Ireland near top of pile in Europe for recycling electrical goods

IRELAND HAS become one of the best countries in Europe for recycling electronic and electrical goods, with more than 21 million electronic goods recycled since August 2005, when an EU directive was introduced setting recycling targets for all types of electrical goods.

Overseeing the collection and recycling of such goods in Ireland is Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Ireland (WEEE Ireland), which was set up as part of the national compliance scheme for electrical recycling on August 13th, 2005, by producers of electrical and electronic appliances.

The not-for-profit organisation has been very successful to date and there are now about 500 collection sites for electrical goods in Ireland. Consumers can either bring their used goods to civic collection sites organised by local authorities, or directly to retailers. Moreover, more than €30 million has been raised to contribute towards the cost of recycling old electrical items.

Leo Donovan, former managing director of Greenstar Recycling, was part of the initial steering committee established in 2003 to introduce the recycling scheme, and he subsequently became chief executive of WEEE Ireland when it was launched.

He credits the legislation, which was introduced at the time, as being a major factor in the success of the scheme. This legislation required the price of all new electrical goods to be displayed, giving a breakdown of the producer’s contribution towards the scheme – the producer recycling fund (PRF).

The primary focus of WEEE Ireland is to collect as much waste per head of population as possible.

“The EU target is 4kg of electronic waste per person, but last year, more than double the EU target was raised in Ireland, at 9kg per person,” says Donovan.

However, he notes that a number of Scandinavian countries achieved even greater recycling rates, and he would like to improve Ireland’s performance further.

“We want to increase the volumes of smaller electrical appliances, such as electrical toothbrushes and hairdryers, being recycled,” he says.

Of all the goods collected through civic collection sites and retail outlets, on average 80 per cent are recycled, with the highest rate of 95 per cent achieved for televisions and dishwashers. WEEE Ireland works with contractors in Ireland to recycle the goods in about five treatment plants around the country, although fridge freezers, due to their hazardous nature, are sent overseas.

There are more than 80 civic collection sites around Ireland, but WEEE Ireland also organises school collection programmes as well as collections in areas not well serviced by civic facilities.

The response to date to WEEE Ireland’s recycling campaign has been “tremendous”, says Donovan. “The level of participation from the Irish public has been very good, and has been key to its success, as has been the huge effort from retailers,” he says.

Advertising has played a huge role in WEEE Ireland’s efforts to build awareness, and it recently spent €250,000 on its “Send them to a better place” campaign.

Next on the agenda for WEEE Ireland is its battery recycling campaign. From September 26th, the EU Batteries Directive will come into operation across Europe. WEEE Ireland estimates that more than 2,000 tonnes of portable batteries are sold in Ireland each year and most of them are not recycled.

The directive will mean that those who sell batteries will have an obligation to take waste batteries, even where the person depositing the waste batteries doesn’t purchase a new battery. It also includes car batteries.

Donovan is looking at a target rate of one in four batteries being recycled by 2012, and 45 per cent of all batteries sold by 2016.