WEEE Ireland and LauraLynn are incredibly proud to mark nine years of partnership during 2020, while revealing a donation of over €50,000 bringing their total donation to over €440,000. Ireland’s largest electrical and battery recycling scheme is also marking over ten years of the Battery Directive which benefits Ireland's only Children's Hospice.
Since the introduction of the Battery Directive in late 2008, WEEE Ireland has collected and recycled the equivalent of 320 million AA batteries – that’s five times around the coast of Ireland when laid end to end. In 2019, 47% of all portable batteries placed on the market were recovered and recycled, the equivalent of 11 AA batteries for every person in Ireland! There’s more of this fantastic work to be done, though, with 12 more batteries per person “hiding” in homes across the country.
WEEE Ireland and LauraLynn have thanked Irish households for their fantastic efforts over the past year letting the world know that Small Things Matter and can really make a difference! Recycling waste batteries and e-waste of all kinds provides enormous benefits to the environment and what’s more, by recycling your batteries in WEEE Ireland’s blue battery boxes, whether at home, in school, or at participating retailers, you are helping LauraLynn to provide much-needed services to children and families across Ireland.
You can find your nearest collection point at www.weeeireland.ie/household-recycling/where-can-i-recycle/.
Accepting the €50,000 donation on behalf of LauraLynn, CEO Orla O’Brien said: “Congratulations to our partner WEEE Ireland on the amazing success of their battery recycling campaign and the outcome achieved in 2019. This is a very special campaign that we are honoured to have been involved in over the last nine years. The funds that we have received from WEEE Ireland as a result of the campaign have had such a positive impact on the children and families who need LauraLynn, a huge thank you to everyone who took the time to recycle their batteries. It may seem like a small thing, but for the children and families who need LauraLynn, and for the environment, it is huge and very impactful.”
Bosco, the nation’s favourite redhead, and WEEE Ireland Battery Recycling Ambassador, said: “I am so proud of all the boys and girls and grownups in Ireland for being such brilliant battery recyclers, but now I need your help to find all those other batteries hiding in your house so we can fill up even more blue boxes and help even more of the lovely boys and girls at LauraLynn. Remember…don’t put your batteries in the bin, recycle them for LauraLynn!”
Leo Donovan, chief executive of WEEE Ireland, said: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with LauraLynn, Ireland’s Children’s Hospice on behalf of industry members. We couldn’t support their fantastic work without the support of the Irish public and the figures really do speak for themselves, with the phenomenal figure of the equivalent to 320 million AA batteries recycled since we started our battery programme. There’s still more to do, though, with even more to be recycled in 2020, so we’re asking everyone in Ireland to do their bit and recycle those batteries.”
