In total, the partnership has collected over half a million tonnes of electrical waste, the equivalent of 69 Eiffel towers. Steel, plastic and glass make up the top three materials extracted, with over 20,000 tonnes recovered annually through KMK’s specialised recycling processes in Offaly and Westmeath. Other valuable and scarce precious metals taken from the waste include aluminium, copper and zinc.


Ossian Smyth, Minister of State for Public Procurement, eGovernment and the Circular Economy said: "The scale and sophistication of treatment here is truly impressive. It is vital these resources are captured and the critical raw materials reused.


"However, the volume of waste material here shows the massive opportunities that we have to become much more circular. I want to see Ireland making much more of our electronics and electrical appliances before they become waste.


"Through repair and reuse, we can keep these assets in use for much longer and reduce the waste we need to process. This keeps costs down for everyone. Longer-lived products also mean we extract fewer raw materials from the environment and enhance the security of supply chains."


The most commonly recycled items through KMK’s operation were large household appliances (16,000 tonnes), small appliances (11,000 tonnes) and TVs/monitors (3,000 tonnes). They were collected through retail collection points, civic amenity sites and WEEE Ireland free public collection events.


As the only dedicated waste battery sorting and management facility in Ireland, KMK also collected and segregated over 18,000 tonnes - the equivalent of nearly a billion AA batteries - on behalf of WEEE Ireland since they began working together under the European Battery Directive obligations in 2008.


Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity, Pippa Hackett, said: "This is a great example of how companies working together can achieve positive results. They have embraced the green transition and have also provided stable, secure employment in the Midlands."