Mattress Recycling – South Dublin 2022

Some Facts

According to European Bedding Industry Association, up to 30 million mattresses annually reach their end of life and it is estimated that 60% end up in landfill and 40% are incinerated. However, it is reported that almost 85% of their mass can be recycled through proper disassembly.

The Sleep Council recommends you replace your mattress every seven years because after that time it will have been subjected to more than 20,000 hours of use or 2,555 nights of sleep. When you consider that adults lose an average of half a pint of fluid each night, and shed a pound of dead skin cells each year it might well be the right decision.

_{Standard Single and Double Mattresses}

Replacing your Mattress

When it comes to buying a replacement mattress the cost can range anywhere between a few hundred and a few thousand euros, so you probably don’t want to spend much money to dispose of your old mattress. On top of that many households struggle with how best to dispose of old and unwanted mattresses.

Your local civic amenity site usually accepts old mattresses for recycling, but getting the mattress to the location can be a challenge in terms of time and cost. You’ll also need a vehicle big enough to fit a mattress.

If you have a car but your boot is too small to fit the mattress when flat, you might find that it fits if you roll the mattress up and fasten it with rope. This effort usually takes 2 people. You might also use a van to get your mattress to the civic amenity site/mattress recycling centre.

_{Mattress Collection Event – Recycling for Reuse}

Mattress Recycling for Reuse

When you hand over your old mattress for recycling it will make its way to the specialist, mattress recycling facility in Ireland where most of the breakdown and separation work is done by hand. You will see the general steps in the below table.

Mattress material	How it is recycled	What it is recycled into
Metal springs removed	Shipped and melted down for reuse	Construction / metal manufacturing material
Foam padding separated	Extracted/cleaned for reuse	Furniture stuffing, pillows, and carpet underlay
Spilt natural fibres (i.e. wool & cotton)	Washed and spun into new fibres	Insulation, new yarn, or other recycled textiles
Detach outer fabric	Stripped from mattress and shredded down	Low-grade fabric, refuse-derived fuel (renewable energy)

Free Mattress Recycling

To help, Recycle IT offers a simple, convenient, sustainable and free solution over a number of weeks each year. Starting in late August 2022 our team will accept mattresses for recycling at no cost. They can be dropped off FREE too our recycling centre in Clondalkin, Dublin 22, Monday to Friday between 8.30am and 3.30pm. Help will be on hand to lift and move old mattresses from cars and vans to the mattress recycling colleciton point. We will also be open on a number of Saturday mornings (dates to be confirmed).

Recycle IT are happy to offer community collection events in the South Dublin County Council region. We are interested in hearing from housing estates, community groups or resident association members with an interest in offering this service in their area of South Dublin. As a dual recycling opportunity, we can offer electrical and mattress recycling collections on the same day.

We will be providing further information over the coming weeks including the start date for Mattress Recycling drop-off at Recycle IT in D22.

_{Recycle IT Collection Van}

About Recycle IT

Recycle IT is an award-winning social enterprise providing recycling collection and drop-off services for all types of waste electrical, electronic equipment (WEEE) and pure metal items.

Recycle IT services are provided in partnership with WEEE Ireland. Recycle IT is supported by the Department of Rural and Community Development, Dormant Accounts Fund, Pobal, South Dublin County Council and authorized by the National Waste Collection Permit Office and the local authorities across Leinster.

For further details about our free and cost-effective services call us on 01 4578321, email info@recycleit.ie or visit the Recycle IT website at www.recycleit.ie

_{Mattress Recycling in 2021}

Recycling Collections – Bogus – Fake – Phony

Watch out.

At different times of the year, you may receive a flyer promoting free recycling days for old, damaged or unused items.  These collections can be for household or office equipment including clothes, metal, electrical or garden tools.

What a great idea! I can reduce, recycle and de-clutter my home or office, but do you dare to think these collectors might unregulated or illegal?

This flyer advertises a ‘Free  Jumble Recycling Day’ with the opportunity to dispose of all sorts of things; car batteries, laptops, TVs, wardrobes and much more, stuff that wouldn’t be allowed in a regular recycling bin and would generally require a paid collection or drop off to a recycling centre.

_{Real or Unreal – Household Recycling Flyer}

These flyers are usually bogus, should be ignored and handing items over can lead to illegal dumping of your stuff and penalties if the material is identified as belonging to you!

Bogus Recycling – a reality

Think about it, when you take the time to carry your old TV or radio down the stairs, you might actually be handing it over to someone who simply loads it up onto a truck for delivery to a developing country or alternatively takes a few parts out and leaves the remainder on an Irish county road in the dark of night.

Is handing these items to a no-named collector in a non-authorized or unlicensed waste collection van the right choice?

_{Waste Items – Metal and Electrical}

Unofficial Collectors 

Depending on market prices collectors can generate an income by sending products to other countries or simply by dumping the items. This is particularly true for recycling computers, tablets, TV monitors, printers and other electronic items. Recycling electrical and electronic items officially costs more in Europe but the collector can get paid for exporting them to buyers in developing countries who will remove the metals for resale but won’t pay to protect their staff or their communities from the toxic emissions and waste.

As the price of metal increases washing machines, tumble dryers and dishwashers are becoming increasingly attractive items for unofficial recyclers. These items are stripped locally and unprofitable waste is disposed of in hedgerows and fields making our communities untidy, dismal and possibly toxic places to live.

Costs of Illegal Dumping

One example of waste costs comes from Dublin City Council which spends on average €55,000 every month dealing with illegal dumping around the city, that’s nearly €700,000 per year (Source: http://www.dublinlive.ie)  This money and similar amounts from other county councils areas could be saved and reinvested in local communities if illegal collection and dumping could be stopped.

^{Electrical Waste for Collection – Recycle IT}

The disposal of rubbish in any area of land in Ireland without licensed approval and permission is illegal. It is punishable by fines from €150 up to €10 million upon conviction and 10 years imprisonment. In order to know more about a bogus collection, we have compiled the list below.

14 tips on spotting a Bogus Recycling Collection?

1. The leaflet presenting the collections service is of low quality.
2. The collector does not provide a waste facility address on leaflets
3. The waste facility license number is not visible on the leaflet.
4. There is no landline telephone listed on printed materials.
5. The phone is never answered when called.
6. An email address is omitted from the flyer or poster.
7. The collector has no website or social media presence.
8. Collection vehicles don’t have a waste collection permit number on display. (required by law)
9. Collections are made outside of traditional business hours.
10. Collection representatives don’t have any formal identification.
11. Only certain waste items are collected i.e. the most valuable.
12. A bogus charity may be named on the collection flyers or posters.
13. No help or support is offered to move or lift heavy electrical items from homes or businesses.
14. No personal service or advice is offered on recycling different products.

It’s complicated!

It’s not easy to determine whether a recycler is exporting or illegally dumping your once loved stuff including electrical or electronic waste like hairdryers or phones. You can’t just go by what they say! Some will use environmental or charitable causes that sound good, but they are still unofficial. If you have a gut feeling it’s not right, follow that feeling and don’t leave the items out for collection.

Ask yourself the question – Who’s Paying?

One way to determine an official collector versus an unofficial collector is to figure out who is paying the recycling cost. If it’s free for you to recycle, then who is paying? A manufacturer? The State? Local Authority? If you are not paying, and there is no clear sponsor paying the costs for collection and recycling, please question the validity of the collector.  For example, Recycle IT is a social enterprise that received some funds and also generates an income from responsible recycling.

_{Official Electrical Recycling Collection – Recycle IT}

County Councils across Dublin at different times have warned residents to ignore these types of collections promoted by paper recycling flyers that have been put through letterboxes. They generally have no waste permit or collection permit numbers noted.

It’s worth noting, that it is an offence for any person to hand over their waste for disposal to an unauthorised waste collector. Fines of up to €5,000 may be imposed on individuals upon conviction in the District Court.

You must always ensure that any company or person you engage to collect your waste possesses a valid Waste Collection Permit. Any reputable waste collector is obliged to display the waste collection permit number on all vehicles, flyers and receipts.

You can check if the waste collector is authorised on the National Waste Collection Permit Office website; http://www.nwcpo.ie/permitsearch.aspx and enter details in an advanced search.

About Recycle IT

Recycle IT is the only Community Electronic Recycling Social Enterprise in Dublin providing a neighbourhood collection service for all types of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). In 2021 Recycle IT offered collection services to thousands of homes, community groups and businesses across Dublin and surrounding areas collecting a range of WEEE including monitors, computers, cookers, and TV equipment.

Recycle IT services are provided in partnership with WEEE Ireland. Recycle IT is supported by the Department of Rural and Community Development. Pobal, South Dublin County Council and authorised by the National Waste Collection Permit Office and the local authorities across Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow.

Visit our website for further details or call 01 4578321.

_{Recycle IT – Short-listed for a Sustainable Business Impact Award 2022}

Reduce Clutter during Summer 2022

Stress and Clutter

Clutter is an overabundance of possessions that collectively create chaotic and disorderly living spaces,” said Joseph Ferrari, a professor of psychology at DePaul University in Chicago.

A study, published in Current Psychology found a substantial link between procrastination and clutter challenges in the age groups; college students, young adults in their 20s and 30s and older adults, mainly in their 50s; so lots of people face clutter challenges and frustration with clutter tended to increase with age. (Source: New York Times, Jan 2019)

Mixed IT Clutter – Recycle IT

Research by Dreamtown in the UK found that the average 10-year-old owns 238 toys but plays with just 12 daily (The Telegraph). The build-up of home clutter including toys, clothes, shoes and even gadgets creates a constant need to tidy up which in turn can create a feeling of stress. Do you recognize the feeling?

Life Time Clutter

Over the course of our lifetime, we will spend a total of 3,680 hours or 153 days searching for misplaced items, something we just stuck in a drawer! The research found we lose up to nine items every day—or 198,743 in a lifetime. Phones, keys, sunglasses, and paperwork top the list (The Daily Mail).

_{Store Room Clutter – Computers – Monitors – Cables}

One of the biggest clutter offenders is phones. Official data from ComReg Ireland shows that there were 5,432,182 active mobile phone subscriptions at the end of March 2013 and you can add lots more over the last number of years. It’s a fact, that we’re all buying more gadgets with the older or unused items building up in boxes, draws, cabinets, and storerooms.

In Ireland a 2015 study found that on average two in five Irish adults (38%) consider themselves to be hoarders, meaning homes are filling up (Empathy Research)  Further research commissioned by NESTA outlined that 58% of respondents found it hard to get rid of their possessions, meaning they keep them!

The National Association of Professional Organizations shows there is a direct correlation between productivity and clutter. Productivity declines when clutter and chaos rise. Piles of paper, unorganized kitchen space or playrooms, old receipts, bills, and paperwork stuffed in boxes or drawers will take over your home over a period of time.

_{Household Waste}

Chris Stiff, a lecturer in psychology at Keele University says “one of the obvious advantages to a tidy house is that being able to easily locate things will cause you less stress,” There is evidence that tidy environments help us think more clearly.

How to Reduce Clutter

Clutter can include unread books, old electronic equipment, files which have not been filed, letters and cards, clothes thrown on the floor, and stuff that you no longer need, want or use but still possess. Remember, clutter is not usually confined to one area that can be spread across your home.

What to do?

Before anything else, make a simple plan with specific and simple goals that will reduce your frustration and stress.

Here are 12 tips to keep in mind as you start de-cluttering your home:

1. Make a written note of all the areas you need to de-clutter.
2. Prioritize the areas/zones for decluttering and assign your time.
3. Do one area at a time.
4. Set start and finish dates for each area.
5. Be sure to pick dates that are real so you get the job completed.
6. Make time and get help to work on specific areas which may take longer like a garden shed or attic.
7. Use a system to save on time and energy.
8. Plan how you might lift on move heavy items.
9. Research and decide how you will have the clutter removed for recycling once assemble.
10. Check if items still work!
11. Use the 80/20 rule – we generally use 20%  of the things we own 80% of the time so do we really use or need the rest?
12. Get over the money you spent on the items you never use. Once you do that it’s easier to offer for reuse or to recycle.

Once the items are ready you can decide what you want to do about removal. We have a list of some solutions which might work for you.

_{Toys and Light – Recycle IT}

14  Reduce and Recycle Tips after De-cluttering 

1. Don’t hold onto items once they have made the box.
2. Sell some items online, e.g. eBay, Done Deal or Adverts.
3. Repurpose old stuff with some DIY and help from friends.
4. Donate to charity shops.
5. Share items with family, friends or colleagues e.g kids’ clothes or toys.
6. Gift your items to friends or colleagues with an interest in them.
7. Share items free for reuse. Go online or find an exchange network
8. Recycle all old electrical, electronic and battery-operated items.
9. Moving forward, recycle stuff immediately when used or end of life
10. Consider gifting items based on condition.
11. After the clear-out consider what you buy and recycle one day at a time.
12. Switch to e-bills.
13. Scan old photos and paperwork.
14.  Preventing a build-up is a key step in fighting clutter.

Making the decision to get rid of your old items can be the hardest part of de-cluttering. Like many people, you may have trouble getting rid of items you once used or loved. You have also spent your hard-earned money on the items so they do hold value for you. These are real and valid feelings but no matter how challenging the decision, de-cluttering is necessary and helps reduce stress levels and it will create space!

_{Office Clutter – Recycle IT}

About Recycle IT

Recycle IT, is an award-winning social enterprise offering electrical, electronic and metal recycling services through drop-off and collection. Recycling services are provided in partnership with WEEE Ireland and South Dublin County Council.

Recycle IT is supported by Pobal and Dormant Accounts and authorised by the National Waste Collection Permit Office and the local authorities across the east midlands waste region.

Our goal is to create training and employment opportunities through the provision of waste management services. Surplus earned income is reinvested in operational, and employment-related costs.

For more information on Recycle IT please call 01 4578321, email info@recycleit.ie or visit our website www.recycleit.ie

_{Bike Clutter – Accepted from homes for safe recycling – Recycle IT}

Recycle IT – Shortlisted in 2022!

Recycle IT is absolutely delighted to announce our organisation has been shortlisted for the Sustainable Business Impact Awards 2022 operated by Chambers Ireland and supported by the Department of Rural and Community Development and BAM Ireland.

The Sustainable Business Impact Awards are a flagship accolade and most prestigious.  Our inclusion on the shortlist reflects the hard work and dedication of our team and their work in the world of recycling!

_{Awards Logo}

The Sustainable Business Impact Awards showcase best practices in sustainable business development and social responsibility undertaken by companies across Ireland. The UN Sustainable Development Goals are at the heart of these Awards, celebrating sustainable business practices and championing Chambers Ireland’s alignment with the Goals.

What does shortlisting mean to us?

For us, it is recognition that our work promoting and offering recycling opportunities, our standards, our customer service, and a focus on supporting employment in the sector is to be recognised.

Being shortlisted is excellent for team morale and really emphasises our passion and experience within the social enterprise and waste management sectors. Everyone in the team has contributed to the success of our entry and the success of our social enterprise!

_{Mary Kennedy hosting Chamber Ireland Awards}

Minister of Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, stated,

“Social Enterprises provide a vital role in their communities. This was particularly so during Covid-19 when so many Social Enterprises went above and beyond. I’m therefore delighted to support these awards, which contribute to improving the opportunities for social enterprises in the business-to-business supply chain. Sponsorship of the ‘Partnering with a Social Enterprise’ category underscores my commitment to supporting Social Enterprises and to the ongoing delivery of the National Social Enterprise Policy.”

Awards Ceremony

The winners across 14 categories will be announced at an awards ceremony in Dublin on September 22^nd, 2022.  Congratulations to all shortlisted, we can’t wait to celebrate with you and we’ve got our fingers and toes crossed. You can read more here.

About Recycle IT

Recycle IT is an award-winning social enterprise providing recycling collection and drop-off services for all types of waste electrical, electronic equipment (WEEE) and pure metal items.

Recycle IT services are provided in partnership with WEEE Ireland. Recycle IT is supported by the Department of Rural and Community Development, Dormant Accounts Fund, Pobal, South Dublin County Council and authorized by the National Waste Collection Permit Office and the local authorities across Leinster.

For further details about our free and cost-effective services call us on 01 4578321, email info@recycleit.ie or visit the Recycle IT website at www.recycleit.ie

_{Minister for Rural and Community Development: Heather Humphreys, TD}

Video Gaming Supports Climate Action

From climate and environment-themed videogames to special features, pop-ups, and real-life tree-planting opportunities embedded within beloved classics like PAC-MAN or Angry Birds, the gaming industry is working with the United Nations to engage audiences like never before and inspire a new wave of climate action.

The Lightbulb

“More people play video games on their phones than listen to music and watch videos combined, it’s just massive,” says the expert, Cassie Flynn.

_{Video games for climate action: winning solutions for the planet}

As the Strategic Advisor on Climate Change for the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Cassie Flynn often used commuting to think of innovative ways to get ordinary people involved in the climate fight,

One morning, she noticed everyone around her busy with their phones, not just staring at them or scrolling, but doing something on the phones. All of these people were playing games on their phones,” A lightbulb went off:

Ms Flynn’s commute gave birth to UNDP’s Mission 1.5 mobile video game, which allows people to learn about the climate crisis and at the same time communicate to governments about solutions that could be put in place to tackle it – all while they’re exploring virtual universes.

_{Mission 1.5 video game challenges users to make the right decisions that will keep the world on track to limit global warming to 1.5°C. Image: UNDP}

The Numbers

Today there are about 6 million people that have played the game in 58 countries, with a 50 per cent completion rate. Not bad work!

The game itself goes beyond educating the users on climate solutions. It is offered in 17 languages; and the game engages users to cast a vote about which actions, in their opinion, would be more successful to tackle the climate crisis.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) says Mission 1.5’s success is only the tip of the iceberg if we think about the reach of today’s video gaming industry, which stretches beyond our smartphones onto the screens of at least 3 billion people in the world – or 1 in every 3 people in the planet.

“The video gaming industry is probably the most powerful medium in the world in terms of attention, reach and engagement,” says Sam Barratt, UN Environment’s Chief of Education, Youth & Advocacy.

_{UNDP’s Mission 1.5 mobile video game Games Screen Shot}

Get Started!

You can click here to start playing the game on a computer, tablet or mobile phone. You can share with others in your family especially younger family members with access to a mobile phone or tablet. This game will get them engaged in climate change learning and related actions.

In 2022, Mission 1.5 will launch a new series of questions to include in the game, while the Alliance will be holding several events, including a virtual climate march and a Green Game Jam student edition.

You can read more at the World Economic Forum website. The article was originally published by United Nations.

About Recycle IT

Recycle IT is an award-winning social enterprise providing recycling collection and drop-off services for all types of waste electrical, electronic equipment (WEEE) and pure metal items.

Recycle IT services are provided in partnership with WEEE Ireland. Recycle IT is supported by the Department of Rural and Community Development, Dormant Accounts Fund, Pobal, South Dublin County Council and authorized by the National Waste Collection Permit Office and the local authorities across Leinster.

For further details about our free and cost-effective services call us on 01 4578321, email info@recycleit.ie or visit the Recycle IT website at www.recycleit.ie

Van with Recycle IT Logo