An industry-wide drive to extend the lives of fixable white goods has been fast-tracked to combat a major shortage of electrical repair experts – whose average age is now 59.
The new ‘Circular Economy Skills Initiative’ course aims to produce enough experts to ensure thousands of washing machines, fridges and dishwashers are given a new lease of life in homes and businesses across the country.
WEEE Ireland, the White Goods Association and technical training agency FIT (Fast Track to IT) joined forces to create the innovative curriculum and career pathway. The free training course will be run with the support of Louth Meath Education and Training Board (LMETB) in a state-of-the-art centre in Dunshaughlin, Co Meath.
Up to 20 trainees will complete the initial pilot 26-week programme, followed by 12 weeks’ guaranteed work placement with leading white goods industry supporters of the programme.
“This new course is a fantastic solution to some of the circular economy challenges WEEE Ireland members face,” said WEEE Ireland CEO, Leo Donovan. “It helps address a skill that is vital to ensuring we can keep householders’ electrical goods in circulation for longer. However, we must go further in encouraging circular activity by including the repair and reuse of electrical products in the EU takeback target and not solely end-of-life recycling targets.”
The Circular Economy Skills Initiative course is free of charge and those interested in participating can apply at: https://fit.ie/circular-economy-skills-initiative/. Full driving licence is required by the completion of training.
