Panda seeks to double the size of its waste facility in northwest Dublin

Company warns of the impact of rezoning on the waste sector

A recycling centre

Fearghal O'Connor

Waste company Panda has warned of “significant concern” that existing waste infrastructure “is gradually being eroded through the rezoning of land in local authority development plans”.

The warning was included in planning documents lodged as part of a move to double the size of its major waste processing centre in northwest Dublin.

The owner of Panda, Starrus Eco Holdings Ltd, lodged a Strategic Infrastructure Development application to increase the waste processing capacity at its Millennium Business Park facility.

It has proposed a 66pc increase to the annual waste intake limit at the facility – from 270,000 tonnes to 450,000 tonnes.

“This proposed increase would facilitate an expansion in the facility’s recycling/recovery capacity to satisfy growing demand in the city,” said the documents.

The need to provide adequate resource recovery and processing facilities had been accelerated by the publication in 2020 of a new national waste policy, it said.

This had sought to “shift the focus from waste disposal and a linear economy to a circular economy where materials and products remain in productive use for longer” said the documents.