Tag: recycling

2023 School Recycling Collections

On By JMCEIn Awards, Dublin, Electronic and Electrical Recycling, Electronic Equipment, We Recycle ITLeave a comment

Free Collection Service

Schools, colleges, and training organisations located in Dublin and surrounding areas now have the opportunity to recycle old and once-valued electrical, electronic and pure metal equipment. If you need to declutter and create space recycling safely can really help.

The service is offered free and is dedicated to reducing large amounts of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) which accumulates in classrooms, canteens, stores, and labs over time.

Recycle IT, is a community-based social enterprise, offering a simple and efficient route to recycle unused electrical and electronic items. After collection, items are broken down and recovered materials are processed for use in the manufacture of a new product. Your recycling helps sustain our organization and create employment and training opportunities.

The free collection service helps safely divert e-waste from landfills and makes use of old items that may have been thrown away. The types of items usually collected include computers, kitchen equipment, phone systems, mobile phones, laptops, tablets, monitors, projectors, printers, battery-operated toys, televisions, and radios. Please click here for a full list 

School Printers - Recycle IT
School Printers – Recycle IT

Schools, Community and Fundraising 

Our learning sector collection service is organised as part of our free community collection service. Recycle IT also support WEEE Ireland with collections of batteries from schools around Dublin which in turn supports the work of LauraLynn Children’s Hospice.

During the last 18 months, our teams have worked with hundreds of schools, colleges, and youth training organisations all over Dublin to achieve an overall increase in electrical equipment collected for recycling with a similar trend in 2023.

We are delighted to be in a position to help your staff and students and organisation safely recycle all types of electrical, electronic and pure metal equipment so do email us. Recycling with us directly creates real training opportunities and maintains employment levels within our social enterprise.

School Electronics for Recycling

Register an interest

Schools, colleges, and trainers of all types in Dublin and the surrounding area are welcome to register an interest, simply complete a registration form by clicking here or call our team on 01 4578321 Monday – Friday. Once you call or email we can help you plan and schedule your e-waste collection which will help:

  • Reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators.
  • Conserves natural resources such as water and minerals.
  • Increases economic well-being and creates local training and employment opportunities.
  • Prevents pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials.
  • Saves energy.
School Collections Supported by WEEE Ireland

About Recycle IT

Recycle IT is an award-winning, not-for-profit, social enterprise established to create employment and promote environmental awareness through recycling and reuse. We work in partnership with WEEE Ireland and are authorized by your local authority to provide electrical, electronic and pure metal recycling collections across Dublin since 2007. Recycle IT are fully compliant with WEEE Recycling Requirements and permit details are available here.

For more information about Recycle IT please click here.

Mixed Electrical Equipment

Lighting Up Christmas & New Year 2023

On By JMCEIn Dublin, Electronic and Electrical Recycling, Electronic Equipment, Family, News, We Recycle ITLeave a comment

Some Facts on Christmas Lights!

Over many generations and into the 20th century candles of all shapes and sizes were the preferred Christmas lights across Ireland. The dangers of mixing flickering flames with drying needles from real Christmas trees were accepted in order to make cities, towns, communities and homes brighter places for the dark days in December each year!

Parliament Street Dublin Christmas Light

The earliest manufactured Christmas lights were made of blown glass or porcelain and appeared on Christmas trees in the homes of wealthy people in the 1800s. In the early 1900s, it was fashionable to buy hand-painted bulbs shaped like animals and flowers.

As you can imagine the general public at first didn’t trust electric lights as a safe alternative to candles, but that changed after  US President, Grover Cleveland erected the first Christmas tree with electrical lights in 1895. With more than 100 multicoloured bulbs, the brightly coloured tree got the attention of people across the USA, and illuminated Christmas trees soon became the rage all over the world, —if you could afford one! This year in particular lots of families in homes across Ireland will be switching on many sets of new Christmas lights. Today most of these light will be LED (Light Emitting Diode) which mean traditional lights are no longer used and should be recycled.

Dublin Lights
Dublin Street Christmas Lights

We suggested finding a new use for your old lights so why not start today.  You will find some awesome DIY ideas for reusing/recycling old lights and bulbs at www.brit.co   The team at brit have listed lots of tips with pictures which demonstrate what can be achieved. Whether you plan to turn light bulbs into small vases or cover them with glitter to masquerade as a festive pear, these versatile pieces of glass can be reused anywhere.

Christmas lights can be reused at other times of the year.  You and your kids can make some of the lights covers in the shape of Valentine Hearts, Easter Bunnies or Halloween Pumpkins and you have colourful decorations for many different celebrates or festivals

Moving to LED Lights

Today LED lighting offers many benefits and features that were difficult,  if not impossible, to offer with old lighting used over many generations. These benefits, include enhancing operating energy leading to cost reductions, longer life and lower overall heat generation. Other benefits include appearance productivity and reduced temperatures produced by LEDs.

Electric Ireland reports that for most people, lighting accounts for around 11% of their electricity bills and switching your halogen light bulbs to energy-efficient LEDs can cut those lighting costs by up to 80%. In other words; the savings with LEDs add up fast.

For each light bulb, you replace with an LED light bulb, you will see immediate savings on your energy bill. So big savings at Christmas.

Christmas Tree – Lights up Dublin

You can read some LED tips below!

  1. LED lights usually cost only a little more than traditional Christmas lights and glow brighter.
  2. By changing to LED lights you will save on electricity during the festive season.
  3. A longer life span means lower carbon emissions. LED Lights last up to six times longer than other types of lights, reducing the requirement for frequent replacements.
  4. Strings of LED light can be much longer than traditional lights
  5. New LED lights generally stay cooler which is deemed safer.
  6. LED lights now create the glow of incandescent light or traditional fairy lights so you can relive memories of years ago.
  7. LED lights contain no toxic elements, therefore, they help to protect the environment and reduce toxic waste created by traditional Christmas lights.
  8. 95% of the energy in LED lights is converted into lighting with only 5% wasted as heat.

Before you buy lights this festive season, it’s important to compare your options and find out the type of lighting which work best for you and your home. Remember LEDs can save you money and reduce energy consumption which is a positive for the pocket and the environment.

Dublin At Christmas brings festive Christmas magic to Dublin's City Centre - DublinTown
Christmas Lights Dublin – Dublin Town

Festive Dublin in Lights

Dublin City Council is excited to announce the return of the spectacular ‘Dublin Winter Lights’. The lights were switched on in mid-November 2021 and will remain on until January 1st. This year 21 locations will feature in the form of 2 walking trails around the city that are transformed with colourful projections and lighting displays.

The eco-friendly ‘Dublin Winter Lights’ features 157,800 low-power LEDs, 100 tonnes of equipment and 15,780 metres of cable. Click here for more information and map details.

Recycling Lights

Whether it’s old indoor, outdoor, coloured or white lights, you should try to reuse or recycle. Old lights and other unused Christmas illuminations should not be left sitting in boxes in the store, shed or garage. They’ll usually never shine again once replaced by newer alternatives. In reality, unused items create unnecessary clutter which will need to be clear in the future.

If you do decide to recycle your old lights please do so in an environmentally friendly way. Recycle IT are happy to collect old lights and other electrical or electronic items or you can drop them off with our recycling team at no cost. You can also drop lights off at your local recycling or bring centre. 

About Recycle IT

Recycle IT is a not-for-profit social enterprise providing collection and drop-off services for all types of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Yearly Recycle IT offered to drop-off and collection services to thousands of homes and organisations across Dublin and surrounding areas collecting a range of WEEE which includes thousands of computers, televisions, toasters, cables, lawnmowers, monitors, microwaves and kettles.

Recycle IT services are provided in partnership with WEEE Ireland. Recycle IT is supported by South Dublin County Council and authorized by the National Waste Collection Permit Office and the local authorities across Leinster.

Visit our website for further details.

Christmas Lights

Is Ireland Winning the WEEE Battle?

On By JMCEIn Electronic and Electrical RecyclingLeave a comment

Report for 2020

The Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently published its annual Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Statistics Report for 2020.

We are delighted to share the news that a record 64,856 tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment were collected in Ireland for processing.

Mixed Household Electrical Equipment

This is the highest quantity ever recorded in Ireland. However, for the second year, we did not meet the waste electrical and electronic equipment collection target of 65%. We achieved a 60% collection rate, slightly reduced from the 61% recorded for 2019.

Recycling Trends

The trends identified by the Irish Environmental Protection Agency are listed below.

  • Ireland collected a record 64,856 tonnes of WEEE for treatment.
  • Ireland achieved a WEEE collection rate of 60% in 2020 as efforts to increase collection were outpaced by the growth in Electrical and Electronic Equipment placed on the market.
  • Large household equipment accounted for 56% (by weight). This includes washing machines, tumble dryers, cookers, ovens etc. ‘
  • Small electrical equipment accounts for 17% (by weight) of electrical items collected. This includes coffee machines, food processors, radios, kettles, toasters and similar items.
  • Fridges and freezers accounted for 16% (by weight).
Percentage Breakdown of WEEE collected in 2020 by Weight

Buying and Recycling

Generally, the purchase and usage of electronic goods are closely linked to people’s economic wealth. This is reflected in the WEEE data for Ireland for 2008-2020 shown in Figure 2.

Screens and Monitors

It is evident that the economic recession between 2008 and 2011 led to a decrease in the quantity of WEEE collected and recovered, as Irish householders and businesses did not replace electrical and electronic equipment as frequently during this period.

The growth in the Irish economy since 2012 has led to large rises in electrical equipment collected and recovered, which reached record highs in 2020.

This rise matches the reported increases in retail sales of electrical goods in 2020. The trend is likely attributable to changes brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic such as the widespread shift to remote working and a surge in household clear-outs.

Based on data provided by the Producer Register Limited, Ireland’s national register of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), there was an increase of 11% in overall EEE placed on the market in Ireland in 2020 compared with 2019, while there were considerably larger increases in quantities of ‘small IT and communications equipment, screens and monitors’ which rose by 32% and 31% respectively

Communication Equipment

European Reporting

As part of annual reporting under the EU WEEE Directive, the EPA compiles statistics on WEEE collection and treatment in Ireland. The data are required to be submitted to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, by 30th June of the reference year +2 (i.e. 2020 data were collected and processed in 2021 and reported in 2022). Following validation of the data by Eurostat, official statistics for all Member States are published on the Eurostat website as part of the following dataset here.

About Recycle IT

Recycle IT, is an award-winning Dublin-based, not-for-profit, social enterprise offering electrical, electronic and metal recycling. Services are provided in partnership with WEEE Ireland. Recycle IT is supported by Pobal, the Dormant Accounts Fund, and South Dublin County Council. Recycle IT is authorised 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

Electrical items collection for recycling

32 Reduce, Reuse Repurpose and Recycling Tips

On By JMCEIn Electronic and Electrical RecyclingLeave a comment

Go Green for Life

Recycling is an easy way to protect our environment and climate while ensuring the wellbeing of our community for the next generation. However, the success of recycling depends on the active participation of every member of the community including kids of all ages.

Eco-Friendly Reuse.

By everyone doing a little, we all can reduce the amount of waste that is deposited in the landfill or incinerated. Thinking about the reuse of materials made from recycled materials helps maintain the recycling circle and its part in the circular economy.

We have listed 32 recycling tips – You might adapt some!
  1. Use both sides of the page when writing or drawing
  2. Give your kids or local schools part used printed paper for drawing
  3. Bring your food to school or work using a reusable tubs
  4. Rent or hire school books and supplies (reuse)
  5. Hire gardening tools that you only use occasionally
  6. Make a bird feeder by reusing a medium size plastic bottle 
  7. Opt for low-energy light bulbs
  8. Give your unwanted clothes a second life
  9. Reuse and repair as much as possible – shoes, clothes etc.
  10. Offer seasonal kids costumes to clothes to others as your kids grow!  
  11. Choose to buy bars of soap
  12. Choose long life or durable products e.g. reusable razors or ink pens
  13. Use rechargeable batteries in home appliances
  14. Avoid unnecessary purchasing of occasion products, e.g. Christmas, Easter
  15. Offer gifts, such as tickets for a show, sports event or concert leading to reduce material content
  16. Choose eco-friendly products – read the labels
  17. Buys product with less packaging
  18. Buy regularly use products in bulk, e.g. canned and jarred products.
  19. Reuse shopping bags
  20. Use refillable products e.g. coffee, loss tea
  21. Drink tap water
  22. Prepared food at home for picnics while reusing flasks, tubs, knives, forks, and reusable carry bags
  23. Choose fresh food rather than processed food, healthier and less packaging
  24. Bake cakes and muffins instead of buying! 
  25. Limited home and office printing, share files over email or file sharing tools e.g. dropbox
  26. Recycle ink cartridges – where you purchased your ink! 
  27. Bring a mug and glass to work to refill coffee, tea or water during the working day
  28. Approach office supply companies about purchasing used office equipment
  29. Cycle to work or college rather than taking the bus or car
  30. Car share where distances are longer and where public transport is not accessible.
  31. Take your uneaten food home from restaurants in a doggy bag.
  32. Composite garden cuttings to create a natural fertilizer

The 4 Rs

In Ireland and across Europe, the focus on the 3 R’s has increased over recent years As recovery of resources through, reduce, reuse, repurposing and recycling has increased it has become increasingly important for consumers to take ownership and steps themselves to ensure products purchases can be reused, repurposed or recycled using accessible and economically sustainable solutions.

Reuse In Ireland – Click here to go larger

Recycle IT – What we are doing?

As we recover from COVID 19 and vaccines are offered Recycle IT are again offering electrical recycling collections directly to people’s homes. Prior to the pandemic we delivered up to 2000 leaflets a week promoting our free community collection service and would plan to achieve that number again soon!

We encourage people to take advantage of this free drop off and cost-effective personal and business collections. We do offer and safely manage services to community groups, charity organisations, schools and colleges so rest assured we have a service to match your needs.

By recycling your waste electrical and electronic equipment you help the environment and our organisation create training and employment opportunities that otherwise would not exist.

If you have questions or would like to arrange a personal collection from your home or business, please call 01 4578321 or email: info@recycleit.ie.  You can also visit our website to learn more about our work and our recent awards.

Recycle IT – Truck

15 Recycling Facts

On By JMCEIn Electronic and Electrical Recycling, We Recycle ITLeave a comment

Community Recycling.

Each year we as a nation we support events like Spring Clean Month, Recycling Week and Reuse Month. These events were established to promote the importance of recovery, reuse and recycling. They offer you,  your kids, family, friends and colleagues an opportunity to learn and do more as communities about what to do about waste.

Recycling is a real driver for change. It brings people in communities together to support change and make a real difference. Recycling helps with environmental wellbeing, community volunteering and creates actual employment opportunities in cities, towns and villages across Ireland. So the more people try reusing or recycling the greater the benefits.

When items for recycling are collected with skill and care, some can be fixed for reuse and others disassembled becoming a resource that contributes to new product and jobs creation, business expansion, and the local economy.

2020 1 Paint IMG_1145
Old Paint for Recycling – Recycle IT

In recent years Ireland has achieved its highest ever rate of recycling, surpassing all EU recycling targets, The country’s overall recycling rate of 68% for all materials is ahead of the EU targets by 13% and it is now one of the leading performers in Europe. (Source: Repak).

The breakdown of recycling rates by materials are as follows:

  • Glass at 86% (EU target: 60%)
  • Metals at 79% (EU target: 50%)
  • Paper at 78% (EU target: 60%)
  • Wood at 95% (EU target: 15%)
  • Plastic at 33% (EU target: 22.5%).

Irish people know the importance of recycling and are doing great but we can always do more especially around recycling contamination. Sometimes with the best intentions, we are actually putting the wrong things in that green bin so just be mindful and follow Irelands recycling lists.

Electronic and Electrical Recycling

When you think of electronic or electrical waste equipment (WEEE) or e-waste, do you think of items like computers, radios, light bulbs, zip disks, and tapes drives, clock alarms or wall clocks, even cameras, it’s really any items with computerised parts.

IMG_2089
Camera Reuse / Recycling – Recycle IT

These items and similar are adding to an ever-increasing e-waste mountain and the pile usually starts building in people’s homes. We know electrical or electronic items are not recycled as easily or as frequently as other recyclable materials such as paper, glass or plastics. Some of the items are very large and hard to recycle, others are small and have a personal or perceived value so people don’t want to let them go!

Let’s share some facts! 
  1. The original owner of a laptop will keep it only three years before it is replaced. Mobile phones are replaced every 24 months or less. (lots to recycle).
  2. It is estimated in 2019 that 91% of all Irish households own a household computer with internet access. (Source: Statista Research Department).
  3. In Ireland, 90% of the population, now have access to a smartphone Source: Ipsos MORI)
  4. Three million people in Ireland in 2017 own a smartphone and check it around 57 times a day.
  5. It was estimated that about 50 million tons of e-waste were generated worldwide in 2018. China leads the way, with 7.2 million tons per annum, while the USA generated approx. 6.3 million tons per annum.
  6. Recycling electronic and electrical equipment allows materials to be reused, and re-using materials helps create new jobs.
  7. Recycling just one million laptops has the same impact as powering 3657 homes for one year! ( Source: How to Save Your Planet One Object at a Time)
  8. Electronic waste can contain more than 1,000 components, many of which are toxic, including heavy metals like lead, mercury and cadmium.
  9. Computers and televisions tend to have the most gold in them, but camcorders, media players, game consoles, and mobile phones also contain gold.
  10. According to the US EPA, one computer contains 3.6KG of lead which is toxic.
  11. Nokia report that globally, 74% of consumers don’t think about recycling mobile phones, despite the fact that around the same number, 72%, think recycling makes a difference to the environment.
  12. Large household appliances accounted for 48% by weight of all waste electrical items collected in Ireland during 2019. (Source: WEEE Ireland).
  13. Computers, laptops and tablets are not designed to be recycled mechanically – they are difficult to take apart, many of the materials cannot be easily identified. It takes real manual effort to extract components. (Recycle IT 2020)
  14. In 2018, Ireland collected 36,131 tonnes of e-waste and 856 tonnes of waste batteries for recycling (Source WEEE Ireland).
  15. It is estimated that Irish people disposed of 3.2 million lamps and lightbulbs, 195,000 televisions and monitors and 13 million small appliances. (Source WEEE Ireland).

There are many ways that recycling helps our environment. Why not try to remember and introduce these 5 points.

  • A reduction in landfill and industrial waste by reuse or recycling.
  • Reduced energy usage by reuse or recycling.
  • Less pollution through reuse or recycling.
  • Increased employment by reuse or recycling.
  • Sustainable usage of natural resources by reuse and recycling.

When Irish people wish to make a point, they usually do it well. This needs to be the case with reduce, reuse and recycling

2020 11 planters IMG_0179 (2)
Reused Drum as Planter – Recycle IT

By recycling, your positive actions make you part of the solution rather than part of a global problem. As local communities we must plan and first take steps to reduce the amount of waste and including e-waste that is clogging up our lives .

Making sure that recyclable items such as computers don’t end up in the wrong bin, landfills or illegally dumped is an important step toward green living and environmental conservation for future generation.

About Recycle IT

Recycle IT is a not for profit social enterprise providing a community collection service for all types of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

Over the last 18 months Recycle IT offered collection services to 110,000 homes and businesses across Dublin and surrounding areas collecting a range of WEEE including over computers, monitors and TV’s.

Our services are provided in partnership with WEEE Ireland. We are authorized by the National Waste Collection Permit Office and the local authority. Visit www.recycleit.ie  to learn more or book your recycling collection on telephone 01 4578321.

Learn more about Repak Recycling here

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