Recycling plan aims to raise €250,000
Babies who are born with, or later suffer, brain damage cannot function and require 24-hour care, the cost of which is not covered by most state or private insurance schemes.
The initiative, by the Jack and Jill Foundation and IT company Ergo, is hoping to collect 100,000 Inkjet, Laser and Fax Toner cartridges from businesses and homes and raise €250,000 by re-manufacturing them.
Set up in 1997, the Jack and Jill Foundation helps children under four with brain damage.
“Some may be blind or deaf, they may never be able to walk or talk, some may not even be able to cry or swallow. They may and many do, suffer from all these symptoms, others just cry and cry and cry for days on end,” said the Foundation’s chairman and founder, Jonathan Irwin who set up the charity after experiencing the lack of services available for disabled children when his own son suffered brain damage after a near cot death.
To date the organisation has provided support to 300 families and has another 100 families on its books. An average of 10 new babies a month are referred to the group.
But with the cost of assisting families with brain-damaged babies reaching €50,000 a month funds are always needed.
Just 250,000 of the 3.5 million cartridges sold in Ireland are re-manufactured but Ergo believes profits raised from increased recycling will help children, and also the environment.
