Cork shows a record level of electrical recycling
NEW figures released by WEEE Ireland have shown that Cork undertook record annual levels of electrical waste recycling per head of population last year.
The figures contained in the organisation’s annual report showed that some 5,580,218kg of electrical waste was recycled for free at council amenity centres and WEEE Ireland collections days across the county during 2019. This represented a new annual high of 10.28kg per person, a 3.3% increase on the figure for 2018. WEEE ( Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Ireland is a not-for profit recycling organisation.
Nationally, Ireland boasted having the second-best performing recycling scheme in Europe in 2019, recording 28,594 tonnes of electrical waste collected. Broken down, this equated to 10.89kg person – an increase of 6.2% on the 2019 total.
In total more than 19 million pieces of e-waste were recovered in 2019 including 3.2 million lamps and light-bulbs, 334,000 large household appliances, 194,000 TVs and monitors and 122,000 fridges. The country’s largest electrical and battery recycling scheme also exceeded the EU’s 45% target for waste portable batteries in 2019 by 2%.
The equivalent of 227,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions were avoided by diverting e-waste from landfill through the scheme last year – the equivalent of the annual carbon consumption of 4,543 hectares of trees.
WEEE Ireland has held up Ireland’s recycling record as an example for other countries to follow, pointing out that it was one of the few across Europe to meet an EU environmental directive to recover 65% of the average weight of all electrical equipment placed on the market by its members over the three preceding years.
However, its CEO, Leo Donovan, has warned it will be difficult to meet the 65% benchmark figure this year if an anticipated glut of waste electrical items arising from the COVID-19 lock-down is not diverted from landfill.
“Households throughout the country have used the lock-down to carry out extended spring cleaning, and it is vital that these end of life electrical items do not end up in landfill, or worse illegally dumped, destroying the progress that we have made as a nation,” said Mr Donovan.
He said that now people are free to travel within their counties, WEEE Ireland was urging people to play their part in avoiding an e-waste crisis by recycling unwanted goods.
“2019 was a major target year when we successfully demonstrated that a structure was in place to effectively manage e-waste from households. However, 2020 brings a different challenge. We are facing a battle to stay on target against an increase in electrical and electronic products sold over the past three-years and the impact of the COVID-19 .” For an interactive map of local authority recycling centres and participating retailers and to find out more about what can be recycled, visit weeeireland.ie.