WEEE Ireland has committed €200,000 to help electrical and battery producers develop and test projects focused on repair, reuse, remanufacturing and recovery.
The WEEE Future Fund is intended to help turn circular economy policies into practical projects that keep electrical products, components and materials in use for longer.
The first funding round will provide awards of up to €50,000 for projects. The initiative is planned as a multi-year programme, subject to approval.
Potential projects include ways to increase the repair and remanufacturing of large household appliances, new retail take-back systems for small IT devices and initiatives focused on reusing photovoltaic panels and battery storage systems.
The fund is open to WEEE Ireland members. Non-member retailers and other organisations can participate in collaborative projects where a WEEE Ireland member leads the application.
Elizabeth O’Reilly, director of environmental compliance and circular economy at WEEE Ireland, said the fund represented a further development of Ireland’s extended producer responsibility system.
“For the past two decades, WEEE Ireland’s EPR system has helped build a very successful model for collecting and recycling electrical and battery waste in Ireland,” she said.
O’Reilly said the fund would allow companies to test ideas around repair, reuse, refurbishment and remanufacturing and establish whether successful approaches could be scaled.
WEEE Ireland represents more than 2,000 producers, manufacturers, importers and distance sellers that place electrical and electronic equipment and batteries on the Irish market. Its members include companies in household appliances, consumer electronics, IT equipment, lighting and batteries.
The fund is being developed through WEEE Ireland’s strategic partnership with Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR) and Circuleire, Ireland’s national platform for circular manufacturing innovation.
WEEE Ireland is a founding member of Circuleire and has previously worked with IMR and other organisations on projects addressing barriers to repair, reuse and second-life applications.
One such project was the Circular Economy Skills Initiative, developed with FIT and the White Goods Association to address shortages of consumer electronics and white-goods repair technicians.
The initiative created a training pathway aimed at increasing the number of technicians able to repair household appliances and consumer electronics and extend their working lives.
Martina Hennessy, assistant secretary, circular economy and resource efficiency at the Dept of Climate, Energy & the Environment, said:
“Keeping products and materials in use for longer is central to building a more circular economy, but that transition also has to work in practice for businesses and consumers. Initiatives like the WEEE Future Fund can help bridge the gap between policy ambition and delivery.”
Dr. Geraldine Brennan, director of circular economy innovation at IMR, added: “The gap between identifying a circular economy opportunity and proving that it can work technically and commercially can be significant.
“As designer and administrator of the WEEE Future Fund, IMR is working with WEEE Ireland through our Strategic Circularity Innovation Partnership to accelerate practical circular innovation across Ireland’s electrical, electronics, and battery ecosystem. We will support companies to explore circular design, product life extension, as-is reuse, remanufacturing and higher-value material recovery to drive the adoption of commercially oriented circular solutions at scale”.
Applications open on Monday 5 October and close on 18 November 2026.
Patryk Goron
Ltd
