HOUSEHOLDERS are being
urged not to recycle unwanted TVs, fridges and
freezers through unauthorised scrap collectors who
strip them of component parts before dumping them at
a risk to public health and the environment.
Compliance body WEEE Ireland said more than 16,000
tonnes of electrical waste was ending up in the
hands of unlicensed operators each year through a
combination of unauthorised door-to-door collections
and thefts from recycling centres and electrical
retailers' yards.
The organisation warned there was a risk of
potentially harmful chemicals such as mercury, lead,
cadmium and CFC gases leaking into the environment
because items were being dismantled haphazardly. It
said unauthorised collections could also damage
Ireland's rate of compliance with EU recycling
targets with the risk of fines being imposed in the
future.
WEEE Ireland chief executive, Leo Donovan, said
unauthorised electrical waste collection was a
growing problem with container loads of metals and
parts regularly leaving here for the UK, Europe and
Africa.
He said 20 per cent of Ireland's electrical waste
was now being diverted away from authorised
recycling channels to unlicensed operators as the
price of scrap metal remains strong. He said Irish
nationals, non-nationals and international players
were all involved in the industry.
"Authorised recycling operators are permitted and
licensed to collect and manage WEEE in an
environmentally sound manner. They are regulated
with regular inspections and audits by local
authorities and the Environmental Protection
Agency," he said.
"Unauthorised operators will extract a few valuable
components from an item and will discard the rest.
They might be after a small fraction of copper but
in the process they will break up a sealed unit and
potentially release hazardous chemicals into the
environment."
Ireland is currently meeting its WEEE targets with
170,000 tonnes of electrical waste - the equivalent
of 200 jumbo jets - diverted from landfill in the
past eight years.
Mr Donovan reminded consumers that recycling
unwanted electrical and battery waste is completely
free of charge through civic amenity sites; when
buying similar items from electrical retailers and
during authorised waste collection days.
Check out
www.recyclefree.ie |
