BOSCO ‘Moves House’ for the LauraLynn Spread a Little Sunshine Campaign
October 27, 2013
This year WEEE Ireland is hoping to, at least match, the €45,000 fund previously raised for LauraLynn, by increasing battery recycling in Ireland by 20% on last year!
Ireland’s most famous red haired puppet Bosco took up residence in his new home today in order to raise awareness and encourage everyone to recycle their waste portable batteries for the “Spread a Little Sunshine” campaign for LauraLynn. Bosco was helped by Sean Ross, age seven from Clondalkin, who receives respite care from LauraLynn, and is one of the hundreds of children who has benefited from the “Spread a Little Sunshine” fundraising campaign launched by WEEE Ireland for the children’s hospice since 2011.
PRESS RELEASE
Tuesday October 22nd
BOSCO ‘MOVES HOUSE’ FOR THE LAURALYNN SPREAD A LITTLE SUNSHINE BATTERY CAMPAIGN
Bosco calls on all “boys and girls” (and grown ups) to recycle batteries for LauraLynn
Look out for special WEEE Ireland blue battery boxes across the country and make a difference-
• This year WEEE Ireland is hoping to, at least match, the €45,000 fund previously raised for LauraLynn, by increasing battery recycling in Ireland by 20% on last year!
• Every portable battery recycled by WEEE Ireland goes towards a monetary fund for LauraLynn
• The money raised so far through portable battery recycling equates to 300 parent overnight stays and 300 music therapy sessions for children at LauraLynn
• The average person uses the equivalent of 16 AA batteries every year
• 57 MILLION batteries recycled since 2011 by WEEE Ireland as a part of the “Spread a Little Sunshine” campaign for Ireland’s children’s hospice
• To get involved simply place your waste batteries in the Blue WEEE Ireland battery recycling boxes in your local retail outlet, participating school or office, or bring them to your local council recycling centre
Bosco Battery recycling for lauralynn
Ireland’s most famous red haired puppet Bosco took up residence in his new home today in order to raise awareness and encourage everyone to recycle their waste portable batteries for the “Spread a Little Sunshine” campaign for LauraLynn. Bosco was helped by Sean Ross, age seven from Clondalkin, who receives respite care from LauraLynn, and is one of the hundreds of children who has benefited from the “Spread a Little Sunshine” fundraising campaign launched by WEEE Ireland for the children’s hospice since 2011.
Bosco’s new home was created out of a special WEEE Ireland blue battery box, which are on display across Ireland in retailers and are the simplest outlet for members of the general public to recycle their batteries in for free. ‘Every battery counts’ when it comes to raising much-needed funds for LauraLynn and Bosco and WEEE Ireland are urging people to recycle much MORE to help reach the recycling target and raise funds for LauraLynn. Simply look out for the blue WEEE Ireland battery boxes in retail outlets across the country and pop your waste batteries in them to make your donation. You can also bring batteries back for recycling to your local civic amenity site, or to a WEEE public collection day near you. Log on to recyclefree.ie for more details on where to recycle.
Speaking about his new home and the Spread a Little Sunshine campaign, Bosco said: “This is my very first visit to LauraLynn today and I am very lucky to get to meet such special boys and girls. My new house is made from a WEEE Ireland blue battery box and I hope that this will raise awareness of just how easy it is to recycle your waste batteries by popping them into the blue battery boxes in retailers around Ireland. I want everyone to make a big effort to go through their drawers and look under their beds for any waste batteries that might be lying around – the more we recycle the more money we can raise for LauraLynn while helping the environment too.”
Since “Spread a Little Sunshine” for LauraLynn began in 2011, WEEE Ireland have recycled 57 MILLION batteries in their designated areas and more importantly raised much needed funds for LauraLynn in the process.
Philomena Dunne, CEO of LauraLynn, said: “When this fundraising campaign started back in 2011 we had no idea how popular it would become. The LauraLynn facility relies 100% on the support of public fundraising and requires €2.37 million annually to operate. The battery-recycling fund, in one year alone, paid for 300 parent overnight stays and 300 music therapy sessions for children at LauraLynn receiving respite care with us.* We thank everyone who has contributed to this campaign and we hope everyone will continue to bring their batteries back to the blue WEEE Ireland boxes across the country.”
Leo Donovan, WEEE Ireland said: “I would like to personally thank every retailer, school and office that displays the blue WEEE Ireland battery box in pride of place in their respective establishments– it is because of you that we have raised so much for LauraLynn. As we are now in the run up to the Christmas season, WEEE Ireland are once again calling on the general public to make sure that they recycle waste batteries properly. Many people are already recycling their batteries responsibly, and battery recycling is very much part of their recycling routine at home and work, which is wonderful, but we need everyone to take part to support the cause and ‘recycle better’ . Simply put, it helps LauraLynn, it stops harmful damage to the environment, and you get to donate to a charity for free, it’s a win win!”
For more information on LauraLynn please log on to lauralynn.ie, for more information on WEEE Ireland log on to recyclefree.ie.
*The campaign to date has raised €45k for LauraLynn, 300 overnight parent stays equates to €30k and 300 music therapy sessions equates to €15k – source LauraLynn.