Minister Naughten calls on public to recycle batteries on European Battery Recycling Day
September 12, 2016
September 9th
Minister Denis Naughten TD calls on public to make an effort to break EU Recycling Record
- 45% of All Batteries must Be Recycled By End of 2016
- WEEE Pledge Scheme Targets 36 Million Used Batteries
- Students and Schools Key to Recycling says WEEE Ireland
- 2 out of 3 people Do Not Recycle small waste Batteries
Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Denis Naughten TD has called on the public to keep up their recycling efforts ahead of an EU deadline at the end of this year requiring 45% of all batteries sold in Ireland to be recycled.
The Minister said it is critical that people keep collecting and returning used batteries to ensure Ireland achieves our European recycling target.
He made the call at the launch of the European Battery Recycling Day in association with recycling scheme WEEE Ireland at Lawrencetown National School, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway today (September 9th).
Students at Lawrencetown National School collected almost 100kg of batteries over the past year as part of the WEEE Pledge Programme – a free recycling and educational programme designed for schools. The programme is run by WEEE Ireland – Ireland’s largest collection scheme for batteries and electronic waste. More information is available about it at www.weeepledge.ie
Minister Naughten stated: “2 out of 3 people in Ireland still do not recycle their small waste batteries and that is something I really want to see change. We have only a few months left to reach our EU target so I am asking people to make a big effort to look around their homes, schools and offices for any portable batteries that need to be recycled. We can all start to make changes to what we recycle so let us start today on European Battery Recycling Day. I want to congratulate the schools that took part in the WEEE Pledge Programme last year and I encourage more and more schools to take part in the programme in order to make a real difference environmentally and in doing so help raise vital funds for a very worthy cause.”
In 2015 5,000 students in more than 2,000 primary and secondary schools took part in the WEEE Pledge programme and WEEE Ireland hopes that this number continues to grow. By recycling their batteries under the WEEE Pledge Programme students are also helping to raise much needed funds for LauraLynn, Ireland’s Children’s Hospice.
Speaking at the launch WEEE Ireland CEO Leo Donovan said that the WEEE Pledge Programme is calling on all schools around the country as well as teachers, pupils and parents to recycle as many batteries as possible before the year’s end.
“WEEE Pledge has broadened students’ recycling activity and is inspiring the next generation to be ‘guardians of our planet’. Students and their families learn about the importance of being responsible for the environment and how to make a difference in each community,” stated Leo Donovan.
This is the second year that the European Battery Recycling Day is taking place. It is a Europe-wide initiative that sees WEEE Ireland join forces with other recycling schemes under the auspices of the European Association of National Collection Schemes for Batteries (EUCOBAT).
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
About LauraLynn-Ireland’s Children’s Hospice
LauraLynn is Ireland’s first and only children’s hospice. Since opening in September 2011, families across Ireland now have access to respite, home support and end-of-life care for children with highly medically dependent conditions. LauraLynn is a specially created unit located in the grounds of the Children’s Sunshine Home, Leopardstown, Dublin.
Every year there are approximately 320 child deaths and more than 3,800 children living with life limiting or threatening conditions in Ireland. The monies required to build LauraLynn was 100% generated through fundraising. It cost €5.5 million to build and fit-out the hospice and now costs over €3 million to operate each year. To date, LauraLynn has received no direct state funding for its hospice services.
For further information please visit lauralynn.ie
About battery recycling
The WEEE Ireland scheme operates on behalf of Producers of batteries and electrical appliances to encourage people at home and in work to manage their electrical and battery waste responsibly. WEEE Ireland encourages people to use rechargeable batteries where possible and to use the WEEE Ireland small battery box or other suitable container at home to collect spent batteries for recycling. Waste batteries can then be deposited in larger WEEE Ireland blue boxes at collection points around the country. They are sorted at WEEE facilities in Ireland and safely transported to dedicated European battery recycling plants. Recycling batteries diverts them from landfill and ensures any heavy metals and chemicals they contain are managed in an environmentally responsible way.
Recycling also saves on natural resources as many of the component parts of batteries can be used again in manufacturing. For more information please log on to weeeireland.ie, or join the campaign on facebook.com/weeeireland
About WEEE Ireland
WEEE Ireland (Waste, Electrical and Electronic Equipment) is a not for profit organisation, founded by producers of electrical and electronic appliances in order to help them comply with the legal obligations imposed by the WEEE Directive 2002/96/EC. WEEE Ireland manages the collection for recycling of household WEEE, lighting equipment and batteries from authorised collection points, on behalf of its Producer members.