Timber recycling in Northern Ireland has been given a boost with a £500,000 grant from the government-backed Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
The money will be used by Urban Forest Ltd to help fund a new £2m recycling plant in Newry, County Down.
The deal securing the land for the facility was tied up on August 5 and construction is expected to start soon.
When fully on stream the plant will have capacity to reprocess nearly 35,000 tonnes of wood co-product which, according to WRAP, would otherwise have gone to landfill. The recycled material will be used for animal bedding, as panel board feedstock and fuel for “renewable energy production”.
WRAP material sector manager for wood Tom Fourcade said the Urban Forest venture will “set a new benchmark for wood recycling”. “It will show how sophisticated reprocessing sites can produce a range of competitive added value products.”
Patrick Durban of Urban Forest said that WRAP funding had been essential for it to make the investment which, he maintained, would “create a leading recycling facility for wood waste in Northern Ireland”.
