Galway County Council was honoured at the recent Repak Awards during National Recycling Week. WEEE Ireland, the Irish compliance scheme for electrical and battery recycling, selected Galway County Council as a recipient of their Special Merit Award and as a finalist in the WEEE Ireland Best WEEE and Battery Recycling Event Category for their hard work during the year and participation in the WEEE Ireland Collection Programme.
Galway County Council have been holding collection days with WEEE Ireland since 2007. The Galway collection days are primarily focused in areas which do not have a recycling centre convenient to them and also on the Islands; Inisbofin and The Aran Islands.
The collection days have now become annual events, about which the residents of Galway enquire about to Galway County Council regularly. The collection days tie in well with Galway County Council’s environmental projects such as litter management, waste management, Tidy Towns. Ten events have been carried out between August 2010 and August 2011 with over 128 tonnes of electrical waste and batteries collected.
In conjunction with Tidy Towns groups Galway County Council has set up battery collection points in eight communities in Galway county which did not have a recycling centre convenient to them previously. Battery collection boxes have been distributed to schools and businesses in these communities and the programme is being operated at local level by the tidy towns with the aid of Galway County Council.
Galway County Council is also currently showing great initiative by rolling out 28 WEEE Wagon day events, throughout September and October 2011, right across county Galway in smaller villages and areas which have not held collection days before and are not located near a recycling centre.
WEEE Ireland thanks those involved in Galway County Council for their dedication and commitment to keeping Galway’s villages, towns and islands clean and free from electrical and battery waste.
For further information on all future recycling events in Galway including the WEEE Wagon Days that are currently taking place, or to find your nearest civic amenity site, log on to WEEE Ireland’s website www.recyclefree.ie or like its page on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/WEEEIreland for all updates on collection days.