Clare recycles enough batteries to line length of the Wild Atlantic Way

The European Recycling Platform (ERP), Ireland’s only pan-European compliance scheme, has this year celebrated the ten-year anniversary of the EU Batteries Directive 2006/66/EC in Ireland. ERP has collected over 1,809 tonnes of batteries across all of its territories since the Directive was launched in 2008. The amount collected in Clare over the last 10 years is the equivalent of 1.25 times the length of the Wild Atlantic Way or if stacked upright – 15,300 times the height of the Cliff of Moher.

In 2012, European member states were tasked with achieving a collection rate of 25% of all waste portable batteries placed on the market. The target increased to 45% in 2016. ERP is delighted to announce that in 2017, it surpassed the EU target with a collection rate of 64%.
Encouraging people to recycle their batteries Karen Foley, Environmental Awareness Officer from Clare County Council said: “Recycling batteries is a great way to help protect the environment. Recycling enables us to retain as much of a product as possible put back into the market place for reuse in new products. It is about viewing waste as a valuable resource so that we can limit what we are taking from the environment to make new products and thus sustaining future generations.”

In 2017, ERP Ireland launched ‘Batteries for Barretstown’ to drive the recycling of batteries across Ireland through local authorities, schools, libraries, retailers and all public amenities whilst communicating the importance of recycling batteries responsibly, and raising much-needed funds to power positivity at Barretstown.

To mark the success of the ‘Batteries for Barretstown’ campaign and the EU Batteries Directive, ERP has launched its Battery Recycling Bag. The biodegradable bag will be distributed to schools, libraries and retailers for people to gather up their batteries at home for recycling. The European Recycling Platform (ERP) was founded in 2002 as the first pan-European organisation to implement the European Union’s regulations on the recycling of electrical and electronic waste (WEEE Directive). ERP now manages a consolidated network and has developed vast international expertise, expanding its recycling services to include batteries as well as packaging.