BRIGG FOLK URGED TO RECYCLE OLD OR BROKEN ELECTRICAL ITEMS

FROM KIRSTY WESTFIELD, NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE COUNCIL

Recycle any small electrical items at the kerbside and help reduce the amount of unnecessary waste sent to landfill each year.
Nearly 30 per cent of people in North Lincolnshire put old or broken waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in the general waste bin.
Electrical items can be recycled at the kerbside.
Not only would recycling these items help the environment but it would save £100 per tonne recycled.
Small electrical items should be placed in a standard carrier bag and placed next to your blue and green boxes. It's as easy as that.
Items include irons, mobiles, children’s electrical toys, games consoles, hairdryers, electrical cables and kettles. Any item that has batteries or a plug can be recycled. 
We are unable to recycle items with a glass screen such as monitors and microwaves.
One toaster contains enough steel to produce 25 steel food cans.
Mobile phones contain gold and copper, which can be separated and reused.
Dig out all of your electrical items and recycle them today.
Don’t forget that you can recycle household batteries in your green kerbside box. Just place in a clear bag on top of the items. Forty two per cent of people still don’t recycle batteries in the UK.
Before replacing your small electrical items, take a look at WRAP’s (Waste and Resources Action Programme) ‘Better Appliances guidance’ on a number of things such as toasters, kettles and irons. These guides show what to look for in product durability. It can be found at http://eproducttechguide.wrap.org.uk/.
To find out what can and can’t be recycled in North Lincolnshire, go to www.northlincs.gov.uk/recycling. 

Cllr Neil Poole, pictured above, Cabinet Member for Investment, Assets and Employment, said: “By recycling your waste electrical and electronic equipment it could save thousands of pounds each year. A lot of these recyclable items are still being taken to landfill, which has a huge impact on the environment and is a cost to taxpayers.
“It couldn’t be easier to recycle your old or broken electrical items. Just place them in a carrier bag with your green and blue recycling boxes and we will take them away.
“We all need to do our bit to reduce our carbon footprint. Simply recycling one extra thing a week can make a big difference. So next time you go to throw something in your general waste, think ‘can this be recycled?’. A list of recyclable items can be found on our website.”
Facts from Repic about small electrical items recycling:

• The amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) the UK produces in a year would fill a line of lorries from Lands’ End to John O’Groats (based on 500,000 tonnes of WEEE separated into four tonnes in 125,000 lorries)
• The UK currently collects and recycles one tonne of waste electrical items per minute (five large appliances, five fridge freezers, 11 TVs, 115 small electrical items)
• Electrical goods are the fastest growing waste streams, increasing on average five per cent each year
• The batteries the UK sends to landfill every day could fill 98 jumbo jets

More information on what happens to waste electrical items and batteries when they are recycled can be found at www.repic.co.uk or www.recyclenow.com.