Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government Phil Hogan has launched a new campaign to remind everyone to “Bring Batteries Back”, a nationwide initiative to encourage more battery recycling in Ireland. WEEE Ireland, the compliance scheme responsible for WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment ) and waste battery recycling will be facilitating the campaign through their network of battery collection boxes in retail outlets, recycling centres and other collection points throughout Galway city and county.
WEEE Ireland are reminding Irish people of the “scary” consequences of not recycling used batteries - batteries contain potentially harmful chemicals and heavy metals, and can cause damage to the environment if not recycled properly. WEEE Ireland recently held a series of collection days throughout Galway that were hugely successful, and it is hoped that the Tribesmen will continue this good recycling behaviour at this weekend’s planned collection in Salthill. WEEE Ireland will be recycling everything from the home with a plug or battery for free on Saturday November 12 from 10am-4pm, at the Toft Park in Salthill.
It is estimated that if each person in Ireland were to bring just one battery back for recycling to their retailer, even without purchasing new ones, or to their local recycling centre, an incredible 100 tonnes would be diverted from Ireland’s landfill. A recent survey carried out by Empathy Research revealed that 9o per cent of Irish people were aware that irresponsible disposal of batteries can have negative environmental consequences.
This campaign is a call to action for everyone in the lead up to one of the busiest times for the year for battery consumption to look through drawers, check toys and appliances for necessary replacements and bring all waste batteries back to your closest free recycling location.
Check out www.batteriesback.ie <http://www.batteriesback.ie> for more information and to find out where and how you can recycle your batteries in Galway.
“Although we are one of the top countries in Europe for electrical recycling, there is still a large volume of waste batteries being unnecessarily sent to landfill every year. We are encouraging everyone in Galway to join in the bring batteries back campaign to show the public just how easy it is to recycle batteries either through their local recycling centre, free local collection days or in their nearest WEEE registered retail outlet.” added Leo Donovan, CEO WEEE Ireland.
