WEEE Ireland has committed €200,000 to a new WEEE Future Fund that will back repair, reuse, remanufacturing and recovery projects led by electrical and battery producers. The fund shows Ireland’s largest e-waste scheme moving beyond collection and recycling towards keeping products and materials in use for longer.

WEEE Ireland is a not-for-profit, member-owned compliance scheme based in Dublin, representing more than 2,000 producers, manufacturers, importers and distance sellers across appliances, consumer electronics, IT equipment, lighting and batteries. The scheme has invested around €25 million annually in Irish recycling infrastructure since 2005 and accounts for 78% of national e-waste collection, with close to 39,000 tonnes collected in 2025.

The structural driver is the shift in extended producer responsibility from collection targets to circular outcomes. WEEE Ireland has argued that measuring recycling as a share of sales does not reflect longer product lifespans or repair and reuse, which is the gap the new fund is designed to address.

The first round offers awards of up to €50,000 for projects such as repair and remanufacturing of large white goods, retail take-back systems for small IT devices, and reuse of photovoltaic panels and battery storage systems. Applications open on 5 October and close on 18 November 2026, and the fund is open to WEEE Ireland members, with non-members able to join collaborative projects led by a member.

Irish Manufacturing Research is designing and administering the fund through its partnership with WEEE Ireland and CIRCULÉIRE, the national platform for circular manufacturing innovation.

Elizabeth O’Reilly, director of environmental compliance and circular economy at WEEE Ireland, said “the challenge now is how we keep products, components and material resources in use for longer, and help producers move good ideas around repair, reuse, refurbishment and remanufacturing into something that can work in the marketplace.” She added that the fund is “about reducing some of the risk involved in taking that first step.”

Dr Geraldine Brennan, director of circular economy innovation at Irish Manufacturing Research, said “the gap between identifying a circular economy opportunity and proving that it can work technically and commercially can be significant.”

For the sector, the fund gives producers a low-risk way to pilot circular business models in the Irish market before committing to full-scale deployment.

Source: irishtechnews.ie / weeeireland.ie / breakingnews.ie