnage
targets.
"We
need
to
remain
vigilant
about
separating
our
glass
at
source,"
commented
Mustafa.
"Continued
separation
of
glass
along
with
our
optical
colour
sorting
technology
will
allow
us
to
attain
the
greatest
value
and
reach the highest level
of
carbon
emission
saving."
 He
also
asked
that
we
end
to
the
current
situation
whereby
the
vast
majority
of
plate
glass,
which
can
be
effectively recycled, ends up
in
landfill.
He
called
upon
the
government
and
local
authorities
to
insist
on
closed
loop
recycling
and
also to
increase the
quantities of
plate
glass
being
recycled.
"There
is
great
growth
potential
in
the
glass
recycling
business
in
Ireland,"
commented
Mustafa
with
a
lot
of
used
glass
still
going
to
waste.
"I
ask
the
Minister
and
his
department,
along
with
local
authorities
to
focus
not
only
on
tonnage
targets
but
on
the environmental benefits, quality
of
materials
and
education
to
ensure
that
the
maximum
benefit
is
achieved
from
this
valuable
resource."
The
company
was
started
with
an
initial
investment
of
£3,500
in
2001
by
Zeki
Mustafa
and
his
partner
Larry
Devereaux.
They
now
provide
glass
collection
services
to
nearly
1,000
commercial organisations nationwide and
will
collect
and
recycle
40,000
tonnes
of
glass
this
year.
The
company
had
a
turnover
of
€1.8
million
last
year.
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