Repak Recycling Week 2007 Details Launched

This year’s theme for Repak Recycling week is “Keep Recycling – let’s get it sorted” and features a series of nationwide educational and promotional campaigns. The campaign will have a special twist this year with a dedicated day given to each material recycled here in Ireland to heighten the consumer’s awareness of the various methods of recycling and the various materials that can be recycled.

Monday will focus on paper and cardboard, Tuesday on glass, Wednesday on plastics, Thursday on aluminium and Friday on Wood. Saturday will see a special drive for WEEE recycling with extra recycling centres open nationwide to accept a range of electrical goods for recycling.

Repak Recycling Week aims to get as many people recycling the maximum amount of packaging during the week and help Ireland work towards achieving its future recycling targets while also reducing their carbon footprint through recycling.

Repak would like to encourage members, Local Authorities and Recovery Operators to take part in the week and take advantage of consumers heightened awareness of recycling during the week.
The Annual Repak Recycling Awards, now in its 6th year, will take place on Thursday 4th October.
Every year the awards recognise the efforts and ingenuity of its Members, Local Authorities and recovery operators in the area of packaging prevention, reuse and recycling. However, on its 10th Anniversary, Repak will be taking this opportunity to honour and congratulate the early members that have been contributing to Repak and recycling since 1997.

These companies were pioneers in taking seriously and willingly their responsibility to fund the recovery and recycling of their used packaging. Some of the early members to sign up to Repak in 1997 include prominent businesses such as, Gallaher (Dublin) Ltd, John Players & Sons, Irish Biscuits, Cadbury Schweppes, Heineken Ireland Ltd, Guinnesses, Dunnes Stores, C&C Ltd, PJ Carroll, Irish Distillers Group, GreenCore Group, and Castrol Ltd, , Johnson & Johnson and Allied Foods Ltd, some of whom have been previous recipients of Repak awards.

Andrew Hetherington, CEO Repak, said, “All Repak members should be very proud of what they have facilitated Ireland to achieve in terms of packaging recycling over the last ten years. Since 1997 Repak members have invested in excess of €118 million in supporting the recovery and recycling of nearly 3 million tonnes of used packaging. It has met and exceed both the 2001 and 2005 EU packaging recovery/recycling targets by helping to grow packaging recycling from under 15% in 1998 to over 60% in 2006.

“We are calling on all companies to show their pride in what they have helped to achieve over the ten years by participating actively in Repak Recycling Week and engaging with consumers to promote packaging recycling.”
Full details of the Repak Recycling Week events and promotions are available on http://www.repak.ie/ .

Ireland Recycles More Than Twice the Weight of its Population

· Repak funded the recovery and recycling of c. 603,000

tonnes of waste packaging in 2006,
· That is 64% of all packaging placed on the market in 2006; a

c.7% increase on 2005.
· Since 1997 Repak have funded the recovery and recycling of

nearly 3 million tonnes of used packaging.
· Total Repak membership income exceeded €23.7m.
· Membership recruited 268 new members and generated an

additional €1.96m in fee income.
· Repak invested €22.6m in supporting packaging recycling

activity in 2006. This brings the total invested by Repak in

supporting packaging recycling to in excess of €117 million.
· Household plastic recycling increased to c. 19,700 tonnes; up from just less than 17,000 tonnes

in 2005.
· In 2006, Repak helped fund additional kerbside schemes reaching a further 58,000

households.
· The number of bring banks sites has increased by 866 over the last four years as a result of

the Joint DoE/Repak Bring Bank programme.
· 2,250 bring banks are now in place nationwide
· Repak funded kerbside dry recycling collections reaching in excess of 937,000 households in

2006; approximately 64% of all households in the State.

Repak’s 2006 results show a significant increase in packaging recycling from 565,000 tonnes in 2005 to 603,000 tonnes recycled in 2006. This equates to the average weight of 8.8 million people which is more than double the population of Ireland and has resulted in equivalent of 463,000 tonnes of carbon savings.
During the year household packaging recycling tonnages rose by 24% from 2005. While this is a significant increase it only represents just 29% of all recovered packaging but in fact accounts for 70% of the total Repak support funding. The results this year also show a 12% increase in glass recycling which reflects the increase in the use of Bring Banks.

In total for 2006:
- 111,283 tonnes of glass was recycled which equates to

approximately 214 million wine bottles or one giant glass

marble 100 metres in diameter
- 276,507 tonnes of paper and cardboard was recycled which

equates to 3.7 billion cereal boxes or the same as one giant box

37km high and 37 km wide able to hold 51million giant glass

marbles inside.

- 52,841 tonnes of plastic equivalent to 1.5 billion plastic drinks bottles, enough to create a line of bottles almost 45 times the

diameter of the earth
- 111,047 tonnes of wood was recycled enough wood to make 163 million hurling sticks
- 47,980 tonnes of steel, equivalent to the 1.25 billion food cans
- 3,567 tonnes of aluminium was recycled the equivalent of 214 million beverage cans
- In 2006, 83% of the waste packaging materials recovered and recycled were from glass,

cardboard/paper and wood. 17% of material was from plastic and metals.