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Rehab Recycle Reveal Top Recycling Counties

13/10/2009

Tuesday, 13 October 2009: A total of 46,000 tonnes of glass from Irish households has been recycled by Rehab Recycle in the first eight months of this year – that’s enough bottles and jars to fill the pitch at the new Aviva Stadium to over 60 feet high.

A survey* by Rehab Recycle has revealed that 149.5 million bottles and jars were deposited in its bring banks during the period – that’s enough bottles to stretch over 29,900 kilometres or from Dublin to Hong Kong three times.

The survey, conducted for Repak Recycling Week which takes place from 12–18 October, reveals that the people of Galway are the top recyclers with deposits of 62 bottles for every man, woman and child in the county. The people of Mayo and Cork were the next best recyclers with an average of 53 and 52 items of glass recycled per person respectively.

The greatest increase in glass recycling came in Sligo, up by 28 per cent to 908 tonnes of glass, followed by Cavan where figures rose by 16 per cent compared with the same period last year. Mayo, at 12 per cent, recorded the third highest increase in glass recycling.

The title of Ireland’s busiest Rehab Recycle bring site was won by Mill Shopping Centre in Clondalkin with 297 tonnes of glass deposited, representing 933,000 bottles and jars. The bring site at Artane Shopping Centre, also in Dublin, was the second busiest site with 282 tonnes of glass deposited. At 277 tonnes, the third busiest site in the country, and the busiest outside of Dublin, was at Western Distributor road in Galway.

Commenting on Repak Recycling Week, Michael Horgan, Director of Enterprises, Rehab Group, said: “Over the past eight years, deposits at Rehab Recycle bring centres nationwide have more than doubled from 30,000 tonnes of glass to in excess of 70,000 last year. That’s the equivalent of over 227 million bottles and jars.

“The results of today’s survey clearly show the great efforts of Irish people to recycle. However, there is much more that needs to be done and it is important that we continue our efforts and encourage people to bring their glass to recycling banks where it can be separated at source, thereby reducing contamination from other types of glass and recyclables. This also maximises the benefit to the environment as glass recycled by Rehab is eventually made into glass once again; saving energy and precious resources.”

Dr. Andrew Hetherington, CEO of Repak said: “Our research shows that only 40 per cent of people always wash their wine and beer bottles before recycling them. This makes the recycling process more difficult so during this year’s Repak Recycling Week we are calling on people to help us improve the quality of materials for recycling by first washing out their used glass containers before recycling them.”

Ends

Note to editor:

Rehab Recycle
Rehab Recycle has over 1,700 bring centres nationwide and is part of a unique integrated employment model with a workforce of 180 people, 105 of whom are people with disabilities. Further details on the range of glass, can, paper, polystyrene and waste electronic and electrical equipment recycling facilities can be found at www.rehabrecycle.ie
 
About Repak Recycling Week 2009
The 9th Annual Repak Recycling Week features a series of initiatives to help educate householders about recycling more and better.  As part of the week, Repak has launched a new consumer-focused website www.RecycleMore.ie featuring videos, posters, blog posts and tips for recycling in the home, office and school. Other activities taking place include the “Recycling Moments” photography competition and the Annual Repak Awards. To mark this year's Repak Recycling Week, a target has been set to recycle 18,000 tonnes of used recyclables during the month of October. For a full list of local recycling centres and for more information on activities during Repak Recycling Week, visit www.repak.ie.

Some Glass Recycling Facts
• Glass will never decompose. Archaeologists are still finding glass used during Roman times.
• Just one recycled glass bottle saves enough energy to power a computer for 25 minutes.
• Nearly three million gallons of fuel is saved each year in Ireland purely through the recycling of glass.
• The glass recycling process is a closed-loop system, creating no additional waste or by-products.

* The Rehab Recycle survey covers 14 counties throughout the country where Rehab Recycle has a bring bank presence.

For further information and photographs contact:
Dara Duffy, Communications & Public Affairs, Rehab
Tel: 01 205 7268/ Email: dara.duffy@rehab.ie


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