TalkingTons+: The Road to Hillhead - Episode 1 (IMS, Dublin)

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]Let's beat the horn see if he comes out, will we? Yeah, give him a beat.

[00:00:08]>> [music] >> Do you know Shur as you eat, do you remember the excitement in the office when we when we got news of the AMS deal and it was going to be in Ireland, it was going to be near Dublin Airport.

[00:00:20]>> Yeah, yeah. You know, as opposed to the the doubt had always been would Dublin be able to support a project like this given that maybe wasn't the size or the wasn't it the legislative places that some other countries in in Europe or around the world, but there was still still great excitement that this was going to be on our doorstep. Do you know what AMS are doing with their cake at the moment? I think it's all contained on the one site and I think it's um lining and capping the cell, the landfill cell.

[00:00:50]AMS is actually in a really nice location. From the site you can see Dublin Airport, you can see the Irish Sea, you can see in the Malahide.

[00:00:57]Yeah, what a location for sure.

[00:00:59]It's beautiful actually driving in there, isn't it? Yeah.

[00:01:01]>> Same as that.

[00:01:03]It's really impressive. Bit of a climb up to us.

[00:01:06]>> And a really busy site too, isn't it? It is. Plenty of activity. Hopefully Column's ready for us.

[00:01:12]We're not hiding.

[00:01:14]Let's beat the horn see if he comes out, will we? Yeah, give him a beat.

[00:01:20]Oh, there he is.

[00:01:24]Hello Column. Well, how's things?

[00:01:27]>> What's the crack? Well, how are you?

[00:01:28]How's the craic today? Someday. Well, isn't it? We only ever come out of the office on days like that, you know.

[00:01:33]Yeah.

[00:01:33]>> [laughter] >> That's all we do when we're in Dublin, isn't But the old Shirley, ask a real Dublin fella about it.

[00:01:39]This is North County Dublin, is it? Are you Irish?

[00:01:41]>> This is actually called Hollywood.

[00:01:43]Hollywood.

[00:01:43]>> Wow.

[00:01:44]>> Hollywood is the name of this area. What a place to be doing our first uh on the road podcast. It's some view, Column.

[00:01:50]Jesus, you can see everything around you.

[00:01:52]>> off the Irish Sea here.

[00:01:55]But it's like that on a good day, but see on a bad day, it's not exactly the best place to be. I'm sure. And that's why you have the plant located down low then so it takes the shelter and you can keep keep working all year round.

[00:02:05]>> the boys working all year round, yeah.

[00:02:07]Very good. So, how's things? Look, everything's good, busy. You know what I mean, Shaughnessy? Everything's thankfully out of that winter and moving forward better days and yeah, looking forward to a busy summer. Good stuff.

[00:02:21]Plant fully on the way? Plant's running, yeah. More importantly, for this is the best >> running, >> [laughter] >> the plant's running, everybody's running. So, yeah, no, all good now. Looking forward to showcasing Shaughnessy Boat. Good to have Shaughnessy in the press, for sure. Will we take a drive down? Yeah, yeah. You go on ahead.

[00:02:39]Column, what's what should we have processed through this plant now?

[00:02:43]Uh so, we've Well, obviously, we started off just over 2 years ago and we've uh probably increased made a few changes which ultimately changed what the >> the tonnages we were getting through the plant. Last year, we put through 310,000 uh and this year, we've just actually gone over 100,000 ton yesterday, actually. Um and our first 9 months in operation in '24, uh we done about 178,000.

[00:03:13]And Column, um how long is it operating here now? Yeah, we turned the plant on, we got it commissioned in March '24. Um and it was very new to us. Like, ultimately, we were just in an air quarry, so we moved from a workforce that was traditionally just used to filling up big holes and using the guys that were loading shovels and and excavators and dozers. And we were keen to to work with the team, so that took us a little while to get them guys used to operating how the plant worked and that.

[00:03:46]Uh we actually didn't change any of our staff at all. Kept everybody on board and just transitioned with CDE, learning and understanding the different nuances of the plant.

[00:03:55]Um so, I suppose one of the things for us was trying to understand what our targets were trying to be. There's There's spreadsheet targets, and then there's operational targets. And trying to understand where when something goes right, it's great. And then understanding that that doesn't happen all the time. So, I think probably it took us the best part of 9 months, maybe 10, 12 months to really make enough mistakes that we knew what we were at. So, we probably feel like we hit our straps last year then that we knew what we were at.

[00:04:26]Um certainly from March on last year. Uh so, just over 12 months now, our average uh on our plant is just over 170 t an hour since March last year, since the the tail end of March, uh April. So, we've built a a lot of consistency and knowledge within that and and and made some changes and and and and in how we feed the plant was probably the big and probably just trying to find what works best for us in terms of the material that we get. Um and the press is obviously an integral part of that.

[00:04:59]You're not permitted any ponds here, are you? No. Absolutely.

[00:05:01]>> No.

[00:05:02]And that was the That was the rationale for putting the the press, the money to sludge then of the Correct. Yeah.

[00:05:09]So, what like one of the things we had um when before the press when then we had a centrifuge which kept the material very um sludge-like. And and that made it quite hard to handle for us. And that's part of that early days trying to understand and doing what works best for us. When when then when the press came on board, that really sort of changed the fundamentals of how we do our business on a day-to-day basis and even the operating hours, uh starting time, and then at the end of the shift, you know, what needs to be done and all that and getting all out those learnings. Um so, for us, what we do is we we we really focus on trying to understand our buffer tank and our press and making sure that the team understands the priorities around when the buffer tank is filling up and when the press needs to be cleared and things like that. And but that all just sort of feeds into how how our day-to-day operations are. And like any place, any business will have guys off sick, will have guys in holidays, will have different things happening and making sure that, you know, that the the show goes on, that everybody understands how the place runs and and all the different nuances that are needed to on every given day on on on a on a good day on on a dry day and on a wet day and a winter day and all those different changes. It's obviously been a huge learning curve for you and I suppose every project is a learning curve for us as well and we learn as you learn, but you're obviously doing something right with this impressive site. It looks absolutely amazing. Yeah, it's I think probably what we we done was we probably listened a lot and we'd we'd we'd a good few people in CDE who used to advise us and and we we put a lot of faith into it and not everything in life works out the way it was and and but what we found is you know, we sort of developed more of what we were trying to get to more and and off the spreadsheet in terms of really understanding what was achievable within our team and you know, and and and that was probably the key thing cuz before that we were we were chasing something that we didn't really know how to do it and and yeah, someone with experience was telling us what to to to put that out across the workforce who really didn't have any day-to-day operations in terms of pumps and motors and any of that. Um it was a huge change. Um one that I think we we've taken on really well because I suppose the numbers at the end of it all don't lie and you know, within a a reasonably short period of time, we've been able to operate and and really perform at the level that maybe was intended originally on the on the spreadsheet and maybe surpass it.

[00:07:50]So, yeah, that that's definitely been a big win for us.

[00:07:53]>> is good here. We didn't charge you any extra for that, did we? That That's your total.

[00:07:55]>> No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:07:59]Not yet. No.

[00:08:00]Actually, we'll keep that We'll keep that in the down low here. We'll say nothing about the rest of >> that's fair. That's fair. You should maybe the next plant, you know.

[00:08:07]We get We get a chance at you, will we?

[00:08:08]>> Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:08:10]Call them. Tell us this, your your kicked in.

[00:08:14]So, what was like any any recycling facility or repurposing facility, what you're trying to do is divert from landfill, but this is a landfill, so you've have You should have the sales and all here. Your your silt content, your waste content was originally around 20% or something, is it? That's right, yeah. So, I suppose the fundamentals for us are we have an allowance of 500,000 ton per annum coming in, and before we put the plant in, ultimately, all that material was going straight into landfill. So, um that's a very short business plan that, cuz once the once it's full, it's full, and that was it. So, there is a finite amount of space, which was the trigger for for um the the plant itself. In terms of the price, then, when we did get that going, we figured out that there is a range between 18 22%, uh be that seasonality or material stock or whatever it is, uh but we would we would estimate that it's around 20%. So, naturally, we've now given ourselves a a a far more sustainable business model, longer life, longer facility life. Um sure, there's costs involved, but at the back of it all then, we get a a a lot of product that we're able to sell sell out. Um so, for for mayor end, it's probably it's probably the best decision that we've made, and ultimately, our plan now is subsequently making an extension, because the size of the plant that we had was so successful, we're um we're trying to extend the life of the facility even further. Yeah, there's no greater recommendation or um kudos than, you know, for plants to be running successful and just scanning the site, there's not a lot of material sitting about, so it's moving and there's a demand for more, which is great. Yeah, I think that's probably maybe our location to Dublin and the growth that happens around Dublin has been integral to that. You know, it's that's not to say but certainly having our feedstock at 500,000 and having those control mechanisms in place around what quality of material comes in, we already had those established, so that part of the business is really easy for us to transition. Um you know, if you were trying to just set up in the morning, there'd be a lot of things to try and get right. We were comfortable that we knew that that the Weiler team understood those controls and then for us it was really about understanding how do we maximize the opportunity out of the plant and and the press. And from the press, that material is just going straight into landfill or you doing any engineering with it or is there any works on site that you're able to carry out with it?

[00:10:40]>> Yeah, no, we're we initially we we sent everything straight to the landfill while we went through an extensive testing process. Since then, it's been passed for engineering works and for cell alignment, so for our cell construction in accordance with our license, we need to have a blue blue clay layer and that's fine, but it has since been approved that we can use the material here for lining the walls of waste cells.

[00:11:06]We also then use it for building bonds around the site, so obviously the site is an active site, it's a live site. We're constantly doing work all around the site, so you can actually just see over there in front here, I don't know if if you're able to see it, but we're actually building some bonds as as we move along just to make sure we maintain our safety across the site.

[00:11:27]It it's a brilliant product and it's it's it one of the things that we found are really good with. Stephen, you're operating an operator there and you you can see him on his excavator. The material itself is very malleable, especially within those two days, three days.

[00:11:42]It hasn't dried out yet, but it's really malleable and it's easy for a man and a machine to shape that up, get it to the right size. We have it across the site, so it doesn't matter, you know, you can see here in front of you in front of the sand, but even up on top there back up towards where we have an invasive species cell. And uh with that we big make our buns out of out of the clear material as well. So, it's been really good for us. So, it's not just a matter of filling it up filling up a hole with filter cake.

[00:12:13]We're actually been able to use it as a product.

[00:12:15]>> Change in the inner workings. And it's component. Once once it's set then it is a component.

[00:12:19]>> it's it's it's definitely it. What we've a lot of confidence in it.

[00:12:23]We take our structural engineer in like anyone else, just check and see how everything's going around the site and he's very happy with it as as a product for us to use within the site. So, you know, all in all >> It'll be very close to 100% recycling.

[00:12:36]You know, when you when you consider that cuz that's the alternative to that is to use some of the feed stock or to buy in a material.

[00:12:44]>> That's correct. Yeah. And and taking, you know, you're never really going to want to take in feed stock that's going to the plant. So, ideally for us it's just a matter of of We did it was probably now maybe nine or 10 months of of building up our database of understanding where everything was in terms of understanding the range for the filter cake and demonstrating that through our engineering company and consultants and then further on writing a report up to the EPA to make sure they were uh just happy with us for us to be able to use it on site.

[00:13:21]We had the range, we had the specs, and yeah, since then we've been able to to be able to use that. So, it's been great product over the last 15 months.

[00:13:29]>> 10 months is not a very long time. I mean it feels like a really well-established site, like it's been here for years, and you have progressed things so so quickly. I think you and the team should be very proud of what you said you have achieved here. The one thing you'd always we always notice here like I've had a move once or twice here, but there's always activity. It's such a busy site. I think you can you can talk about success of recycling. You can talk about the pros and the cons, and is it you know, does it work? Does it not work? And then you come into the site here, and we're I think that's just cuz the lads know that you're here, and they're trying to look busy, to be honest. Uh that All right, good. Well, we go on go and have a look at it. We'll go and have a look around it. Yeah, we're this far.

[00:14:09]>> Yeah, we may as well. No problem.

[00:14:12]Right, see you then. What was What did you think of that? What was What was the highlight of today for you?

[00:14:18]Look, that was another great visit to IMS. Yeah.

[00:14:21]It always is. And you know, the one thing is actually that the guy I've been 22 years in CD.

[00:14:28]We've been involved in recycling for the last 20 years, 21 years.

[00:14:33]And every time we visit a site like that, you're there and something different.

[00:14:35]>> Absolutely. We learned so much there today. Seeing that sale and the use of the filter cake was something really new to me. But to be honest, you don't really get to see that. There's not not every site set up with its own landfill and using the And then the ability to use the cake for a sale. So, to see something like that there is hugely unique. Uh very impressive. Good to see that the material is actually being reused. All the materials are On the site? almost 100% recycling.

[00:15:03]Uh you know, take give or take, and column was fantastic. Yeah, brilliant. And what a site and and what a day for it, but it was absolutely brilliant to see the site set up, how busy the site was, the team there, everybody engaged, happy, and the new team, relatively new in terms of where they've come from and having to learn a whole new skill set and you wouldn't know it from from what we're seeing today. So, yeah, really really impressive site and I'm so glad we visited and it's a a great start to our road to Hillhead. Do you know what I think we should do? What? I think we should go and visit another one.

[00:15:37]>> [laughter] >> Will we? Yeah. Okay.

[00:15:41]Let's do it. But we're going to get a bite to eat first.

[00:15:43]>> Okay. Right. Okay. Deal.

[00:15:45]>> [music]