Mechanical Engineering students visit Panda’s Recycling Facility
Mechanical Engineering students visited Panda’s Material Recovery Facility, to be shown how Ireland is already on the right pathway for many of the challenging EU recycling targets set by the Circular Economy Package.
The first year students were from Bolton St, TU Dublin, City Centre Campus. Each student will an write an ‘Operation Efficiency Improvement Report’ regarding the operation of the material recovery facility as part of their module in professional development in their Bachelor of Engineering Technology (BEngTech) Degree in Mechanical Engineering (Level 7).
The sorting facility can be viewed using these linked videos of the plant in operation. The facility uses state of the art optical sorting machines, and sorts over 100,000 tonnes of waste annually. The plant also has a 300kW Solar Photovoltaic electric generating system installed on its plant roof.
The students were kindly welcomed by Liam Dunne, the 'materials recovery facility' General Manager at Panda Waste Facility in Ballymount, Co Dublin, which is part of Panda’s ‘Irish Packaging Recycling’ facility. He praised the great turnout of our first year mechanical engineering students, and their behaviour with regard to their interest, questioning and attention to safety. The student's were accompanied by mechanical engineering lecturers Peter Monahan, Brendan Kennedy, Thomas Treacy, and James Egan.
Award winning company for meeting EU recycling targets
Panda’s ‘Irish Packaging Recycling’ facility has been awarded the top accolade at the Pakman Awards 2021, the ‘Overall Pakman Award’, for its efforts in helping Ireland meet its recycling targets set by the EU and a second award for ‘Waste Recycling & Recovery Facility of the Year.
More information
For information on how Panda resuse, repurpose and recycle waste, as well as developing energy solutions in the form of fuel from refuse, and gas extraction from waste visit Pande.ie.
The circular economy action plan and EU plastics strategy are keystones in the European Green deal, the EU’s roadmap for a sustainable economy, striving to make Europe climate neutral in 2050.
Author: Lynette O'Callaghan. Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering, Bolton St. TU Dublin.