Offaly firm now recycling all of Ireland's household battery waste

Tullamore-based company KMK Metals Recycling has been awarded a new contract that means it's responsible for the collection and recycling of all of the waste household batteries in the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland.

Following the awarding of a new contract from European Recycling Platform (ERP) Ireland, KMK Metals Recycling is now responsible for the collection and recycling of all of the waste household batteries in the 26 counties in the Republic of Ireland.

The local firm already already held a contract with Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Ireland for the collection and recycling of all the waste household batteries in the counties under its remit as the largest compliance scheme in Ireland, but a further seven counties have now been added through the company's new European Recycling Platform (ERP) Ireland contract.

Also, as part of the new contract, KMK Metals Recycling has been awarded two further counties for the collection and recycling of all Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).

Kerry and Clare have now been added to the counties serviced by the company on behalf of WEEE Ireland.

KMK Metals Recycling said a further bonus of the tender contract will see it taking over responsibility for all of the free public WEEE recycling collection events in the 26 counties, having previously been tasked with solely looking after counties that fall under the WEEE Ireland compliance scheme.

Max Kyck, Managing Director of KMK Metals Recycling, said: "Being awarded the ERP contract was a great boost to the business. We had to move quickly to organise new cages and vehicles and recruit and train up new staff, but we hit the ground running and were ready to go in a short timeframe.

"With a very strong team and having built up decades of experience in the WEEE and Batteries sector, we were ideally placed to scale up to take on this new business. Everything is operating smoothly and we are very proud to be able to say we now collect and recycle all the waste household batteries in the Republic of Ireland, as well as being responsible for WEEE collection and recycling in two further counties and all of the free public WEEE recycling collection events."

Specially designed battery containers for disposal of waste household batteries can be found in retail outlets, businesses, schools and civic amenity sites all across the country.

The batteries are collected by KMK Metals Recycling’s team of trained battery merchandisers and taken to the company headquarters in Tullamore.

They are sorted by type and chemistry and transported under ADR and IMDG transport regulations to fully authorised specialist outlets for further treatment.

KMK Metals Recycling was set up in 1979 by Kurt and Edeltraud Kyck. Having initially operated out of the family's home garage in Bettystown, Meath, the company established its headquarters in the Cappincur Industrial Estate in Tullamore forty years ago, in 1985.

For more information on how and where to recycle WEEE and batteries, or to book a collection, visit the company's website at www.kmk.ie