Fri, 16th Sep, 2022
International E-Waste Day is just around the corner on October 14th and to celebrate and highlight the importance of this annual event, KMK Metals Recycling has launched a competition across its social media platforms.
Each week for the next four weeks, we will post a video on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn where our two company mascots, five-year-old twins Evie and Jonah, will talk about an electrical appliance. Everyone who guesses the appliance correctly will be entered into a draw to win a €50 One4All gift card.
This year, the main focus of International E-Waste Day will be those small electrical devices that we no longer use but keep in drawers and cupboards or often toss in the general waste bin.
Small, end of life electrical and electronic appliances present a significant challenge. UN estimated that in 2019, over 22 million tonnes of small e-waste were produced worldwide. This is 40% of the 57 million tonnes of all e-waste arising globally. If the quantity of these small items keeps on increasing at the same rate as total e-waste (around 3% per annum), it will reach 29 million tonnes by 2030.
Due to their small size, items such as cell phones, electric toothbrushes, toasters and cameras are often discarded incorrectly, and they make up a significant proportion of the 8% of all e-waste that is thrown in waste bins which is subsequently landfilled or incinerated. This means the important raw materials they contain cannot be extracted and are lost. In Europe, up to 1.4 kg of e-waste per inhabitant ends up in the general waste bin every year. On top of this, small appliances are easily stored and forgotten about in drawers, cupboards, garages, basements and attics. In an average European household, up to 5 kg of e-devices per person is currently hoarded.
In this context it is crucial that people become more aware and that the loss of the important resources these items contain is stopped. This is why the focus of International E-Waste Day (#ewasteday) 2022 will be on small items of e-waste, under the slogan ‘Recycle it all, no matter how small!’.
Max Kyck, General Manager of KMK Metals Recycling, commented: “Ireland actually performs very well in comparison to a lot of other countries, when it comes to recycling e-waste but there is still so much that could be done. We are asking everyone to take a good look around their homes and businesses and find those small appliances that are no longer working. If they cannot be repaired, then they should be dropped off at your local recycling centre or your nearest electrical retailer and most definitely not discarded in a rubbish bin. It might seem like such a small appliance won’t make much difference but gathered together all this e-waste, containing valuable resources and the most precious of metals makes the world of difference. Recycle it all, no matter how small.”
Check out the competition videos on our social media platforms: https://fb.watch/fAo1FZ0uH0/
