Recycling targets getting tougher

WHEN IT comes to recycling electrical goods or batteries, Ireland is best in class in Europe. We’re recycling 9kg per person every year while the EU average is 5kg. More than 33 million appliances have gone through the so-called WEEE scheme over the past five years.

But higher targets being set by Europe might result in Ireland having to pay fines unless consumers can be persuaded to change their habits. And the recycling charge paid by consumers for electrical goods could also rise in the future.

This week WEEE Ireland, the not-for-profit group that arranges the collection and recycling of electrical goods held its annual general meeting.

Afterwards, Leo Donovan outlined the challenge to me. In the case of batteries, 25 per cent will have to be recycled by 2012 and 45 per cent by 2016.

“Those are challenging targets,” Donovan said, citing how we reached 15 per cent last year and are on course for 20 per cent in 2011. What happens if we miss the target? “Ireland will be fined,” he said. How much that fine amounts to remains to be seen.

WEEE has 760 members who produce electrical goods and batteries. When the rules were introduced in 2005, they set aside €87 million to handle the recycling of goods that predated that time. Just over €40 million remains in the kitty.

So the likelihood is that the recycling fees that we pay on buying anything with a plug will remain “static for a couple of years”, Donovan said, before being increased to boost the fund.

WEEE’s members collected recycling fees of €3.75 million last year and it made a surplus of €1.1 million in 2010.

It contracts third parties to collect, separate and process the goods and has benefited from the strong metal prices of late.

On the flip side, transport and other costs have risen.

“It’s challenging but we’ve performed well compared with our European colleagues,” Donovan said. “We just have to keep on top of our game.”