Littleton Recycling Facility

Waste management company, Acorn Recycling Ltd, a member of the Arlo Group with head quarters in Thurles Co. Tipperary and subsidiaries throughout the UK & Ireland celebrated the ‘turning of the sod’ with an official celebration to mark the construction of the most advanced composting facility which will be located in Littleton Co. Tipperary.

The facility, being an agri-environmental business will create over 30 jobs with significant spin offs to the local economy and will provide opportunities for local tradesmen, farmers, transport businesses and logistics providers.

We are delighted to be working closely with the innovative team from Semiton Ltd, the Clonmel based contracting company who are project managing the delivery of the new facility.  The site is located just 3km from the M8 motorway providing easy access for logistics purposes.   The project when completed in March 2010 will play an important role in assisting the Government in meeting its obligation to divert biodegradable waste away from landfill.

The Littleton Composting Plant will be a fully enclosed indoor composting facility with forced aeration, air extraction, and a bio-filtration system.  It will be the most advanced composting facility of its kind in Ireland or the UK for the treatment of biological waste.  The facility will produce high quality compost and will be licensed to deal with up to 45,000 tonnes per annum of biodegradable waste including; ‘brown bin’ food and catering waste, food and drinks industry residues among many others.

Commenting on the project, Rónán Beasley, Managing Director of Acorn Recycling said

“In answering our customer needs we are increasing the capacity of waste we recycle. This gives greater value for money and enables us to create a valuable product in an environmental sustainable manner. This in turn substantially enhances our goal to bring our environmental performance to a new level.” 

The facility is due to open in March/April 2010 and will be a vital piece of infrastructure to assist the country in meeting its obligations under the EU landfill directive. The country will face significant fines it fails to meet the targets required.The total cost of this project is expected to be in the region of €7 million. This project is being fully supported by Bank of Ireland.

The facility will produce high grade compost for use in landscaping, horticulture and for agricultural use. The use of this product in agriculture replaces the need to import chemical fertilizers which has economic and environmental benefits. In horticultural use it can also displace the use of peat from the native bogs.