O’Donovan unveil new waste processing facility

Demolition operator opens state-of-the-art materials recycling centre in west London 

O’DONOVAN Waste Disposal, one of the country’s leading construction and demolition waste-management firms, have unveiled a brand new materials recycling facility in Alperton, west London. 

Opened by Dan Mulhall, the ambassador of Ireland to Great Britain, the new facility represents a £15 million investment for O’Donovan that doubles the company’s waste processing capacity and, importantly, provides it with a further market foothold in west London – minimizing the miles collection vehicles are travelling across the capital.

Located close to Hangar Lane, just off the A40, the site will receive and process a myriad of construction and demolition waste generated across London’s increasingly booming construction industry. The new facility has already created 50 jobs for the local area and O’Donovan are currently recruiting drivers to join teams at their Alperton and Tottenham sites.

Managing director, Jacqueline O’Donovan, commented: ‘We’re delighted to be opening our new facility in Alperton. We spent a lot of time identifying the right site and then specifying state-of-the-art equipment to ensure that we are able to segregate mixed waste and keep materials to the highest quality.

‘This is an important step in our development and enables us to meet the needs of our customers, who are not only focused on diverting waste from landfill, but also achieving wider sustainable goals. Being able to demonstrate how we can reduce the miles waste travels and the associated carbon impact is as important as landfill diversion targets.’

O’Donovan have recently voiced concerns over newly elected London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s plans to bring forward the planned September 2020 launch date of Europe’s first Ultra Low Emission Zone. 

‘I’m disappointed to hear Sadiq Khan’s plans to bring forward the Ultra-Low Emission Zone, as it leaves HGV operators with very little time to plan for the reforms,’ commented Jacqueline O’Donovan. ‘His clean air revolution will require HGV operators to reduce diesel emissions in all forms across their entire fleets, as well as require them to adopt new clean technologies. 

‘At O’Donovan our operations fully support our overall objective to dramatically improve sustainability, by reducing the carbon impact of construction waste logistics. We have already made significant reductions to idling and reduced carbon impact. Our fleet management system has seen a 50% drop in vehicle idling over a five-year period – thereby reducing the company’s carbon footprint by 21.5%.’

She continued: ‘But this does not happen overnight and the wider industry needs time to make further changes and adopt new technologies. A diesel vehicle scrappage scheme will unfortunately just mean higher costs for the everyday consumer, as they are forced to invest in new, clean technologies which are still expensive in the early days of implementation and adoption – and with the recent announcement from Sadiq, these costs will come about sooner than Londoners have been able to plan for.’