Haringey Council has unveiled plans for the launch of a borough-wide small electrical recycling doorstep collection service. The new service launches on 14th February, in the hope that tens of thousands of residents in the local community will get behind its drive to recycle their electricals. Alongside the household collections, the council are also introducing bring banks for small electrical recycling, which will be placed in four estates across the Haringey borough.
This is one of over 40 UK projects funded by Material Focus, the not for profit leading the Recycle Your Electricals campaign, who have provided £80,000 to fund the new household collections. Haringey will lead the way locally, joining other projects around the country in making it easier for 10 million UK residents to recycle their electricals.
The services have been created in partnership with Veolia to make the recycling process quick and easy, residents can book a collection via Haringey’s dedicated website or phone to confirm a collection slot via the Veolia Contact Centre, and then simply bag up their small electricals ready for collection. Alternatively, locals can take their recycling to the new bring banks which will be situated across the borough, making recycling more easily accessible for all Haringey residents.
Residents will be made aware of how and where they can recycle their electricals through information on leaflets and on eye-catching posters featuring HypnoCat. Keep an eye out for HypnoCat, the Recycle Your Electricals mesmerising pink, fluffy mascot, who is on a mission to hypnotise local residents into recycling their electricals.
The aim of the nationwide Electricals Recycling Fund is to significantly reduce e-waste and its environmental impact by making it easier for consumers to recycle their electricals. The projects that have been funded by Material Focus include a variety of recycling methods, from kerbside collections to more drop-off points in schools, community centres, and bring banks. Overall there will be over 400 new collection points plus kerbside collections for 5.5 million UK residents.
Recycle Your Electricals research has shown that 80% of consumers believe recycling is a good thing, and many of us already recycle things like paper and plastic. Research has also shown that most of us have unwanted electricals we want to get rid of, even if it’s just a drawer of cables – millions of electrical items are hoarded in UK homes. And yet 39% of people bin electricals rather than recycle them say they think it’s simply too hard to recycle. The aim of these projects is to overcome these issues by making it easier to recycle electricals.
Paul Peters, Senior Contracts Manager at Veolia Haringey, said: “This is a great opportunity for residents to easily recycle some of their household items that cannot go in the regular recycling bin. Previous small-scale trials we have undertaken have demonstrated an appetite from residents to recycle their small electrical items so we are confident that this borough-wide scheme will be a big success.”
“We are pleased to support Haringey’s household and bring bank collection services for small electrical items that address the pressing issue of e-waste.” said Scott Butler, Executive Director of Material Focus. “By investing in improved collection and drop-off services and exploring new recycling methods, we are taking a significant step towards creating a more sustainable future by making it easier for 10 million more people to recycle their electricals.”
