“Love your electricals – set them free” is the call from Reigate & Banstead Borough Council which is using Recycle Week 2010 (21 to 27 June) to encourage residents to recycle their unwanted electrical items. Recycle Week aims to encourage us all to think about the many, easy ways we can waste less and make more of the resources we have and the emphasis this year is on recycling small electrical appliances.
Research has shown that many of us continue to hang on to small electricals when we no longer have a use for them, whether they are broken or have been replaced with the latest model. On average, each person in the UK buys three new electrical items each year and three quarters of us admit to having at least one old or unused electrical item in our house, with one in 10 hoarding five or more of these items.1
Executive Member for Environment, Councillor Julian Ellacott said:
“Recycle Week is a great opportunity for everyone to take a look at their recycling habits and see what they can do to recycle more and waste less. From recycling more of our everyday items like glass and plastic bottles to reducing our food waste, using reusable bags or trying out new things like home composting, there’s lots of things we can do to help cut back on the amount of waste we send to landfill.
“And now there are even more ways to give your unwanted electrical items a new lease of life and make more of the resources we have. The Council and Recycle Now has teamed up with British Heart Foundation this year, so if your old electrical item can still switch on, why not donate it at your local British Heart Foundation Furniture and Electrical Store and you will also be helping to raise money for charity.
“Old or broken electrical items, including low energy bulbs, can be recycled at your local Community Recycling Centre (formally known as the tip) either on Horley Road, Redhill or Blenheim Road, Epsom.”
The nearest BHF stores that accept electricals are located in Crawley and Wallington – visit www.bhf.org.uk for details.
Alternatively, if the item is in good working order you could ask relatives or friends if they would like it or swap or sell it online (for example through Reigate Freecycle). A number of retailers will also accept your old small electricals for recycling in store when you buy new ones.
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council’s recycling roadshow trailer will be at the Priory Park Community Festival on Saturday 26 June, so come along and get advice on all your recycling and composting needs. There will also be a competition to win a DAB digital radio and eco kettle.
Small electricals: fast facts from Recycle Now
* On average, each person in the UK buys three new electrical items each year on average, or 173 million nationally
* Three quarters of us admit to having at least one old or unused electrical item in our house, with one in 10 hoarding five or more of these items
* 38% of us have at least one electrical item from the last decade stored in our homes unused
* Only a 1/3 of people (35%) believe electrical goods can be recycled
* More than a third of people (35%) say they don’t know where to take electricals to be recycled
* A third of us (30%) say we recycle our broken small electricals, but a further third of us say we throw them out with the rest of our rubbish
* Kettle and mobile phones top the list for goods that have been replaced in the past year (29% have replaced a kettle and 25% a phone)
* 83% would make more of an effort to recycle electricals in the future having been made aware they could
* Amazingly enough, some of us still have unused electricals from the 60s and 70s in our homes including original stylophones, lava lamps and the trusty teasmaid.
* Over the past year, EA figures suggest that only 14.5% of small electricals are recycled
* For every 7kg of small electricals bought last year – the average amount per person – only a fraction (1.3kg) was sent to be recycled.
The nearest British Heart Foundation Furniture and Electrical Stores are: Wallington – 120 Woodcote Road, Wallington, Surrey, SM6 0LY, phone 0844 499 4174; Crawley – 44-46 The Broadway, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 1HG, phone 0844 499 4182.
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You could earn a little amount of cash of unused and broken gadgets. You could sell them in a recycling shop. It’s better than letting them rot in your garage.