The new facility replaces two smaller waste transfer facilities in Killala and Moneen in Castlebar and brings the current workforce from 30 up to 50 employees.
Established by Paddy and Nora McGrath forty years ago to recycle and dispose of waste for Travenol Laboratories, now Baxter, in Castlebar, the company is now managed by son and daughters Declan, Sinead and Ger McGrath and facilitates a disposal service of recyclables and general waste for over 7,000 large multi-nationals and SMEs in the Connaught region.
Additionally the firm collects over 100 skips on a weekly basis from various industries and households throughout the counties of Mayo and Sligo and operates a wheelie bin collection service for the domestic, commercial and industrial sectors throught the province.
Commenting on the launch of their new Mayo facility, Director Sinead McGrath said: “We have been planning the construction of our new plant for a few years now and are delighted that it is finally a reality. We are much more centralised and have the capacity to cater for our customers’ needs well into the future, across the Connaught region.
“Following the introduction of the Pay By Weight regulations we’ve also invested over half a million pounds in a new fleet of refuse lorries that have been retro fitted with on board weighing technology to capture the weight of each and every collection.”
Mr. Kenny said: “It is fantastic to see a great multi-million expansion taking place in this region. A great achievement for the McGrath family and everyone involved.
“I hope there is an understanding that this facility is here because of the hard work, initiative and the endeavour of the McGrath family. It is a privilege for me as head of government and the Taoiseach to formally open this new facility.
“What we see here is the evolution of a business created by Paddy & Nora and taken on by Declan and his siblings to the next level, culminating in this state of the art recycling plant.”
Historically all waste collected in Ireland was sent to landfill sites but now the emphasis is on moving materials up the waste hierarchy by directing it away from landfill sites towards a waste to energy process.
Mrs McGrath explained that while their first aim is to recover and recycle as much waste as possible there can be residual leftover waste that they send off for further specialised recycling to ReGen Waste Ltd in Newry.
“We have a longterm relationship with ReGen, which is run by the Doherty family and employs over 200 people at their materials recovery facility across the border in Newry,” she said.
“Our target is to achieve a zero waste to landfill goal so Regen Waste’s work of segregating household waste not only helps us work towards our target but also sustains jobs in our business and creates and supports a large number of jobs in the next stage of the recovery process across Ireland,” added Mrs McGrath.
