We talk to a Westmeath company that provide sustainable solutions
The recession that hit this country devastated the construction industry which was without the hardest sector hit. Unfortunately, many businesses involved in the industry could not take the impact that the end of the Celtic Tiger had on Irish society and they were forced to close their doors.
The list of developers, contractors, sub-contractors, manufacturers and the likes affected by the recession and forced out of business was frightening to say the least.
However, there were the few companies that had the foresight and more importantly the wherewithal to diversify into other areas of business.
Such an act can only be described as a brave move and for some, it has had a huge amount of success and one company that can testify to that is Co Westmeath based Gannon Eco.
Since the 1950s, the Gannon family specialised in providing concrete blocks and other products to the building trade from is premises in Ballinagore.
This business built up a large customer base over the years and they experience they gained was invaluable.
John Gannon and his family worked hard to build the business, but like so many other companies involved in the construction trade, they were hit hard by the recession.
Unfortunately, John passed away in 2009, but his legacy lives on through his sons Niall, Shane and Darragh. Niall spoke to us about the transition from manufacturing blocks and precast products to reprocessing.
Gannon Eco specialises in providing sustainable solutions for industrial waste streams, turning these wastes into new products.
The company’s services include finding end solutions for glass, foundry casts and moulds, construction and demolition waste, waste sands and clay, spent abrasives, abrasive compounds, and ceramic media sludge.
The product range for sale now includes glass blast media, aluminium oxide blast media, water filtration media, eco fillers, and quick lime. These are delivered throughout the country, along with exports to the UK and Europe.
“The decision was made around 2007 to try and diversify into another area as the building trade had almost reached rock bottom,” said Niall.
“So, we did our research and found an opening for reprocessing waste”.
“Fortunately for us, the business has taken off in the last few years and this is our main focus, although we would still do some blocks and precast products, but in a small way.
“Every material that we receive is reprocessed for products produced at our facility or reprocessed for use as raw material for industry.”
“We are continually researching new ways to reprocess and reuse waste materials at Gannon Eco. The aim of the company is to become the foremost environmental solution provider, with total reuse for industrial waste stream products in Ireland, through innovative product development utilising reprocessed industrial wastes.”
Gannon Eco has an extensive customer that they work alongside and some of these include The Recycling Village, First Glass Ltd, NWP Recycling, Alucraft, Indaver, TRS Global Services, Rehab Glassco, Barna Recycling and Kellglass to name just a few.
Gannon Eco has evolved into one of the leading waste management solution services in the country.
Reliability, cost effectiveness, environmentally friendly means of improving a company’s waste efficiency whilst improving their environmental responsibility credentials are all part of the service.
The customer can benefit from the services provided in a number of ways according to Niall. “None of the waste goes to landfill, while we can also reduce a company’s carbon footprint and enhance their environmental credentials.”
The process for the customer is quite simple as an initial consultation is followed by research of the best solution for the customers’ industrial waste.
“We can provide companies with a full range of logistical options for the transport of the waste from source. We can also provide a range of onsite storage options for companies if the waste volumes do not justify more frequent collection.
“Our location in the midlands means that we are very accessible for customers to deliver to us or for us to go to them.
“A lot of our products would be shipped to the U.K and mainland Europe, while we have our own fleet of trucks doing collections and deliveries around the country.”
Glass collection and processing is one of the main areas of the business as Gannon Eco can provide customers with a whole range of glass collection and on site storage options.
“Collection options can be tailored to suit the specific needs of our customers. We pride ourselves on running a timely, efficient and cost effective collection service to all our customers throughout the country. We collect a wide variety of glass types including flat, laminated, television glass, windscreens, pharmaceutical and borosilicate.” This is processed into blast media, and water filtration media and delivered in both ton bags and 25kgs bags.
Asides from waste management, reprocessing and glass collecting, Gannon Eco also provide a haulage and crane hire service.
The success of Gannon Eco has been recognised at both local and national level as in 2014 the company was named the overall winner of the Local Enterprise Westmeath Awards. Meanwhile this year saw them been named the 2015 National Enterprise Awards Innovation winner.
“We are very busy at the moment, but we are always looking to expand. We are looking at opening depots in the Northern Ireland and the U.K.
“The customer base has grown considerably since we started this end of the business and we are actively trying to increase that.”
Taken from Building Ireland magazine Vol 1 No 2, Winter 2015
