WEEEling in the Years: From E-Waste dumping in the 1990’s to hitting EU Targets in the 2010’s...
Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government Alan Kelly TD visited Google EMEA headquarters in Dublin today to officially celebrate 10 years of e-w aste recycling in Ireland. Since the introduction of the WEEE Directive in Ireland in 2005, WEEE Ireland has hit all WEEE targets in terms of recovery and recycling of household electrical waste, however 50% of e-waste still goes unaccounted for each year in Ireland.
Ireland sits in the top 5 European countries for e-waste recycling and with a take back collection rate of 50% is well ahead of the European average, which is just 30%.
Speaking at the event, CEO of WEEE Ireland Leo Donovan said,” Today is the culmination of 10 years of hard work by the Irish people and WEEE Ireland. We are delighted to be in a position where after only 10 years of electrical recycling we currently sit amongst the top 5 European countries in this field. While Ireland currently has a take back rate of 50% of electrical waste placed on the market, we are still missing the remaining half. This is a large volume of electrical waste that goes unaccounted for in Ireland each year. Without a constant effort to improve and increase recovery in Ireland we could be in the position of our failing to hit the EU target of 65% in 2019.
Article Published: 15/09/2015