July 15th 2019 saw the official opening of Laois’ new plastic waste to wax recycling plant, the first of its kind in the world. Trifol Resources Ltd. is the brainchild of Patrick Alley a former director of Cynar which previously occupied the Clonminam site and turned waste plastic into diesel. Established in 2014, Trifol has previously worked closely with Queens University in Belfast where a pilot plant was built and operated until 2016 to provide proof of concept. This pilot plant was then re-established in Portlaoise in June 2018 to tailor products for customer testing and refinement before being officially launched with Minister Charles Flanagan cutting the ribbon on the new €12 million plant.
The plant uses an innovative new technology which is used to turn soft plastics into a high quality commercial wax which can be used in a variety of products including pharmaceuticals, rubber, and cosmetics.
Phase 1 of the company’s plans will allow them to produce 3,500 tonnes per annum with Trifol now looking for investments to build a factory with the capacity to produce 15,000 tonnes. This phase 2 plan would need an investment of €5 million with Chairman Patrick Alley looking for government support to build this capacity.
“We want to create a centre of excellence in Portlaoise, to train up young engineers, accountants and operators, all multilingual, to establish a business here with global outreach. I make gentle representations to the Minister to seek government support”, said Mr. Alley at the official launch.
The site currently employs 16 workers and aims to add another 16 skilled engineers and electrical workers by the end of the year.
Speaking about the future job potential of the plant for Portlaoise Minister Flanagan said, “The challenge we had in this town for many years was, we weren’t very good for bring people to jobs … We are concentrating on flipping that around”.
For more information on the plant and the recycling process take a look at the video below courtesy of RTÉ News.
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