OVER the last 10 years people in Fingal have collected enough AA batteries to line the runway at Dublin Airport 1,224 times.
The statistic was revealed at the 10-year anniversary celebrations of the EU Batteries Directive in Ireland.
The European Recycling Platform (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 Fingal over the last 10 years is also the equivalent of 656 times the length of Bull Island or would cover the walled garden in Malahide Castle three times.
In 2012, European member states were tasked with achieving a collection rate of 25 percent of all waste portable batteries placed on the market.
The target increased to 45 percent in 2016. ERP is delighted to announce that in 2017, it surpassed the EU target with a collection rate of 64 percent.
Encouraging people to recycle their batteries, John Daly, Senior Engineer from Fingal County Council, said: “We are delighted to celebrate the success of the Batteries Directive which has been tremendously successful over 10 years.
“Recycling batteries plays a very important role in protecting the environment and also feeds into the circular economy.”
Martin Tobin, chief executive of ERP, said: “Since the launch of the EU Waste Battery Directive in September 2008, ERP has worked hard to establish a robust collection infrastructure and has created programmes like ‘Batteries for Barretstown’ to change the nation’s attitude towards recycling waste batteries.
“I am delighted to announce that in the 10 years since the Directive was launched, ERP has collected 1,809 tonnes of batteries which is the equivalent in weight to 92 million AA batteries, 45 Boeing 737s or 1,121 Irish rugby teams.
“I would like to thank all the stakeholders involved, our members, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment, the Producer Register, the EPA, local authorities, waste contractors and the general public.”
Mr Tobin said consumers are increasingly more environmentally aware and in the last 10 years they have seen people’s recycling activities change for the better.
“We can do more, however, to divert batteries being unnecessarily sent to landfill, in a bid to drive a sustainable circular economy and protect the environment,” he added.
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 while communicating the importance of recycling batteries responsibly, and raising much-needed funds to power positivity at Barretstown.
Funds raised by the ‘Batteries for Barretstown’ campaign are helping to power positivity by funding the charity’s energy costs.
Since the campaign was launched last year, ERP has already seen an increase in collections by almost 45 percent.