Celtic Waste, a subsidiary of National Toll Roads (NTR), will invest €42 million to build two recycling facilities in Cork. The new venture will create 84 jobs.

The recycling plants, with a combined capacity of 200,000 tonnes a year, will be located at Forge Hill, to the south of the city, and Sarsfield Court, to the east. Both sites were acquired by Celtic Waste as part of its recent acquisition of Ahern Waste Management Ltd.

Planning permission has already been granted for the Sarsfield Court site and a decision on Forge Hill is expected shortly.

Celtic Waste has also applied for and been refused planning permission by Cork County Council to operate a residual landfill site at Ballyguyroe in north Cork.

The refusal has been appealed by the company to An Bord Pleanála, but the outcome would not affect the latest proposal, a spokesman said yesterday.

The council has plans to build the county's first "superdump" at nearby Bottlehill and has promised the Ballyguyroe community, where an existing landfill site is nearing closure, that a new landfill will not be opened there. If its appeal is successful, Celtic Waste says a new Ballyguyroe site would be operational for 10 years.

Celtic Waste claims the two new recycling facilities proposed for Cork would raise the level of recycling in the county to 50 per cent after just one year of operation. The figure at present is less than 10 per cent.

Through the acquisition of Ahern Waste Management, it will continue to handle industrial and commercial waste in the county and proposes to promote recycling in this sector by offering all commercial customers a second recycling bin.

A 75 per cent restriction of commercial waste to landfill is now in operation in the Cork region because of increasing pressure on available space. The firm already operates a licensed landfill site at Kilcullen, Co Kildare.

NTR's chief executive, Mr Jim Barry, said yesterday that Ireland was facing a serious waste management problem, which would have to be addressed urgently.