Merseyside goes electric - 10 Dec 2009
Merseyside waste officers are backing Recycle Now’s national campaign to get more people across the region to recycle their broken or unwanted electrical equipment in the run up to Christmas.This latest initiative will encourage people to waste less and reduce the amount of rubbish going to landfill and is being supported by Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority and their contractor Veolia Environmental Services.
A recent survey carried out on behalf of Recycle Now reveals that a staggering 94 per cent of people admit to owning electrical appliances that were given to them as Christmas gifts but are now broken and gathering dust.
The results indicate that only one third of us recycle electrical appliances that we have replaced, and a further 10 per cent put redundant / unused electrical appliances straight into the bin. Three quarters of us have at least one old or unused electrical item in our house, with one in 10 of us gathering five or more of these items.
All 14 of Merseyside’s Household Waste Recycling Centres will accept WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) and are open every day of the year except for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
Recycle Now’s campaign aims to encourage more people to recycle their broken electrical appliances instead of throwing them away.
Carl Beer, Director of MWDA, said: “We are delighted to be working with Recycle Now to help more people in Merseyside to recycle their waste electricals. Local residents I speak to say that the more convenient recycling is, the more they recycle. So we hope this campaign will help make people aware firstly that they can recycle electronic appliances, and secondly where to take them.
“We are committed to reducing the amount of waste going to landfill and this initiative will hopefully help us all manage our electrical waste better at this busy time of year.”
Alex Paterson, General Manager at Veolia Environmental Services, said: “WEEE waste is always a factor at Christmas time, however we also feel with the digital switch over we will begin to see increased amounts of WEEE waste which is easy to recycle at our facilities.”
Laura Underwood from Recycle Now said, “We want to help people in Merseyside find out how and where to recycle electricals locally. It’s easy for us all to recycle small appliances and gadgets, especially during the Christmas and New Year period when many of us don’t know what to do with our unwanted electricals.”
To find more information about the region’s Household Waste Recycling Centres log on to www.merseysidewda.gov.uk.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
MWDA is a local government body with nine elected members from the five constituent councils in Merseyside. It organises and manages disposal of all waste collected by the five councils and operates 14 Household Waste Recycling Facilities. www.merseysidewda.gov.uk
Merseyside’s Recycling Centres are located at:
Bidston – Wallasey Bridge Road, Birkenhead – CH41 1EB
Clatterbridge – Mount Road, Clatterbridge – CH63 6JE
Formby – Altcar Road, Formby – L37 8EG
Huyton – Ellis Ashton Street, Huyton Industrial Estate – L36 6BJ
Kirkby – Depot Road, Knowsley Industrial Park – L33 3AR
Newton-le-Willows – Junction Lane – WA12 8DN
Otterspool – Jericho Lane, Aigburth – L17 5AR
Rainford – Southerns Lane - WA11 8EY
Rainhill – Tasker Terrace, Rainhill - L35 4NX
Ravenhead – Burtonhead Road, St. Helens – WA9 5EA
Sefton Meadows – Sefton Lane, Maghull – L31 8BX
Southport – Foul Lane, Scarisbrick New Road – PR9 7RG
South Sefton – Irlam Road, Bootle – L20 4AE
West Kirby – Greenbank Road – CH48 5HR
WRAP helps individuals, businesses and local authorities to reduce waste and recycle more, making better use of resources and helping to tackle climate change.
Established as a not-for-profit company in 2000, WRAP is backed by government funding from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Working in seven key areas (Construction, Retail, Manufacturing, Organics, Business Growth, Behavioural Change, and Local Authority Support), WRAP’s work focuses on market development and support to drive forward recycling and materials resource efficiency within these sectors, as well as wider communications and awareness activities including the multi-media national Recycle Now campaign for England.
Recycle Now is a campaign to encourage people in England to recycle more things more often. Six out of ten of us now describe ourselves as committed recyclers, compared to less than half of us when the campaign began in 2004.
More information on all of WRAP's programmes can be found on www.wrap.org.uk and for more information on the Recycle Now campaign visit www.recyclenow.com.
For further information contact:
John Lally
PR & Communications Officer
Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority
0151 255 1444
John.lally@merseysidewda.gov.uk
Amy Jackson, PR Manager
WRAP
01295 817863
E-mail: amy.jackson@wrap.org.uk