Bedminster International, the waste-to-energy company controlled by technology entrepreneur Mr Bill McCabe, has won a €200 million contract to convert waste produced in New York city.
Bedminster said the 25-year contract involved converting 400 tonnes a day of organic material into biofuel. The contract is with Tully Environmental, a division of Tully Construction, and the trucking company Petruzzo Products.
Petruzzo is providing a site for the waste-to-energy facility, while Tully will supply the feedstock to produce the biofuel.
"The Bedminster plant will initially process 200 tonnes of organic material per day from New York city, increasing to 400 tonnes at full capacity," said Mr McCabe yesterday.
He added that the company was considering setting up a second facility within 30 miles of Manhattan. This site would have an initial capacity of 1,000 tonnes per day.
Mr Ken Tully, chief executive of Tully Environmental, said the bioenergy model used by Bedminster removed the need for landfill.
Bedminster now has 12 plants operating on three continents. There are eight plants in North America, three in Australia and one in Japan.
The company is owned by Oyster Technologies, an investment fund headed up by Mr McCabe.
He bought Bedminster back in 2003. Bedminster is registered in Ireland but has yet to file accounts.
The company is believed to have contacted local authorities in the Republic in recent months to assess the prospects of introducing its technology here.
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