Repak has announced that Ireland comes second in Europe for recycling, with Eurostat upgrading Ireland’s position from fourth to number two in the EU for Packaging Recycling Success.
Ireland’s recycling upgrade comes in time for the start of Repak Recycling Week 2014, whereby Repak is celebrating 17 years of recycling success in the country. To date, Irish businesses have invested €300 million through Repak in ensuring that their packaging does not go to waste.
What is more, Repak has recovered 712,054 tonnes of packaging recycling, of which 39% is paper, 28% is glass, 27% is plastic and 5% is metal. Meanwhile, Repak also recycles 3.72kg per household per week, the equivalent of five cereal boxes, ten pizza boxes, two wine bottles, fifteen butter tubs, forty yoghurt pots and fifteen drink cans per house.
As part of Repak Recycling Week 2014, Repak has commissioned a study, showing that 98% of people in Ireland recycle. Furthermore, the majority (72%) of Irish adults feel that manufacturers and retailers should pay towards the recovering and recycling of packaging they supply.
An even larger majority (82%) said they would feel more positively towards manufacturers and retailers if they paid towards the cost of recycling and recovering the materials they produced, with only 17% stating that it would make no difference to them.
Seamus Clancy, CEO of Repak said, “We have all have strived to increase recycling rates and worked together to educate and encourage the public to recycle more. We still have more to do, and I firmly believe we can make it to the top spot.
“For this year, however, we have to tackle the issue of contaminated recycling as 98% of the Irish public are recycling, but 72% are not recycling correctly.”
© 2014 - Checkout Magazine by Emily Horne
