Tipperary County Council is partnering with WEEE Ireland to offer a free electrical recycling day in Thurles next week. WEEE Ireland will recycle any item with a plug, battery or cable including fridges, washing machines, power tools, and also TVs, computers, laptops and phones. The collection day will run from 10am until 4pm at Thurles Co-Operative Mart(E41 V974)on Saturday October 19th.
The aim is to increase the recycling and recovery rates of valuable resources in the devices and to reduce the incidents of such items being illegally dumped in the countryside or going to landfill or incinerators. WEEE Ireland is calling for a greater effort in Tipperary as it says only 9 kg of e-waste was recycled per person in the county last year.
Ahead of International E-Waste Day on Monday October 14, the Global E-Waste Monitor 2024, reveals that nearly a quarter of e-waste ends up in household rubbish bins each year – electronics packed with precious metals, plastics and other essential materials going to waste. The 844 million e-cigarettes thrown away globally last year contained enough lithium to power 15,000 electric cars. When properly handled, e-waste could reduce CO2 emissions by 93 million tonnes annually, equivalent to taking 20 million cars off the road.