Council begins WEEE collections with DCLG funding

The council hopes that the initiative will increase the amount of waste it is able to divert from landfill and is encouraging residents to recycle small waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) items alongside dry recycling at the kerbside.

Bath and North East Somerset was one of 85 councils to receive a share of the 250 million pot set up to support local authorities collecting of waste on a weekly basis (see letsrecycle.com story).

A total of 2,185,000 was awarded to the council through the fund, and will also be used to provide additional recycling containers for residents.

Waste collection crews from the councils collection contractor May Gurney will begin collecting small WEEE from householders from today (February 18).

Residents have been asked to leave unwanted electrical items in a plastic bag alongside their green recycling box which is used to collect materials including plastics, aluminium foil and cans, textiles, paper and batteries and is collected weekly.

Collection

Items such as kettles, cameras, electronic toothbrushes and hi-fi equipment will be accepted. Larger items such as televisions or computer monitors can be taken to household waste recycling centres (HWRCs).

All WEEE collected from households in Bath & North East Somerset will be taken to SIMS in Avonmouth to be recycled.

Commenting on the scheme, councillor David Dixon, Bath & North East Somersets cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said: It is important that Bath & North East Somerset Council makes recycling as easy and convenient as possible for local people to help increase our recycling levels. This is why we have added this new collection.

Last year our residents recycled 537 tonnes of small electricals, by taking them to our Recycling Centres. But we still find lots get thrown away. It is a waste to throw these away because they can be recycled and made into new things using their valuable metals and plastics. For example, one clothes iron can provide enough steel to make 13 new steel cans.

All the items we collect will be crushed, separated into their different materials and recycled to make new products. People can also donate any working electrical items in reusable condition to charity if possible.

The council has also arranged road shows where residents can find out more about recycling their WEEE, which will run until June.