Greenstar chief executive Steve Cowman said the Millennium Park plant would open in May. The company has received planning permission and has been granted a licence by the Environmental Protection Agency to handle up to 225,000 tonnes of waste at the site.

"We'll start running it in May and we'll hit those types of volumes in six months, " said Cowman. "The main building is finished and the equipment is currently being installed."

The Millennium Park site replaces an existing Greenstar site at St Margaret's, also in north Dublin. Cowman said the new plant would enable it to recycle a much higher percentage of the waste.

"It allows us to handle more tonnage and it allows us to get much higher rates of extraction, " he said.