WEEE Ireland, The Irish Compliance Scheme for Electrical and Battery Recycling

Apple has committed to becoming carbon neutral for its entire carbon footprint by 2030. Apple is focused on decarbonising the three largest sources of its emissions - materials, electricity and supply chain across its entire value chain. It prioritises drastically reducing the emissions with initiatives focused on achieving the broadest impact before applying offsets. Apple has advanced towards its 2030 goal by using recycled and renewable material, which have a lower carbon footprint than primary materials. Apple’s innovation drives its efforts around circularity - from materials sourcing and product design choices to the recycling and recovery innovations they pursue. The company aims to create products that use circular supply chains to one day end reliance on mined resources while meeting their rigorous standards for quality, durability, performance, and environmental and social protections.

KMK Metals Recycling are the industry leader in certified resource recovery solutions and play a crucial role in achieving Ireland’s ambitious recycling targets. As lead contractor to the largest WEEE compliance scheme WEEE Ireland, KMK Metals Recycling collect material from retailers and recycling centres throughout Ireland to treat both hazardous and non-hazardous materials at their facilities in Co. Offaly and Westmeath.

The project, funded by the Circular Economy Innovation Grant and led by FIT (Fastrack into Information Technology), aims to address the shortage of Consumer Electronics Service and Repair Technicians in Ireland. FIT and WEEE Ireland are collaborating on this initiative with a goal to encourage more repair and reuse activities within the Consumer Electronics sector by introducing the Circular Economy Skillset Initiatives (CESI). The course developed by FIT will be the first of its kind in Ireland, focusing on preventive maintenance, repair, and reuse in Consumer Electronics, thereby supporting a more circular and sustainable economy. The project's pilot phase will run from August 2023 to April 2024.

refurbed is Ireland’s leading marketplace for refurbished electronics. refurbed sells more affordable and sustainable tech to consumers and businesses, helping minimise Ireland's e-waste and helping Irish consumers battle the ever-rising cost of living. refurbed offers a min. 12-month warranty and flexible payments, with other benefits such as: a 30-day free trial, free delivery, refurbed Business (businesses can easily buy refurbished devices or sell old tech to refurbed partners), and Plus (insurance for consumers to further lengthen device life). refurbed supports environmental initiatives for every product sold, including landscape restoration, atmospheric CO2 removal, e-waste recycling and native Irish tree planting.

Signify, the world's largest lighting manufacturer, has a strong commitment to increasing their Circular revenue to 32% by 2025. With over 125 years of experience, Signify continues to innovate in LED lighting and is leading the industry’s expansion to lighting systems in both the professional and consumer markets. In a notable project for 2023, Signify has received partial funding from the European Green Deal to implement energy-efficient LED lighting in the Dublin Port Tunnel. This initiative is expected to save €4 million over the next 5 years. Additionally, Signify demonstrated their circular efforts by reusing the existing fittings for all the light points in the tunnel.

In 2022, WEEE Ireland commissioned the consultancy dss+ to survey White Goods Association's members and other home appliances producers on the Irish market in relation to their repair activity (reference year 2020). The aim of this study was to better understand and measure the repair initiatives already in place in Ireland.

Beko has maintained its commitment to the environment in 2024 through a renewed focus on reducing its carbon footprint but also by continuing to implement circular practices aimed at minimizing the use of virgin materials. Showcasing innovative ways to incorporate recycled content into their products, Beko has worked with their suppliers to transform plastic materials like used fishing nets, industrial thread waste or plastic bottles into recycled materials that have then gone into the production of high-performance appliance parts.

Whirlpool offers a wide range of genuine spare parts and accessories for their household and garden appliances at low prices. Spare parts can be bought directly on the Whirlpool website. The company also offers a repair service to extend the life of their products.

To better respond to recyclers’ needs, APPLiA and DIGITALEUROPE created a single central online platform – the Information for Recyclers Platform (I4R) – where recyclers can access dismantling and recycling information at product category level. Published in 2018, the platform is hosted and maintained by the WEEE Forum, an international association of producer responsibility organisations and a centre of competence.

Glen Dimplex Ireland (GDI) offers repair services for their appliances. GDI refurbish all major appliances that are returned for re-sale. GDI also offer genuine spare parts for their repair technicians and for sale for end users. A significant share of their spare parts come from returned appliances.

Conns Cameras is a family-run business situated in Dublin city centre. While their primary activity is to sell cameras and other photography and video equipment, Conns Cameras have provided trade-in options and equipment rental for many years. Repair services can also be facilitated through the company. In 2021, more than 750 reused EEE units were sold. as second-hand equipment makes up a significant portion of Conns Cameras’ business.

The new ‘Circular Economy Skills Initiative’ (CESI) course aims to train technicians to ensure thousands of washing machines, fridges and dishwashers are given a new lease of life across the country. WEEE Ireland, the White Goods Association and technical training agency FIT (FastTrack to Information Technology) joined forces to create this innovative curriculum and career pathway.

Fagerhult develops and manufactures professional lighting systems for public environments, indoor and outdoor. One of their sustainability initiatives, Whitecroft Vitality, is a new approach to circularity, offering maintaince checks and upgrades to luminaires. This way, the whole luminaire does not need to be replaced and thus keeps the product in the economy for additional lifecycles.

The Long-Life Lithium Battery (LLLB) innovation demonstration project aims to identify and isolate damaged modules from existing waste lithium battery flows in Ireland and investigate the potential for refurbishment and reuse of undamaged modules. LLLB is a pilot partnership between WEEE Ireland, KMK Metals Recycling and Wisetek Solutions.

In 2020 and 2022, WEEE Ireland funded the attendance of some of our Members to the MODOS Green enterprise and Circular Economy course. Organised by Dublin County Council, this course aims to give small and medium enterprises the skills and tools to develop their circular practices.

In 2020 and 2021, WEEE Ireland partnered with the White Goods Association to promote authorised repair of electrical appliances on RepairMyStuff.ie, an online platform which connects consumers with over 800 professionals in Ireland able to repair everything from watches to washing machines and as well as toys, textiles, furniture and more.

The ALR4000 is the latest development of technology by Votechnik for the recycling of LCD displays. The technology is cutting edge and leading in the field of recycling where a Robot within the ALR4000 lifts up waste LCD displays and bring them through a choreographed sequence of steps to depollute the LCD of its hazardous materials. The components containing the hazardous materials including mercury in fluorescent tubes and liquid crystal in the glass panel are separated from the display allowing the remainder of the display to be recycled using traditional techniques to recover metals, plastics and precious metal in PCB boards. The ALR4000 stands 5 meters tall and 12 meters wide in white armour and is proudly deployed with Ireland's leading recycler, KMK Metals Recycling, in their Kilbeggan Facility.

In 2020, as part of its membership with CIRCULÉIRE, WEEE Ireland surveyed around 130 Producer Members on their understanding, challenges and activities related to the Circular Economy. In a follow-up survey in early 2021, WEEE Ireland asked members to report on their existing circular practices for the first time.

CIRCULÉIRE is a public-private partnership dedicated to driving large scale systemic innovation that shows the business and societal values of embracing circularity in Ireland and accelerates the transition towards a zero-carbon circular economy. Irish Manufacturing Research, in collaboration with strategic partners; the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), EIT Climate-KIC and 25 Founding Industry Members including WEEE Ireland, soft launched CIRCULÉIRE – the National Platform for Circular Manufacturing as a pilot initiative at the end of January 2020.

WEEE Ireland has an ongoing partnership with Recycle IT, an award-winning not-for-profit social enterprise which creates sustainable local employment through community based professional waste management services. Recycle IT is helping WEEE Ireland to close the gap towards the 65% collection target.