Tipperary firm to triple workforce as EU backed technology drives major growth next year

A Tipperary based recycling firm that has built its business on repurposing industrial plastic waste says it has reached a defining point in its expansion.

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Trifol, established in 2015, operates as a high tech business focused on creating new uses for old plastics. The company has spent the past three to four years developing its operations with the help of a €5 million grant from the EU LIFE and Climate Action Fund.

That support has allowed it to refine and prove its patented process at its Littleton facility.

The firm uses a modified form of pyrolysis carried out under low pressure with no oxygen, no flame and no emissions. Through this system Trifol converts recovered industrial plastics into high grade waxes and fuel.

The company states that one tonne of plastic can yield roughly seventy percent slack wax and thirty percent fuel and gas. These products have applications across several sectors and the process holds the possibility of providing sustainable fuels in the future.

Managing director Ruben Rodríguez Quintero says Trifol plans to scale up commercial output over the coming year to a level twenty times higher than its current production.

To reach that goal the company expects to significantly increase staffing in Littleton and will need to nearly triple its workforce as it redevelops the former Bord na Mona briquette factory.

Mr Quintero says that €90 million will need to be invested within the next year as the company prepares for full production.

He adds that the long term vision is to become the largest provider of clean technologies that turn plastic waste into raw materials, products and enhanced value chemicals that support a circular economy for high end customers.

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