Northern Ireland — 11 councils · For Every Resident
Your Council. Your Neighbourhood. Better.
Northern Ireland recycles half of what it collects. Here is what could happen to the rest — without burning it, without burying it, and without shipping it abroad.
No sorting. No separation. One collection. Everything converted.
Community Benefits · 5 min read · DOC 06 OF 06
What this document is
A plain-language explainer for households across Northern Ireland: what changes, what does not, and what is actually being proposed.
Three things this document says
Nothing changes at your kerb. Your bins carry on exactly as they do now.
Nothing is burned. There is no stack and no ash — the process runs without oxygen, so nothing can combust.
A royalty comes back to your own council on every tonne, for at least thirty years.
Here is what Advanced Circular Manufacturing does, in plain terms.
♻
Your bins do not change
Your bins go out the same way they do today. This is about what is left in the general bin after recycling and food collection — the part that is currently burned elsewhere or buried.
No change at the kerb
🔥
Nothing is burned
The process runs in a sealed chamber with no oxygen in it. Without oxygen nothing can combust. There is no stack, no smoke and no ash. This is not an incinerator and it is not energy from waste.
No combustion
🏭
It becomes products
Material is resolved into its elemental constituents and manufactured into synthetic graphite, graphene compounds, recovered metals and minerals, and ultrapure water — over 100 specification-grade materials.
100+ materials
💰
A royalty comes back
Carbotura pays your own council a royalty on every tonne it delivers, for at least thirty years, starting above the fee the council pays and rising every year.
30-year minimum
🏭
Local manufacturing jobs
Around 100 direct roles for each unit, about 400 when all four are running, and roughly three times as many indirectly — process operation, maintenance, quality and logistics.
~400 direct roles
🚢
It stays in Northern Ireland
Instead of being baled and shipped out through Warrenpoint to be burned abroad, the material is manufactured into products here, at one central site.
No export
Today vs. With the Factory
What Changes — Side by Side
🔴 Today
✗What you recycle is recycled.
✗What is left in the general bin is pre-treated and mostly burned for energy.
✗About 300,000 tonnes a year are shipped out of Northern Ireland to do it.
✗Some still goes to landfill, taxed at £130.75 a tonne.
✗The only planned treatment plant here is still awaiting a decision.
🟢 With the Factory
✓What you recycle is recycled. Nothing changes at your kerb.
✓What is left goes to one factory on the M1 instead of a ship or a landfill.
✓It is broken down without burning and manufactured into products.
✓There is no ash, because there is no combustion to produce any.
✓Your council pays a fee to have it processed and receives a royalty on every tonne.
How the Money Works
The Circular Royalty™ — Explained Simply
This is not a subsidy. It is not a discount. Here is how Northern Ireland — 11 councils earns money back from the materials it supplies.
Your materials are collected
→
The factory converts them into manufactured products
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Products are sold in global markets
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Royalty paid back to Northern Ireland — 11 councils
What the Circular Royalty™ is — in plain terms
Each council pays a Beneficiation Fee to have its material processed, and separately receives a Circular Royalty™ on the same tonnes. Two different payments in two different directions, reported separately rather than combined into one number. The fee is US$150 a tonne, about £112 at today’s exchange rate — below the £130.75 tax alone on a landfilled tonne. The royalty starts at about £134 a tonne and rises every year for at least thirty years. Each council receives its own royalty on its own tonnes, spends no capital and carries no permitting risk.
Your Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
No. There is no combustion at any stage, no stack, and no ash. The process runs in a sealed, oxygen-free chamber — without oxygen, nothing can burn. It is a manufacturing operation, and it is not energy from waste. Carbotura does not sell power, electricity or hydrogen.
Carbotura is not part of the Hightown process and is not arguing against it, and nothing here cancels a current contract. The plan is staged over four years so each council can join when its own arrangements allow. Whether and when is each council’s decision.
No site has been chosen. The M1 corridor near Craigavon is the starting point because it is central to all 11 councils, and some industrial land there is worth examining. Any choice would be worked through jointly and in public with the community that might host it.
No. Carbotura finances, owns and operates the facility, and carries all the permitting work at its own cost. No council commits capital at any stage.
Not yet, and we say so plainly. Carbotura has no facility in commercial operation anywhere. The first is in Pennsylvania, in the United States, in deployment now and targeted for late 2027 to early 2028. Each council’s agreement includes a condition requiring an operating facility that meets our stated claims before that council is held to performance.
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Indicative reference only — not an offer. Pricing under a Circular Supply Agreement (CSA) or CMOA. All financial figures are Carbotura planning-basis estimates and are ILLUSTRATIVE until Term Sheet execution. The Beneficiation Fee is set at US$150 per tonne and shown in sterling at the Bank of England rate of 2 November 2026 (£1 = US$1.3416); sterling figures move with the exchange rate until fixed at Term Sheet. Carbotura has no facility at or past Commercial Operation Date; the first is in Pennsylvania, USA, in deployment, with commercial operation targeted for late 2027 to early 2028.
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Candidate siting area — provisional, subject to Term Sheet phase verification.