As the climate emergency and environmental decline impacts more of the world’s population, waste management is one of the major issues that global leadership must proactively govern and domestic industry must manage. Hazardous waste, in particular, may pose a risk to public health and the environment if it is not managed safely and responsibly. Across Europe over 100 million tonnes of hazardous waste a year is generated while Ireland produces more than 550,000 tonnes of hazardous waste on an annual basis.
Soltec’s business model and work practices are a leading example of the importance of incorporating the ‘circular economy’ principles into waste management. The ‘circular economy’ model is a key policy of the European Green Deal and is supported in Ireland through the Environmental Protection Agency.
The foundation of the ‘circular economy’ is restorative and regenerative by design. The aims of the ‘circular economy’ are reflective of Soltec’s own objectives, that is:
- to keep materials and products in-use in the economy for as long as possible
- to eliminate waste through innovative recycling techniques
- to seek opportunities to recover and recycle hazardous waste materials.
Over 90% of the waste Soltec manages is recovered and recycled.
Soltec also has the capacity to recycle waste chemicals into a blended, liquid recovered fuel for the cement industry, presenting an affordable, sustainable and viable alternative to fossil fuels, such as coal.
Our newly opened state-of-the-art facility in Mullingar has become our primary treatment, processing, storage and distribution facility for Soltec. It enables the company to enhance the services we offer to our clients, and accept and recycle a variety of hazardous waste in larger quantities, including waste oils, solvents, corrosives and aerosols.
At the UN ‘Future We Want’ meeting in 2020, member states reaffirmed their commitment to the ‘effective control of the generation, storage, treatment, recycling and reuse, transport, recovery and disposal of hazardous wastes’. Soltec continues to innovate and develop to bring sustainable solutions to the Irish waste management sector. We are making waste work for Ireland.