Moving towards zero landfill waste management

With a ‘zero landfill’ mission, Panda is focusing on recycling waste and switching to green energy to power its fleet. For business customers, Panda’s experts conduct site audits to advise on their systems and develop bespoke integrated solutions for all sectors: retail, hospitality, manufacturing, construction, transport, health, education and more.

Panda is part of Beauparc Group, collectively managing 4 million tonnes of waste across Ireland, the UK, and the Netherlands per year, through collection, recycling, processing and recovery. With a strong focus on how that waste is processed and a ‘zero-landfill’ mission, Panda aims to help householders be greener by committing to converting up to 100 per cent of black bin waste into energy.

Recycle and repurpose

As well as processing all the traditional recyclable items (glass, paper, card, plastic and aluminium) Panda sends electrical goods to be recycled and repurposed too. Panda and its parent company Beauparc own and operate 18 civic amenity sites across Ireland, where the general public can dispose of anything from general items to electronic goods and even hazardous materials. Panda also collects, sorts and screens steel and wood – sending clean, reusable metals for use in construction, and turning timber into pallets and woodchip at a dedicated biomass-to-energy facility which processes otherwise end-of-life wood. 70,000 tonnes of waste wood are converted into new products annually.  Processing 45,000 tonnes of material every year, Panda’s in-vessel compost facility is Ireland’s largest. Organic material sent to anaerobic digestion and composting facilities results in biogas  extraction, electricity, and fertiliser production. For business customers, Panda’s experts conduct site audits to advise on their systems and develop bespoke integrated solutions for all sectors: retail, hospitality, manufacturing, construction, transport, health, education and more. More than 50,000 tonnes of construction and demolition waste is recycled every year.

Getting Creative

Panda gets creative when it comes to renewable energy, turning non-recyclable items, food waste and biogas into refuse-derived fuel (RDF), solid recovered fuel (SRF), and sustainable electricity. Every year, 500,000 tonnes of low quality non-recyclable domestic and commercial waste is converted into enough RDF to power 100,000 homes and businesses.  SRF is produced mainly from dry commercial waste such as paper, card and wood. Shredding refuse down to 40mm pieces generates 350,000 tonnes of SRF every year, used as an alternative to fossil fuels by industry facilities, notably in the kilns used in the production of cement. Panda is the largest fuel supplier to the cement-making industry in Ireland. Every four tonnes of Panda’s SRF product offsets three tonnes of imported coal.

Green Investment

Switching to greener transport is an important part of Panda’s sustainability strategy. Ireland’s first electric bin truck was introduced in 2020, reducing noise and air pollution in densely populated  areas. eRCVs are powered by solar energy generated on-site at facilities. With four electric trucks already operating, plans include further electrification of bin trucks in urban areas, with 12 in circulation by the end of this year, and commissioning 45 natural gas vehicles to create an all-new
‘green fleet’. Panda is continually investing in ways to increase the amount of waste that can be recycled and find new techniques to recover the resource value from discarded materials, with R&D to be led through a new circular economy business park, Ireland’s first purpose-built, industrial resource recovery centre.

Part of the bigger picture

The Panda brand is widely known as Ireland’s leading waste management company, but the wider story is looking to the future, the circular economy and energy supply Panda’s mission is to shape a better future for all by making sustainable choices easy and affordable, and enabling its customers to leave a greener footprint. With over 30 years’ industry experience, Panda has grown from its small start with just two people in Slane, Co Meath, and as part of the Beauparc Group utilities corporation, which employs over 3,000 people, is instrumental in managing 4 million tonnes of waste across Ireland, the UK, and the Netherlands per year, through collection, recycling, processing and recovery. Panda provides essential services and utilities to the communities it serves every day, balancing customer satisfaction with environmentally sustainable practices. The primary business of the Panda division has, over the years, expanded from a local recycling service into Ireland’s largest and leading commercial and domestic waste management company. Its fleet of over 200 refuse collection vehicles provide kerbside collections to 300,000 customers in Ireland. Utilising a fleet of over 300 HGVs, Panda transfers waste and recyclables to 3 material
recovery facilities for processing and recovery. Operating nationwide, Panda manages 2 million tonnes of household and commercial waste in Ireland. The activities of its parent Group now span domestic and commercial waste management;
renewable energy supply; recycling collection and processing; logistics; green fuels and energy recovery, and with the ethos of sustainability behind them, the Panda brand is at the leading edge of greener waste management.

A green first
In 2020, Panda introduced Ireland’s first ever fully electric, zero emission refuse collection vehicle (eRCV). The fully electric bin truck was the first of its kind for a municipal waste and recycling operator in Ireland. The introduction went hand in hand with the installation of solar panels powering the nation’s largest household recycling facility in Ballymount, which also serve to charge the electric vehicle, making the entire process of collecting and recycling waste completely carbon-free. An added bonus for Panda customers—the vehicle is also significantly quieter while operating in residential areas.

Recycling and recovery
With a strong focus on how that waste is processed and a ‘zero-landfill’ mission, Panda aims to help householders be greener by committing to converting up to 100 per cent of black bin waste into energy.
As part of its recycling and recovery services, the business engages in Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) processing. SRF is a system for creating fuel by shredding and dehydrating solid waste. It’s a bespoke fuel used as a coal replacement as part of the efforts of the cement industry to reduce their carbon footprint. The SRF system creates alternative fuel sources for cement kilns, and each year produces enough fuel to eliminate the need for 100,000 tonnes of coal excavation.
Panda is also committed to the practice of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) processing. RDF is a type of fuel produced from various waste sources, such as industrial wastes, commercial wastes and municipal solid wastes. Every year, their RDF fuel – along with its bio-gas extraction – produces enough electricity to supply over 160,000 homes. Panda’s mission is to shape a better future for all by making sustainable choices easy and affordable,and enabling its customers to leave a greener footprint.
Another element of Panda ‘Zero Landfill’ mission is the process of sorting and recovering wood from other collected materials. What happens to the wood collected from skips is an excellent example of the so-called circular economy in action. Wood waste is gathered in piles in the various skip depots and sent in bulk loads to Greenstar’s facility in Fassaroe. Here the wood is sorted and screened under a strict quality control programme, which includes the removal of plastics, wire, steel and
aluminium. Suitable wood is shredded to make a high-quality woodchip. The woodchip generated is then sent to a wood processor in Co Cork. The wood processors manufacture composite wood blocks for use in wooden pallet manufacture and for use in other products.

Composting

Littleton Composting is the biggest in-vessel composting facility in the Republic of Ireland, processing 45,000 tonnes per annum. The facility accepts non-hazardous biodegradable wastes from which it produces Class 1 quality compost, a valuable soil improver. The facility predominately accepts typical compost materials; from residential and commercial food waste, grass cuttings and smaller quantities of biodegradable residues, such as from food and drink  manufacturing. Being centrally located, waste is delivered to the facility from Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Limerick as well as from local waste collectors operating in Tipperary. This facility provides Panda with a secure and ethical outlet for the compost waste it collects which
enables it to continue on its journey to sustainability while also contributing to the circular economy. Without facilities such as this one, government policy and EU legislation to reduce biodegradable wastes going to landfill could not be achieved.