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550,000 new TVs bought for switchover 02.04.13

by Linda McGrory

IRISH people bought more than a whopping 550,000 new televisions in the eighteen-month run-up to the digital switchover last year.
That was over 1,000 new TVs bought each day for the changeover on October 24, 2012.
A further 333,000 digital set top boxes were bought by consumers to adapt their old TVs for the switch.
New figures show that 335,000 Saorview-approved televisions were sold through Irish retailers during the 18-months of the switchover campaign, representing about 60 per cent of total television sales.
A further 233,000 Saorview-approved set-top boxes were sold through retailers, representing some 70 per cent of all set-top box sales.
While the figures cover the 18-month duration of the Saorview campaign, most of the sales occurred in 2012.
At the same time, Irish households scrapped more than 800 old televisions a day during the key switchover period.
The statistics show that some 75,000 old TVs were disposed of from October to December 2012 through Saorview’s official recycling partner, WEEE Ireland. This was nearly double the number of televisions recycled in the final quarter of 2011.
WEEE Ireland compliance manager, Elizabeth O'Reilly, said the switch from analogue to digital resulted in a strong year for TV recycling.
“We are currently compiling our data for the 2012 annual report and all indications are that it was a bumper year for TV recycling for WEEE Ireland," said Ms O'Reilly.
"The work we did with Saorview during the digital switchover to promote recycling of those TVs at the end of their useful life resulted in more than 75,000 TVs being recycled responsibly during the key switchover months at the end of the year," she said.
Meanwhile, a total of about 280,000 obsolete televisions and monitors were recycled through WEEE Ireland last year. This represented a massive 40 per cent rise on the previous year. Tens of thousands more obsolete TVs were recycled through civic amenity sites and other waste management services or downgraded to spare rooms for DVDs and gaming.
Ms O’Reilly added: "Thanks to everyone who brought their old and broken TV sets to the WEEE Ireland collection events, to retail take-back points and to civic amenity collection sites.”
Under WEEE regulations, suppliers and retailers are obliged to take back customers' old televisions free of charge on a like-for-like basis when they purchase a new one.
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