Free recycling bags - 2 Feb 2012

Free recycling bags - 2 Feb 2012
Merseyside residents can get their hands on free recycling bags – in exchange for electronic gadgets.

Throughout the whole of February, waste officers are giving away the heavy-duty waste recycling bags at all 14 of Merseyside’s Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs).

The bags are available in exchange for broken or unused small electrical and electronic waste items brought to a Recycling Centre. Items can include hairdryers, hair straighteners, children’s electronic toys, radios, DVD players, mobile phones, kettles, toasters, power tools – almost anything with a plug or that uses batteries.

All 14 of Merseyside’s Recycling Centres will accept small electrical items, whereas currently they aren’t collected via doorstep recycling bin collections. Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority (MRWA) – which is managing the scheme – wants to raise awareness of its electrical appliance recycling service in a bid to avoid precious metals going to landfill.

Councillor Joe DeAsha, Chairperson of MRWA, said: “If you’ve got an electrical item that is broken or no longer used, drop it off at a local Recycling Centre. Instead of gathering dust and cluttering up your house, it’ll be stripped down and the parts recycled.”

Many electrical items such as mobile phones, computers and PDA's contain valuable plastics and metals. Precious finite metals (those that have a more limited supply) include gold, silver, copper and indium (used in liquid crystal displays). These are valuable in the recycling process and can be reused in new products.

The bag giveaway scheme is being delivered by MRWA’s contractor Veolia Environmental Services.

Alex Paterson, Director of Veolia Environmental Services Merseyside and Halton, said: “At present small electrical items are commonly seen in the residual waste and in the kerbside dry recyclable containers. This means they do not get recycled and may end up in landfill. The blue bag will provide an easy way to collect and recycle these items and therefore improve recycling rates on Merseyside.”

Carl Beer, Chief Executive of MRWA, said: “We ran a bag giveaway scheme last year and it was very popular – in fact we shifted over 7000 bags. Our giveaways are always enthusiastically received by the public, so we know there is an appetite for recycling habits to be rewarded.”

Bag supplies are limited so will be issued on a first-come-first-served basis.

ENDS

Notes to editor:

Bags are available while stocks last. Only one bag available per person per visit.

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) facts:
• On average, each person in the UK buys 2.8 new electrical items a year*
• Over 27 million mobile phones were sold in the UK over the past year which is equal to nearly 3,500 tonnes of electrical waste*
• In the past year, nearly 173 million electrical items were sold in the UK*

*Sales data from GfK Marketing Services

What exactly can you recycle? Below are the four main categories of small electrical items that can be recycled:
High-tech electronic devices – can include phones, mobile phones, remote controls, chargers, radios, VCRs, digi-boxes, speakers, hi-fi units, electronic toys.
Personal care – can include hairdryers, hair straighteners, electric toothbrushes, hair trimmers, shavers, hair curlers, facial saunas, power showers.
Small kitchen appliances – can include kettles, toasters, irons, blenders, smoothie makers, sandwich toasters, coffee machines, food processors, bread makers, electric scales.
DIY and garden electrical – can include drills, power tools, garden shears, strimmers, sanders, angle grinders, chainsaws, lawnmowers, garden sprinklers.

Look out for the pink signage at your local Recycling Centre which shows you what goes where.

Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority (formerly Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority) is responsible for the disposal of municipal waste on Merseyside. Established in 1986 following the abolition of Merseyside County Council, it is a statutory Authority that works with all the local authorities on Merseyside – Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral. MRWA takes a lead in advocating recycling, waste minimisation and safe and effective disposal of waste for Merseyside’s residents. www.merseysidewda.gov.uk.  

The attached image shows a member of the public recycling a kettle at West Kirby Household Waste Recycling Centre.

Members of the media can contact:

John Lally
John.lally@merseysidewda.gov.uk
0151 255 1444