North Dublin now has a new, state-of-the art indoor garden waste facility – the appropriately named Mulch! Set up by two Dublin businessmen, Mulch is based in Coolock and is Dublin’s first indoor drive-through garden waste recycling facility. Mulch have designed their new facility to make things as easy as possible for households and commercial landscapers – they don’t require waste to be bagged in advance plus they offer a collection service as a nominal cost. Mulch recycles all garden waste into peat free compost, soil enricher, topsoil and bark (for weed suppressing) which they then sell at very competitive rates.
Mulch sends the garden waste for processing into compost, soil enricher, pro-grow compost and bark: fine bark and large bark for dressing beds and weed suppressing, although Mulch advise us that fine bark is a far superior product for weed suppression and looks better.
Products
Mulch only sell 100% peat free products while most of their competitors bulk out their multi-purpose composts with large quantities of peat, indeed many composts are 60% to 100% peat. Mulch products are sold at very competitive rates loose in bulk and in smaller easy to handle bags. All the products sold are manufactured in Ireland, all waste operations, products and services are provided by Irish companies.
Costs and Services:
Mulch garden waste rates are cheaper than Dublin City Council’s if you use their loyalty card discount scheme. Cars costing from €8 and trailers from €25 excluding discounts. Collection fees are €30 for Howth, Sutton, Clontarf and North East Dublin areas. Unlike most waste facilities Mulch take credit and debit cards and they complete the transaction while you wait in your vehicle before you enter the warehouse. Finally, Mulch charges the same rates to both domestic and commercial customers.
Company Background and Funding:
The idea behind Mulch was to replace the St. Anne’s Park garden waste depot that closed down in 2007. Their second aim was to supply superior products to the domestic market, and supply them cheaper than the regular DIY stores and garden centres. It has taken Mulch 2 years to identify a suitable site, obtain planning permission (change of use to a waste facility), obtain waste licenses and open their doors. Mulch is one of the few licensed garden waste facilities in Dublin City and the only one under cover.
The DCEB initially provided a 50% market research grant in 2010. In March 2012 the DCEB approved priming grant aid for Mulch to contribute to hiring additional staff. Mulch will shortly employ the equivalent of 6 staff this summer. No funding was received from the banks.
The founders of Mulch were previously the proprietor of a large landscape and grounds maintenance company and the Environmental Manager for the Dublin Airport Authority.
Location:
Mulch are located off the Malahide Road opposite UCI Cinemas in the Malahide Road Industrial Park. Their summer opening hours are Monday to Saturday 9am to 6pm including bank holiday Mondays, see mulch.ie for details or phone 01 8475370.
Source: HortiTrends News Room
