The Tea Light Fantastic EAFA supports ‘tea light hunt’ recycling campaign in Ireland

The hunt is on in Ireland with thousands of school children in Dublin seeking out used tea light holders to collect for recycling, thanks to an initiative from Alupro Ireland, which is being co-financed by EAFA, the European Aluminium Foil Association.

Alupro Ireland’s Tea Light Hunt campaign, launched in conjunction with retailer IKEA and WEEE Ireland, seeks to encourage recycling of used tea light holders in the Greater Dublin area and includes some fun activities for children. A collection challenge and a colouring competition for 2nd to 4th classes have been initiated, with colouring sheets distributed to local schools and available at IKEA’s Dublin store. Within the first two months of the campaign over 1,200 entries were submitted.

Tea lights are one of IKEA’s bestselling products. Their popularity means there are millions of small aluminium containers being disposed of each year - usually in landfill sites. Dublin consumers are now being encouraged to recycle their tea light holders, either at special deposit bins at IKEA, or in their green recycling bin at home.

Alupro Ireland manager, Karen Mahon, explained, “The aluminium from a tea light holder weighs five grams and recycling the holder corresponds to an equivalent energy saving to that used by a 40-watt light bulb for two hours. It’s therefore well worth the effort to get this recyclable material back into the value chain.”

Grainne Breen, Regional Sustainability Manager, IKEA said, “Sustainability is at the core of everything that we do at IKEA, from the build and operation of our stores to the manufacturing of our product. We strive to build and maintain sustainable relationships with suppliers and co-workers. Also we want to work with organisations like Alupro Ireland and WEEE Ireland in areas of environmental and social responsibility”.

The association believes there are many opportunities to expand the range of alufoil products which are recycled and sees the Irish initiative as a great example of what can be achieved through co-operation between different stakeholders. The campaign runs until end of January 2016 but tea lights are still welcome in the recycling bins.