Coffee News

As we get up to face the day many of us will pop into the local cafe to get a morning boost of coffee, some will bring their own cup while others will accept a disposal coffee cup but be prepared for a change!

Ossian Smyth, Minister of State with responsibility for Public Procurement, eGovernment and Circular Economy has said a proposed €0.20 levy on single-use coffee cups is due before year-end. The change is designed to ease people off single-use disposal cups and switch to reusable keep cups.

In a further step, disposable coffee cups will no longer be an option for sit-in customers at cafes and restaurants? This change will come into place over the next few months and will be complemented by the introduction of a 20c levy on disposable coffee cups

Will it encourage more people to choose reusable alternatives like a keep cup? Will it work?

Do’s and Don’t

As is normal some interested parties say coffee consumers won’t change coffee drinking habits while others say it is a step on the road to becoming greener and producing less paper and plastic waste.

Some industry stakeholders say “keep cups” will also end up as waste but having asked friends and around work, people have been using the same keep cups for 5 or 6 years and they still work perfectly!

The Department of Environment said nearly 200 million coffee cups are sent to landfills or incinerators each year in Ireland.  They say the proceeds from the 20c levy per cup will be ringfenced into a Circular Economy Fund for environmental and climate projects. 

The department wants to “make Ireland the first country in the world to eradicate disposable coffee cups,” Is this a worthwhile goal? What do you think?

Government

Minister of State for Communications and Circular Economy, Ossian Smyth, say this initiative is very similar to the plastic bag levy.” “People will remember when that came in, we were using a giant number of plastic bags and after the levy came in, the reduction was 95% in the use of plastic bags.” The plastic bag levy, introduced in 2002 in Ireland, requires shops to charge €0.22 for a plastic shopping bag. 

Environment Minister Eamon Ryan said, “we need to re-think the way we interact with the goods and materials we use every day” to reach net-zero emissions.

Rethink

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle but first Rethink. We can all rethink and it will really make a difference not just in terms of resources, the environment, waste collection and waste processing but also by reducing visible waste in cities, towns and recreational areas like beaches and playgrounds. Think about the visible waste created by disposal cups and how bringing your own cup can help!

About Recycle IT

Recycle IT is an award-winning social enterprise providing recycling collection and drop-off services for all types of waste electrical, electronic equipment (WEEE) and pure metal items.

Recycle IT services are provided in partnership with WEEE Ireland. Recycle IT is supported by the Department of Rural and Community Development, Dormant Accounts Fund, Pobal, South Dublin County Council and authorized by the National Waste Collection Permit Office and the local authorities across Leinster.

For further details about our free and cost-effective services call us on 01 4578321, email info@recycleit.ie or visit the Recycle IT website at www.recycleit.ie

Repair before recycling!

Many electrical appliances are manufactured to a high standard with quality and durability in mind, but if you find that your electrical appliance is in need of repair you might consider using a repair service rather than replacing and recycling. Now you can as more service technicians get trained in Ireland.

Trained and qualified service technicians can repair appliances in your home and they are usually based locally around the country and ready to help within a few days of your call.

Some new appliances now have service issues determined or fixed without a technician visiting your home. Built-in technology allows remote diagnoses and a call can sort the issue out!

Training circular economy repair technicians

Students from the new training course for repair technicians received the Ministerial seal of approval on Tuesday, Jan 25th 2022 when Junior Minister Ossian Smyth visited their training centre in Co Meath.

The new course launched in 2021 aims to train the next generation of repair technicians in an effort to encourage repair, reuse, longer life and prevent thousands of tonnes of electrical appliances, from becoming waste in the future.

A number of electrical appliance industry stakeholders took action with WEEE Ireland, the White Goods Association and technical training agency Fastrack into IT (FIT) joined forces to create the new circular economy skills initiative course.

As part of the learning and information sharing process Recycle IT recently visited the students and learned about the training course and how everyone is progressing. On learning more about our work recycling old electrical appliances the students were eager to visit the Recycle IT. The visit to our recycling facility was arranged for April 2022. The team had an informative morning and asked questions about our operations and the many types of appliances received for safe recycling.

Stakeholders

This Circular Economy project is operated by Louth and Meath Education and Training Board and is supported by a grant from the CIRCULÉIRE Innovation Fund. CIRCULÉIRE is a public-private partnership created by Irish Manufacturing Research and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and EIT Climate-KIC with 25 Founding Industry Members including WEEE Ireland. It is free of charge for trainees and supported by a grant. The course runs over 26 weeks and is followed by a 12-week work placement.

Sharing knowledge, networking, building relationships as well as education, training and upskilling will help make the circular economy a reality in Ireland. Trained and skilled repair engineers can help ensure electrical appliances (as part of the circular economy) are used for longer, reused, and only reach recyclers such as Recycle IT after a very long and productive life.

About Recycle IT

Recycle IT, is an award-winning social enterprise offering electrical, electronic and metal recycling services through drop off and collection. Recycling services are provided in partnership with WEEE Ireland and South Dublin County Council.

Recycle IT is supported by Pobal and Dormant Accounts and authorised by the National Waste Collection Permit Office and the local authorities across the east midlands waste region.

Our goal is to create training and employment opportunities through the provision of waste management services. Surplus earned income is reinvested in operational, and employment-related costs.

For more information on Recycle IT please call 01 4578321, email info@recycleit.ie or visit our website www.recycleit.ie

What are Sustainable Development Goals

On September 25, 2015, 193 countries at the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which included the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The goals include ending poverty, hunger, and inequality, finding solutions to climate change, and improving access to quality healthcare and education for all. Each goal has a set of targets (169 in total) that are to be achieved by the year 2030. 

Learn more!

A workshop titled Workshop: A Community Approach to Climate Change, Decarbonisation and SDGs is planned for Wednesday, May 4, 2022, and will look at:

• What do the SDGs mean for nonprofits in 2022?
• How can we increase engagement around achieving SDG targets, and set stretch targets for ourselves?
• How do we help to speed up a just transition to a de-carbonized, sustainable, and biodiverse island?

Who can attend

The workshop is aimed at the staff and volunteers of charities, community groups, NGOs and social enterprises based in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

About the workshop

This workshop is part of a series hosted by iCommunity, a joint project of NICVA and The Wheel, which is bringing together nonprofits and social enterprises in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to learn from shared experiences. The workshops follow exploratory discussions in February and March, which will inform the agenda for this workshop.

This workshop is a hybrid event and there are a limited number of in-person places available.

Please note, that once registered, it’s not possible to change your ticket from in-person to online attendance and vice versa.

Location: Guinness Enterprise Centre Taylor’s Lane, The Liberties, Dublin 8.

Date and time: Wednesday, May 4th 2022, 10:30 – 15:30 IST.

Register here.

Applications open!

The Dublin City Social Enterprise Awards was established by Inner City Enterprise (ICE) and Dublin City Council with the support of the Local Enterprise Office (LEO) Dublin City in 2015.

These partner organisations recognised that there was a gap in the market for small flexible grants to kick-start the creation or development of social enterprises in Dublin City. Each year since 2015, a fund of €50,000 has been distributed among innovative social enterprises. This year the fund is €60,000!

Awards Aims

The awards aim to increase awareness of the important contribution that social enterprise makes to building communities and in creating employment and developing the skills of the participants who get involved. The awards granted to the successful applicants will also allow them to further develop their plans and activities and bring the benefits of their social enterprise to more individuals and communities.

The 2022 fund is available to provide a small number of financial awards for Social Enterprises that are at start-up or in the development phase.

In Sept 2021 Dublin City Council announced the 8 Dublin based social enterprises awarded funding and support after successful completing the awards process. You will find the list below of Dublin City Social Enterprise Awardees for 2021 – Well done!

The 8 awardees received funding from a total pool of €50,000 along with various supports which will assist their social enterprises to develop and achieve a greater impact among the individuals and communities that they serve and assist in Dublin city. They also received a bespoke trophy which was handmade by PACE, a local social enterprise and previous awardee.

It could be you this year! Information about the 2022 awards application process, criteria and application form are available here following the launch on March 10th 2022.

Submission Deadline for Applications: 23:59 – 25th of April 2022.

Visit www.innercityenterprise.com to learn more.

More About Recycle IT

Recycle IT is a Social Enterprise providing employment and training through recycling opportunities. We offer recycling drop off and collection services in Dublin and surrounding areas.

In 2021 our team help recycle 652 tons of waste electrical, electronic equipment and metal. This includes business IT equipment, commercial equipment and domestic household appliances.

Recycle IT worked with individuals, resident associations, charities, schools, government organisations, community groups and businesses to provide safe electrical recycling services to those with differing needs and budgets.

Read our annual overview here.

Read more about social enterprise in Ireland here.