Five million beverage cartons fully recycled thanks to Panda and ACE Ireland collaboration

Blog
18th Jul 2024

Ireland has achieved a major milestone in beverage carton recycling, with approximately five million beverage cartons successfully recycled since the introduction of advanced sorting technology at Panda’s Ballymount Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Dublin last July.

The robotic AI sorting technology was funded by The Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment – ACE Ireland as part of a collaboration with Panda to encourage improving the recycling process of cartons placed on the Irish market.

To mark the year anniversary of the sorting technology being launched at the MRF, ACE Ireland and Panda are collaborating again with our #RecycleYourCartons campaign. The campaign aims to raise awareness about the recyclable nature of beverage cartons.

Panda customers are being reminded that beverage cartons are listed as an approved recycling material on Ireland’s national recycling list and should be placed clean, dry and loose in their household recycling bin.

After your recycling bin is collected at kerbside, it is transported to Panda’s MRF in Ballymount where the ground-breaking AI robot identifies, picks and sorts cartons into their own dedicated streams.

The sorted materials are sent onwards to ACE’s specialised carton recycling facility. Fibres from beverage cartons can be recycled many times making them an ideal raw material for paper-based products.

Households across Ireland use beverage cartons everyday as a packaging choice. Recycling is a collective effort and every individual contribution counts. By remembering to place your beverage cartons clean, dry, and loose in your recycling bin, you ensure that your cartons can go on to be sorted and fully recycled. Let’s work together to improve our recycling habits and build a more sustainable future.

How to recycle your beverage cartons:

Clean: Rinse out any remaining liquid from the cartons.

Dry: Allow the cartons to dry.

Loose: Place the loose cartons in your household recycling bin.