We’ve done an Eiffel lot of recycling
Towers.■■Shauna OVER 200 million waste electrical items have been saved from landfill in Ireland since 2005 through an “impressive” recycling operation — enough to build 69 Eiffel
The partnership between the country’s ewaste recycling scheme WEEE Ireland and family owned KMK Metals is said to have resulted in less mining as vital materials extracted from the waste are reused.
Together they have collected and recycled more than half a million tonnes of electrical waste — which boffins have worked out is the equivalent of 69 of the iconic towers in Paris.
Steel, plastic and glass make up the top three materials extracted, with over 20,000 tonnes recovered annually through KMK’s specialised recycling processes in Offaly and Westmeath.
Other valuable and scarce metals taken from the waste include aluminium, copper and zinc.
Ministers Ossian Smyth and Pippa Hackett visited KMK Metals Recycling plants in Tullamore and Kilbeggan to see how it’s done.
Minister of State Smyth, who has responsibility for Public Procurement, Government and the Circular Economy said: “The scale and sophistication of treatment here is truly impressive.
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