HAVE you got any small electrical items that have lost their spark? Maybe you have a broken remote control or a sandwich toaster just a bit past its prime?
Whether it’s old mobile phones in a drawer, unused power tools cluttering up your garage or a broken kettle or toaster gathering dust in your loft, sometimes it’s hard to part with things which seem too valuable to throw away.
The good news is they don’t have to go to waste, because you can recycle them.
Cheshire West and Chester residents are being encouraged to recycle small electrical items at a series of touring roadshows taking place this month.
The ‘Don’t bin it, bring it’ roadshows, funded by electronics recycling company REPIC, kicked-off at Chester Town Hall on Monday and will visit major towns across the district to promote just how easy it is to recycle your unused or broken electrical goods at your local recycling centre.
Councillor Neil Ritchie, environment portfolio holder for Cheshire West and Chester Council, said: "Many of us plan to buy electrical or electronic goods as presents at Christmas, which could mean that our old items will end up gathering dust in our cupboards and cluttering up our houses.
"Now is the ideal time to think about recycling to make room for our new Christmas presents – old ones can be very easily recycled by taking them to the local recycling centre."
Research by Recycle Now reveals that on average, we have about three old, broken or unwanted small electrical goods stored around the home. While residents remember to recycle large electrical items like washing machines when buying replacements, smaller items, like kettles, cameras and mobile phones, are thrown away by a third of us.
Chief executive of REPIC, Philip Morton said: "If every household in the UK returned just one small electrical item for recycling, we could reprocess an extra 24,500 tonnes of unwanted small electricals into new goods."
Waste items can be dismantled into raw materials and put to new uses, for example, a typical iron contains enough steel to make 13 food cans. Plastic recycled from small household appliances such as kettles or irons can potentially be re-used in new goods, like games consoles or hairdryers.
The picture shows Helen De Lemos and Cheshire West and Chester Council's environment portfolio holder Neil Ritchie at the launch of 'Don’t bin it, bring it'.
Upcoming roadshow dates:
Wednesday, 2/12/09 - Morrison's, Nat Lane, Winsford. 11am-3pm.
Friday, 4/12/09 - Northwich Retail Park, Manchester Road, Northwich. 8am-3pm.
Saturday, 5/12/09 - Frodsham Christmas Festival, Main Street, Frodsham. 8.30am-4pm.
