Midlands recycling firm makes donation to Simon after Christmas fundraiser

(Above) Max Kyck, General Manager of KMK Metals Recycling pictured holding some of the old and broken Christmas lights.

KMK Metals Recycling’s annual Christmas lights recycling campaign across three shopping centres in the midlands, fell short over the winter due to the low footfall amid COVID-19 restrictions. However, management at Ireland’s leading metals and e-waste recycling company decided to match its previous year’s donation of €600 to the Midlands Simon Community.

Every year in the run up to Christmas, KMK Metals Recycling places specially-designed trolleys in Tullamore’s Bridge Shopping Centre, Harbour Place Shopping Centre in Mullingar and Golden Island Shopping Centre in Athlone to give shoppers the opportunity to recycle old and broken Christmas lights for free. Any money raised goes directly to the charity, which supports homeless people across the midlands. Last year, the money raised was topped up by a staff Christmas jumper day fundraiser.

KMK Metals Recycling’s General Manager, Max Kyck, explained: “Understandably, footfall across shopping centres was at an all-time low over Christmas as the majority of people heeded Government advice to stay home. On top of that, our annual Christmas jumper day didn’t take place due to the number of people working from home. We didn’t want the Midlands Simon Community to lose out because of COVID, so we have decided to donate the same amount as last year. We don’t want the environment to lose out either so we are appealing to householders to please keep those old and broken lights and any other e-waste in storage, until it is safe to recycle them at your local civic amenity centre or participating electrical retailer.”

Midlands Simon Community offers many services to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, to help get them back on their feet as quickly as possible. The charity offers services and support to people in the Midlands region of Offaly, Westmeath, Laois and Longford and aims to help users of the service to rebuild their lives and move out of homelessness into a permanent home.

Noel Greene, Community Fundraising Coordinator at Midlands Simon Community, said: “We have seen a significant reduction in our fundraising income over the past year due to the Covid-19 pandemic on top of the additional cost of PPE. We are very grateful to companies like KMK Metals Recycling and all the people who continue to support us at a time when our vital services are needed more than ever.”

KMK Metals Recycling Ltd. provides for the environmentally sound management of waste metal in all its forms and collects 75% of Ireland’s waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), bringing it to two state-of-the-art facilities in Tullamore, and Kilbeggan, where it is processed by a team of highly-qualified staff using the best available technology. The company employs approximately 120 local people.