Householders in Cavan urged to tackle hoarding of electrical waste

Householders in Cavan are being urged to recycle household electrical waste in 2024. With 84% of Irish households containing an average of 15 to 20 broken or unused electrical items in their home, there has never been a better time to declutter while positively impacting on the environment and supporting a more circular economy.

To encourage people to recycle their electrical waste, a national awareness campaign has been launched by Minister of State, Ossian Smyth. The “Recycle your Electrical Waste for Free!” awareness campaign will inform and educate people on what items can be recycled and advise them of the multiple civic amenity sites and participating electrical retailers across Ireland.

Ossian Smyth, Minister of State with responsibility for Public Procurement, eGovernment and Circular Economy, said “I am delighted to launch this national awareness campaign today, to remind everyone that they can return their electrical waste for free recycling at hundreds of drop off points across the country.

“This campaign is a collaboration between the Government of Ireland, MyWaste.ie and the two national compliance schemes ERP Ireland and WEEE Ireland. It demonstrates our commitment to work together to raise public awareness of the importance of responsible recycling of electrical waste.”

He added “Electrical products contain valuable raw materials, and recycling these materials will help Ireland to transition to a circular economy, where waste is minimised.”

Consumer research comprising 1,000 respondents was undertaken by iReach on electrical waste within homes in Ireland. It demonstrated that 30% of Irish households are storing old, broken or unused electrical items in garden sheds, 25% hoard them in drawers and 16% keep them in the attic, rather than recycling correctly.

ERP Ireland, Cavan’s designated Compliance Scheme Operator for electrical waste, reports that people in Cavan have contributed greatly to the nation’s electrical waste recycling every year, with 734 tonnes of e-waste collected in the county during 2022. 8.99kg of waste was recycled per person in Cavan in 2022, falling short of the national average of 10.33kg per person.

Martin Tobin, CEO of ERP Ireland said, “Ireland is embracing a more sustainable future, and we are encouraging people to declutter their households, sheds and attics and recycle their broken and unused electrical items. Electrical waste provides us with the opportunity to extract secondary raw materials which is crucial to a fully circular economy.

All electrical items, and even the smaller ones like mobile phones, laptops, toasters and plugs can be recycled! Regrettably, people are either hoarding their electrical appliances or disposing of them incorrectly in general waste which ends up in landfill. This can have negative effects on the environment, so we are encouraging everyone to declutter their old and broken electrical items and recycle them at their local electrical retailer or civic amenity site – and remember its free!”

E-waste is the fastest growing waste stream globally. Recycling is crucial to produce enough secondary raw materials and by recycling electrical waste we ensure these items can be used again in the manufacturing process, saving on the environmental impacts and creating a more circular economy. Check out the MyWaste.ie website to learn more about electrical recycling and to locate your nearest free recycling drop-off point on their interactive map at www.mywaste.ie/waste-service-locator/.