First council signs up to Midex WEEE service

The Hampshire local authority has formed a partnership with the Aldershot-based company to run a year-long trial of Midex's 'WEEECollect.it' service in the borough, with the aim of collecting around 200 tonnes of household waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) over the 12-month period.

Under the service, the 48,000 households included in the trial receive a leaflet with a set collection date and clear instructions on how to leave out their WEEE and waste portable batteries on a quarterly basis.

The council revealed that the first of the year's four collections, which was completed between July 14 and 28, had yielded just below 40 tonnes of WEEE.Further collections are now scheduled to be held in October 2009, January 2010 and April 2010.

Explaining how the partnership with Midex worked, a spokeswoman for the council said: “We do not pay for collections, a contribution towards the cost of leafleting/promotion and transportation costs has been made by the council.”

Trial

Commenting on the service, Basingstoke and Deane's cabinet member for the environment and climate change, councillor Elaine Still, said: “We are delighted to be the first council in the country to sign up to this year-long trial.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for residents to dispose of their waste electrical and electronic equipment in a positive way. This scheme is hassle free and simple to do and we hope that people will support it to help reduce the amount of WEEE going to waste,” she added.

Midex originally launched trials of the WEEECollect.it service in Aldershot, Guildford and Farnborough in November 2008, and, in March 2009, it revealed plans to roll out the operation nationwide (see letsrecycle.com story).

The company's website details a range of postcodes in Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire which it now offers free scheduled collections to, with a charge being applied for both one-off collections and, as is the case in the Basingstoke and Deane trial, collections of fridges and freezers.

Midex

Midex's general manager, Chris Spooner, welcomed the council's decision to sign up to the service.

“Basingstoke and Deane borough council has been following our initial trials with great interest and we are delighted they are the first council to sign up in partnership with us,” he said.

“Their support will allow us to move our trials to the next level. Our target is to remove 200 tonnes of WEEE from the borough and we are confident that residents will rise to the challenge,” he added.