This article is from page 2 of the 2006-06-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
A NEW company with a base in Shannon will be dealing with 60 per cent of the country’s hazardous waste and, as fuel prices soar, is planning to setting up a biodiesel plant.
Brian Cowen, Minister for Finance, launched Enva as the new corporate and brand name for the businesses formerly known as Atlas, Envirotech and Shannon Environmental Services.
With 70 per cent of Ireland’s hazardous waste still being exported, Enva, which has facilities in Shannon, Portlaoise, Cork and Dublin will aim to reduce Ireland’s exportation of hazardous waste through alternative waste recovery technologies. This consolidation of former companies Atlas, Envirotech and Shannon Environmental Services means that Enva, amongst other services, is the largest indigenous processor of hazardous waste processing over 75,000 tonnes, or approximately 60 per cent of all hazardous waste that is processed in Ireland.
Delegates present at the launch heard of future developments for Enva including the setting up of a bio-diesel production plant, a new solvent distillation facility and the opening of new facilities in Dublin and Cork.
The company is also planning to expand its in house research and development department.
Declan Ryan, Managing Director, Enva, said, “We are a nation that has some way to go in ensuring that our hazardous waste is not just some other country’s problem. There is often a myth perpetuated that there is no hazardous waste management infrastructure in Ireland, because of a lack of incineration facilities. While incineration may have a role to play within Ireland, our commitment is to more alternative recovery technologies, which are emerging and developing fast.”
Enva is a services company, providing innovative and environmentally better solutions to customers for disposing of a range of wastes. The company employs 203 people across four licensed facilities in the Republic of Ireland and two licensed facilities in Northern Ireland, Drumaness, Down, and Carryduff, Antrim.
At the launch, Finance Minister Brian Cowen, said that “waste sector in Ireland has changed quite dramatically in the last decade. It has rocketed to the top of the environmental agenda, right alongside issues such as climate change and global warming.
This has had enormous implications for all of us, in both the public and the private sectors, and has represented a great opportunity for some of the dynamic private sector participants.