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550,000 new TVs bought for
switchover
02.04.13
by Linda McGrory
IRISH people bought more than a whopping 550,000 new
televisions in the eighteen-month run-up to the
digital switchover last year.
That was over 1,000 new TVs bought each day for the
changeover on October 24, 2012.
A further 333,000 digital set top boxes were bought
by consumers to adapt their old TVs for the switch.
New figures show that 335,000 Saorview-approved
televisions were sold through Irish retailers during
the 18-months of the switchover campaign,
representing about 60 per cent of total television
sales. |
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A further 233,000
Saorview-approved set-top boxes were sold through
retailers, representing some 70 per cent of all
set-top box sales.
While the figures cover the 18-month duration of the
Saorview campaign, most of the sales occurred in
2012.
At the same time, Irish households scrapped more
than 800 old televisions a day during the key
switchover period.
The statistics show that some 75,000 old TVs were
disposed of from October to December 2012 through
Saorview’s official recycling partner, WEEE Ireland.
This was nearly double the number of televisions
recycled in the final quarter of 2011.
WEEE Ireland compliance manager, Elizabeth O'Reilly,
said the switch from analogue to digital resulted in
a strong year for TV recycling.
“We are currently compiling our data for the 2012
annual report and all indications are that it was a
bumper year for TV recycling for WEEE Ireland," said
Ms O'Reilly.
"The work we did with Saorview during the digital
switchover to promote recycling of those TVs at the
end of their useful life resulted in more than
75,000 TVs being recycled responsibly during the key
switchover months at the end of the year," she said.
Meanwhile, a total of about 280,000 obsolete
televisions and monitors were recycled through WEEE
Ireland last year. This represented a massive 40 per
cent rise on the previous year. Tens of thousands
more obsolete TVs were recycled through civic
amenity sites and other waste management services or
downgraded to spare rooms for DVDs and gaming.
Ms O’Reilly added: "Thanks to everyone who brought
their old and broken TV sets to the WEEE Ireland
collection events, to retail take-back points and to
civic amenity collection sites.”
Under WEEE regulations, suppliers and retailers are
obliged to take back customers' old televisions free
of charge on a like-for-like basis when they
purchase a new one. |
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