Residue decision support for Irish food and drink manufacturers
Find the best destination for every residue.
Cirqular helps food and drink manufacturers compare destinations for organic residues across cost, resource value, emissions and logistics.
A fictional five-stream example. No account or upload needed. Or discuss a pilot by email
Regulatory requirements, facility approvals and material compatibility are checked automatically as part of every comparison.
Site overviewGreenfield Foods
EXAMPLE DATAGreenfield Foods
3 changes worth making across 5 residue streams
- Potential annual saving
- €55,420
- Based on 4 of 5 streams
- Streams to change
- 3 of 5
- 1 kept · 1 needs information
- Annual residue volume
- 952 tonnes
- 5 streams
| Residue stream | Today → decision | Est. saving |
|---|---|---|
| Surplus bread and bakery production materialChange | Anaerobic digestion to Animal feed | €35,770 lower |
| Dough and ingredient residueChange | Composting to Animal feed | €7,170 lower |
| Liquid batter and cream washoutKeep current | Anaerobic digestion to Keep current | No change |
| Packaging-contaminated rejected productChange | Disposal to Anaerobic digestion | €12,470 lower |
| Returned and unsuitable finished productNeeds information | Disposal to No decision yet | Not available |
The problem
Finding somewhere to send a residue is easy. Finding the best destination isn’t.
The information exists, but it is scattered — and comparing it takes time most teams don’t have. So most businesses default to whatever route their existing contractor offers.
What a manufacturer has to piece together today
- DAFM approval listsApproved animal by-product plants
- EPA informationLicences and by-product notifications
- NWCPO permit dataPermitted waste collectors
- Facility operatorsCapacity and gate fees
- Contractor quotesPrices for individual routes
Cirqular brings these into one side-by-side comparison.
Why Cirqular
Better decisions. More value. Less waste.
Commercial opportunity, practical feasibility and environmental impact, in one comparison for every residue stream.
Lower treatment and haulage costs
Gate fees, haulage and any revenue for every suitable destination, set against what you pay today.
More value from each residue
See where a residue could move up the resource-value hierarchy, from disposal and digestion towards feed and redistribution.
Shorter, more practical logistics
Distance, collection and capacity are part of every comparison, so a route is workable as well as cheaper.
Environmental impact, honestly estimated
Direct treatment and transport emissions for each route, with the factors and their limits stated, never presented as certified savings.
Clearer sustainability reporting
Every figure carries its source — measured, quoted, estimated or example — and exports to CSV or print.
Requirements checked automatically
Regulatory requirements, facility approvals and material compatibility are checked before anything is scored.
How it works
From scattered residue data to a clear recommendation.
AI assists with reading documents and interpreting the input; it never decides eligibility. Requirements are checked by fixed rules on the structured profile, so every outcome can be traced. In this public version, AI document reading runs in a labelled demonstration mode; spreadsheets are read for real.
Understand
Reads invoices, spreadsheets and transfer notes, and builds a structured material profile. You confirm only what it can’t infer with confidence.
Output: Material profile
Match
Identifies compatible destinations, facilities and collection options for that material.
Output: Candidate destinations
Evaluate
Checks requirements with fixed, auditable rules, then compares cost, carbon, distance, capacity and material fit. Options that fail a requirement are never scored.
Output: Suitable · Needs confirmation · Unavailable
Optimise
Ranks the suitable options with the transparent Cirqular Score, under weights you can see and change.
Output: Ranked options
Report
Shows the recommended route next to today’s, with alternatives, the estimated saving and the environmental impact.
Output: Decision report
The result
See the decision, not just the score.
Each recommendation sits next to the current arrangement, with the estimated saving and its break-even, the requirements it passed, how robust it is, why the alternatives rank lower and what to do next. Every figure is labelled with its source: quoted, estimated, model assumption or example.
Surplus bread and bakery production material · 416 tonnes a year
EXAMPLE DATA| Measure | Current | Proposed |
|---|---|---|
| Destination | Midlands Renewable Gas | Kildare Feed Cooperative |
| Route | Anaerobic digestion | Animal feed |
| Net cost | €90/t | €4/t |
| Annual cost | €37,440 | €1,670 |
| Distance | 31 km | 53 km |
| Est. annual CO₂e | 14.0 tCO₂e | 19.3 tCO₂e |
| Cirqular Score | — | 64 / 100 · 5 of 5 factors |
Example prices · distances are straight-line estimates · CO₂e uses illustrative emission factors.
Why this destination?
Kildare Feed Cooperative ranks highest under your current priorities (Balanced), combining the lowest estimated net cost with a high-value use (animal feed).
Requirements checked
- Accepts this type of material
- Accepts this physical form
- Suitable for farmed-animal feed
- Approved for animal-derived material
- Authorised to receive this material
Unavailable
Liffey Biomethane — The stated annual volume (416 t) exceeds the facility’s stated example capacity (400 t a year).
4 suitable · 4 need confirmation · 3 unavailable. Only suitable destinations are scored.
Five fictional residue streams, every result and its evidence. No account needed.
Independence
No preferred destination.
A transparent comparison.
Cirqular is built to be independent of the facilities and collectors it compares: a destination ranks first only because of the figures and priorities you can see.
- No destination pays to be listed or ranked
- Every weight, assumption and data source visible
- Requirements checked by fixed, auditable rules
- Uncertainty stated, not hidden
Pilot Cirqular on your own residues.
We’re looking for Irish food and drink manufacturers to pilot Cirqular on real residue streams. Email us about your site and we’ll arrange a call.
Not ready yet? View example site or analyse a residue.