Galway households are being urged to take part in a free e-waste and battery recycling event. The event, hosted by WEEE Ireland, takes place on October 31 from 10am to 4pm at the Orbsen Building Car Park at University of Galway.
Galway city householders are urged to bring their batteries, electrical, and electronic waste to the day to help the county meet national e-waste recycling targets for 2024.
Several household appliances will be accepted such as old washing machines, TVs, toasters and kettles, electronic tools and toys, cables, IT equipment, mobile phones, remote controls, batteries, including farm fence batteries, and even watches.
WEEE Ireland CEO Leo Donovan said, “In Galway, and across Ireland, we are buying more electrical goods than ever, with people purchasing an average 22kg per head in 2023 compared to 16kgs just five years ago. People in Galway have contributed greatly to e-waste recycling every year, with 2,748 tonnes of electrical waste collected in the county in 2023, and we want to encourage that trend.”
It was found that 9.9kg of e-waste was recycled per person in Galway last year, falling short of the national average of 10.33kg per person. WEEE Ireland is encouraging people to improve on this figure and say that the nation needs to meet new forthcoming EU targets to recycle at least 25 percent of our annual consumption of raw materials from e-waste.
In 2023, 222,852 tonnes of CO2 emissions were avoided by recycling e-waste through the WEEE Ireland scheme, the equivalent of the annual carbon consumption of 4,457 hectares of trees.
Lorraine Rushe, Environmental health and safety manager at the University of Galway said, “Recycling e-waste is incredibly beneficial for both the environment and the economy. Together, we are diverting waste from landfill, recovering raw materials for reuse and ensuring hazardous materials are safely and responsibly disposed of.”
