IRELAND’S LARGEST ELECTRICAL and battery recycling scheme had its most successful year in 2017.

WEEE Ireland recycled a total of 35,708 tonnes of e-waste and 874 tonnes of waste batteries from Irish householders, consumers and businesses last year, according to its annual report.

It was a record-breaking year for the scheme, which achieved a collection rate of more than 10kg of e-waste for every single person in Ireland.

Nearly half of all the e-waste recycled was large household appliances such as dishwashers, ovens and washing machines, which can be returned to retailers for recycling on delivery of new appliances.

Among the items recycled were an estimated:

• 3.2 million lamps and lightbulbs
• 195,000 televisions and monitors
• Almost 12 million small appliances

Recycling the 35,708 tonnes of waste led to the recovery of 18,000 tonnes of iron and 830 tonnes of copper.

This is enough iron for 2.5 Eiffel towers and enough copper for 27 Statues of Liberty.

“We are extremely proud of these results and want to thank every person who recycled even one item of e-waste,” the CEO of WEEE Ireland, Leo Donovan, said.

However, we can’t become complacent. We will only achieve long-term change and benefits for the environment if we continue to manage our e-waste responsibly.

WEEE Ireland also surpassed EU targets in waste portable battery collections, where the quantity collected increased from 812 to 874 tonnes.

Donovan said this marks another successful year for the LauraLynn ‘Every Battery Counts’ campaign and is testament to how the ‘Blue Box’ has become synonymous with battery recycling in schools, retailers and businesses across Ireland.