Irish people recycled 15 million electrical items last year.

OUR lives these days seem to be run on batteries — laptops, mobile phones, toys and numerous electrical devices. 

The Great Bulb Exchange has just been launched by WEEE Ireland in association with the Irish lighting industry and hardware stores.

Irish people have recycled more than 75m electrical waste items in the last decade — which works out at about 70 items per house.

TAKE a look around the kitchen, the garage and, most certainly, the attic and you’ll definitely spot some used electrical items that have been lying there for ages.

Congenital Heart Defects (CHD) are the most common type of birth defect affecting one in every 100 babies born and about half of those will require a heart operation. 

The word is out — Leo Varadkar is Ireland’s most desirable politician.

LauraLynn, Ireland’s Children’s Hospice, has launched its annual Battery Recycling Campaign with the help of Ireland’s favourite puppet, Bosco.

BOY do we know how to party at Christmas — Irish people gobble some five million boxes of chocolates, glug 49m bottles of beer and 20m soft drinks and distribute an estimated 12m gifts over the festive season.

Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte will signal the end of analogue television at 10am this morning — and the thousands of people who have yet to make the switch will then see their screens go fuzzy.

They may have crushed our Euro 2012 hopes but Ireland has beaten Spain in one European clash — recycling.

IT might sound just like common sense, but if you want people to change their ways and do something different the best way to go about it is to make it easy for them.

IN the five years since electrical and battery recycling began, Ireland has become one of the EU’s top electronic recycling nations.

THE countless people that got new laptops, PCs, battery-operated toys, home appliances and any number of other electrical goods for Christmas have an issue – how to get rid of the old items that have been replaced.

Electric Picnic revellers are set to enjoy a handy solution to a perennial festival problem this year, with a free phone recharging facility on offer.

Ireland is among the top five countries in Europe when it comes to recycling electrical goods, according to the organisation overseeing Ireland's compliance with the EU's WEEE directive.

A significant number of people are still throwing old electronic goods in bins, skips or dumps, according to figures released today by the group overseeing EU recycling regulations.

PRICES of small electrical goods should fall slightly from today after the scrapping of the recycling charge that has been automatically built into the cost for the past three years.

CONSUMERS recycled 6.9 million television sets, washing machines and light bulbs last year — the equivalent of five kettles for every person in the country.

Employers' group IBEC today welcomed the statement from the Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government showing a five-fold increase in electrical recycling since the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) scheme came into force in August 2005.

A NEW EU directive that kicks in today will add €40 million to the cost of dealing with waste each year, according to waste management specialist Greenstar.

ICT Ireland, the high tech sector within IBEC, has welcomed the announcement by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, to approve two electronic equipment waste management compliance schemes - WEEE Ireland and European Recycling Platform (ERP).

Irish manufacturers will have to pay for the collection and disposal of all old electrical goods to avoid multi-million euro fines under new regulations published today.