International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

Additional costs to businesses may be incurred due to logistical efforts for the take
back system; however the potential magnitude of these additional costs not clear.
19.8 Response from Public and Industry
The compliance schemes WEEE Ireland and ERP Ireland organise ‘Public Collection
Days’ or ‘Open Days’ to encourage members of the public to bring their household
WEEE free of charge to locations around the country as part of the WEEE Awareness-
Raising Programme. These Open Days have had an exceptional response:
approximately 250 tonnes of WEEE were collected over the period of the fifteen Open
Days which were held by ERP. The most successful Open Day was held in Tralee, Co.
Kerry, where 53 tonnes were collected in one day. Through the take back of old
electronic and electrical equipment to retailers and civic amenity sites, half a million
household appliances have been taken out of the waste stream and recycled since
13 August 2005, including 85,000 fridge freezers, 78,000 TVs and almost 40,000
power tools. 418 These figures suggest that householders are responding to the
available channels for WEEE re-use / recovery.
19.9 Effects on Technical Change / Innovation
The policy generates continuous incentives for improvement in product design, as
well as promoting investment in infrastructure. Six companies have set up WEEE
facilities in Ireland including Cedar Resource Management, Techrec and KMK Metals
Recycling which process the majority of material collected from retailers, civic amenity
sites, and distribution hubs. They handle all categories of WEEE providing it is
available in suitable quantities. In addition Irish Lamp Recycling and Enva Ireland
collect and recycle florescent tubes and gas discharge lamps nationwide.
19.10 Social and Distributional Consequences
WEEE fees do not have direct distributional consequences. Indirectly however
increased WEEE collection rates may lead to benefits in terms of social inclusion in
two ways. First, there is the potential for an increase in the reuse of WEEE. This could
result in second-hand EEE being made available to lower income groups. In addition,
there may be additional opportunities for charities or voluntary organisations to
provide training using second-hand EEE, for example for the long-term unemployed.
One programme which encourages the reuse of WEEE is the Microsoft Authorised
Refurbisher (MAR) programme which is designed to increase the number of low-cost
computers available to charities and schools, whilst also keeping serviceable
computers out of landfills. The company is also actively recruiting new refurbishing
companies to join the programme so that increased volumes of computers can be
refurbished for the benefit of as many non-profit organisations and schools as
possible. There are currently four companies in Ireland actively refurbishing
computers as part of the MAR programme and over 1,000 computers have been
418 Press Release (6 December 2005) Electrical Equipment Take Back Scheme Proves Overwhelming
Success, Leo Donovan, CEO, WEEE Ireland.
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