The public are being encouraged to do a major clear out this weekend following shocking figures from WEEE Ireland.
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Ireland report that Irish people dumped 25 million electronic items last year.
Toys, vapes, cables, remote controls, and USB sticks made up 11 million kilos of e-waste across the country.
Tad Kirakowski, Chief Executive of environmental group Voice Ireland, says we all have e-waste items lying around:
"We have to make sure that we recycle those materials that we all have in our house.
On average, we've got about 15 to 20 broken E waste items in all of our houses.
That's the old phone in the drawer, the mixer in the corner that broke years ago that you've never fixed.
All of these contain really valuable materials like copper, lithium, lead, cadmium and these materials are really useful"
These items could be lost forever unless they enter the recycling system.
WEEE Ireland is urging everyone to check out their own homes this weekend and recycle items at local authority sites or electronic shops.
Image: WEEE IrelandInternational E-waste Day
Tomorrow, October 14th, marks International E-Waste Day.
The United Nations predict that every person will create at least 8 kilos of e waste by the end of 2023.
Just over half of e-waste is officially reported as collected and recycled, according to WEEE Ireland.
This year’s slogan is “You can recycle anything with a plug, battery or cable!”.
So make sure to track down your invisible e-waste this weekend!
