Page 13 from: April 2015

N E W S

13April 2015

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FACT: MORE POWERFUL ROTORMORE NON-FERROUS METAL

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An incinerator that is under con-
struction in Ireland’s capital of Dublin
will be able to burn a claimed 600 000
tonnes of waste per year. But the Euro
600 million project is ‘a step back for the
whole country’ according to actor Jer-
emy Irons, star of the pro-recycling
documentary ‘Trashed’.
The controversial incineration plant ,
being built in Dublin port, is expected to
start operations in the second half of
2017.
Irons told the ‘Irish Times’: ‘Only if some-
thing cannot be recycled should it be
burned. Incineration is a very dangerous
way to get rid of our rubbish. We think:
“let’s burn it, lovely” and believe we get
free or cheap electricity, but that isn’t
the case because not everything is fi l-
tered,’ the actor added.

The government should eliminate recy-
cling fees if it wishes to reduce waste in
a more sustainable way, Irons suggests.
‘In my area of West Cork, you have to
pay to go into the recycling station to
put recyclables there. We must encour-
age people to recycle, not charge them
for being responsible,’ he argues.
As part of adopting a ‘cohesive and clear
policy’ on recycling, he recommends that
Ireland sets up recycling centres right
across the country.
Irons’s fi lm has toured Italy, Argentina
and Indonesia over the last few months,
and he hopes it will be shown in cine-
mas in his home country soon. ‘Waste
problems may be more colourful to look
at in places like Indonesia, but we have
the same problems here in Ireland,’ he
points out. www.trashedfi lm.com

Mega incineration plant
a ‘step back’ for Ireland

A consortium of UK fi rms, led by
Tetronics International, has launched a
‘ground-breaking’ project worth £1 mil-
lion (US$ 1.52 million) to help unlock
the value in discarded electronic devices
such as mobile phones, TVs and even
toasters.
Tetronics, Metech Recycling and Vale
Europe have together received a £600
000 (US$ 914 000) grant from the gov-
ernment agency Innovate UK. The part-
ners will use the funding to develop the
UK’s fi rst integrated plasma facility for
the recovery of precious metals from
sustainable processing of electronic
waste.
The pilot facility, scheduled to open in
mid-2016, will recover platinum group
metals, gold and silver on a smaller and

more localised scale than existing cen-
tralised methods, with no need for fur-
ther refi ning.
The development will enable around
98% of precious metals in electronics
waste to be recovered domestically and
‘will allow independence from the large
refi ners,’ the consortium claims.
It estimates that around 5.6 million
tonnes of electronic products will be
bought between now and 2020 in the
UK. ‘The components of these products
are expected to include more than 30
tonnes of gold, more than 600 tonnes
of silver and more than three tonnes of
platinum group metals, which represent
a total market value of more than £1
billion (US$ 1.52 billion),’ Tetronics adds.
www.tetronics.com

Smart e-cycling could
earn the UK £1 billion

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