Tipperary Green Business Network hosts seminar on Moving Toward a Circular Economy

Tipperary Green Business Network hosted a morning seminar on Moving Toward a Circular Economy on Wednesday 17th October in the Horse & Jockey Hotel, Thurles. The event took place as part of National Reuse Month which ran throughout October.

The event was kindly sponsored by Ryan’s Cleaning and their CEO, Pat Ryan, gave an insight into the role they play at large events across Ireland and the UK. Set up by husband and wife duo Pat and Philomena Ryan over three decades ago, the company has grown to remarkable standards and is recognised as the industry leader in the event and venue cleaning industry both at home in Ireland and in the UK. Pat’s vision and determination have grown this company to become a real Irish success story. Ryan’s have clients as diverse as The Royal Family, Dublin Zoo, Electric Picnic, The Ploughing Championships, Croke Park and the Premiership Stadium at Vicarage Road for Watford FC.

Pat Ryan(Ryans Cleaning), Claire Downey, CRNI, Sean O’Grady, Premier Green Energy, Jean Clarke, Dept. Communication Climate Action and Environment, James Hogan, the Clean Technology Centre, Sean O’Farrell, Chairman, Tipperary Green Business Network, Stephen Wheston, Tembusu – Sustainability & Risk Management.

The Regional Waste Management Offices and Commmunity Reuse Network Ireland (CRNI) also provided support for the event and Claire Downey of the CRNI offered advice on how businesses can join the circular economy. Jean Clarke from the Department of Communication Climate Action and Environment and James Hogan of the Clean Technology Centre completed the morning session.

This first session offered attendees advice on the government’s plasic strategy while also looking at Ireland’s short, medium and long term targets under the EU plastic directive. Case studies with practical advice for waste reductions in organisations were also explained.

Caitriona Rogerson of the Irish Environmental Network kicked off the second session with Stephen Wheston of Tembusus Ltd., Dr. Fionnuala Murphy from the UCD School of Biosystems & Food Engineering, Sean O’ Grady of Premier Green Energy and Ian Kilgallon from Gas Networks Ireland all providing information.

Details were presented of Ireland’s approach to the UN Sustainable Development Goals as well as repurposing the Lisheen Mine site to develop Ireland’s National Bioeconomy Campus. The valorisation of waste from the agri-food sector was discussed and this theme continued with opportunities for pyrolysis within a circular economy and the decarbonisation of the national gas grid.

An insightful question and answer session with all speakers followed the presentations. Agri-food waste availability and how this can be used to develop the circular economy was discussed. The challenges and obstacles facing businesses were also outlined with a clear indication of the opportunites that are available to develop circular business models.

Tipperary Green Business Network were delighted with the turn out and would like to take this opportunity to thank all attendees and speakers. We are truly grateful to the support of Ryans Clenaing and hope to work with them further in 2019. We also wish to thank the Regional Waste Management Offices and Commmunity Reuse Network and we were delighted to be part of the National Reuse Month. A variety of seminars will take place in the future and we invite all interested individuals and organisations to visit our website at www.tgbn.ie to learn more.