Time flies — send back your old clocks and watches, says WEEE Ireland

Tag : electrical toys

By Declan Varley
However as we bid a fond farewell to the summer months lastweekend, WEEE Ireland, the Irish Compliance Scheme for electricalrecycling, is reminding the people of Ireland that there has neverbeen a better time to say goodbye your old batteries and smallelectronic items including clocks and watches and bring them backfor recycling.
Over 65,000 clocks and watches have been collected from jewelleryshops alone since the scheme began. However, figures gathered byWEEE Ireland show that people may still be hoarding smallelectrical items unaware that they can be brought to any recyclingcentre for safe recycling for free.
Any item with a plug or battery should be recycled. Since thelaunch of the free take back and recycling scheme in August 2005,WEEE Ireland has collected over 10 million old electronic items forsafe recycling.
In 2007, Ireland collected more than double the EU target forelectrical recycling; however we need to collect more if we want tobe the best in Europe. While many people recycle large electronicitems, many smaller items such as clocks, watches, hairdryers, andelectric toys are being stored in drawers, garages and attics.
“We would encourage people to remember to bring smallelectrical items back for free either to the shop where they arebuying a similar item or to any of the 86 recycling centresnationwide. Recycling WEEE is Free”, said Leo Donovan, CEO,WEEE Ireland.
These smaller electrical items can be harmful to the environment ifnot recycled at the end of their useful lives as they containbatteries which can have a detrimental effect on both theenvironment and human health. In response to the new EU Directive,WEEE Ireland rolled out their battery collection scheme inSeptember 2008, providing 50,000 battery boxes to shops nationwide.
This means that recycling household batteries has never beeneasier. All you need to do is bring them to a shop that is sellingsimilar batteries and deposit them into one of the WEEE Irelandbattery boxes free of charge. Better still, there’s noobligation to purchase!
WEEE Ireland represents over 550 industry members and has collectedover 10m items of WEEE to date The equivalent of each person inIreland recycled 9 Kg of household WEEE in 2007.
WEEE Ireland, the Irish compliance scheme for electrical recycling,is a not for profit organisation, founded by producers ofelectrical and electronic appliances in order to comply with thelegal obligations imposed by the WEEE Directive 2002/96/EC. Itorganises the treatment and recycling of waste electrical andelectronic equipment (WEEE) from authorised collection points inIreland, on behalf of its members. More recently, WEEE Ireland hasalso become the Irish compliance scheme for battery recycling tocoincide with the implementation of the Batteries Directive2006/66/EC. WEEE Ireland works with permitted waste managementcompanies and licensed treatment facilities to ensure WEEE andbatteries are managed in an environmentally sound way. Over 75 percent of the waste electrical and electronic equipment collected isinitially processed here in Ireland. More Stories Success for Tuam recruitment agency at national awards We all have a role in eliminating sterotypes From recession to progression⬦ From recession to progression⬦ Galway entrepreneur aims for Shell Livewire success tonight Galway entrepreneur aims for Shell Livewire success tonight