Limerick school’s second years organise recycling of 11 tonnes of electrical waste

MOTORISTS driving past Castletroy College on a wet Saturday morning must have been wondering if it was a week day due to the amount of cars pulling up to the school.

Staff and students gave up their weekend lie-in to improve our environment. Two hundred second year students hosted a waste electrical and electronic equipment recycling day. A second lorry had to be summoned due to the amount of appliances dropped off. Incredibly, in excess of 11 tonnes has been recycled said Lisa Kiely, physics teacher.

“The event was organised by the second year students as part of their e-mining project. This project aimed to raise awareness of critical raw materials which are considered by the EU to be of economic importance but at a supply risk.

“The recycling event capped off four weeks of classes on this topic across science, business, geography, CSPE and metalwork and was to encourage people to recycle materials from electrical and electronic equipment back into the supply chain and limit the need for extraction from the ground,” she explained.

Ms Kiely said the students worked extremely hard to promote and market the event.

“This hard work paid off with over 420 cars pulling into the school grounds over the course of the day,” said Ms Kiely.

The 11 tonnes collected was made up of fridges, washing machines, TVs, small appliances, IT equipment, batteries and lamps.

A spokesperson for European Recycling Platform, who will recycle it all, said it was “very well” organised by students and were “amazed” at the volume of material collected.

Padraig Flanagan, principal, said: “This was a significant community event and it was extremely gratifying to witness the support we received from the local community. It was extremely well organised and I thank colleagues and students who contributed so richly to the organisation both prior to and on the day.”

Julia Ward, one of many second year students who volunteered on the day, carried out an audit of the number of cars and items that were dropped off, said it was a “great idea”.

“I think that it really helped people to realise how much electrical waste was just lying around in their homes,” said Julia.

Classmate, Megan Guerin said: “I was really shocked at the amount of waste people had in their homes. My grandad dropped off some waste and he thought that the event was very well set-up and organised and was so easy and convenient to use.”

Eoin Yelverton spoke about the social and environmental aspects of the day. 

“I enjoyed spending time with other students in my year who I’ve never really talked to before. I enjoyed the responsibility of counting the amount of items dropped off and trying to identify the brands of the items dropped off. It was really great to see the amount of cars constantly coming in,” said Eoin.

For those who didn’t manage to make it along to the event in Casteltroy College they can recycle their electrical and electronic items for free at the civic amenity centres in Mungret, Kilmallock and Newcastle West.