Not-for-profit organisation Material Focus is funded by the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) compliance fee and behind the UK-wide Recycle Your Electricals campaign.
In December 2022, it announced the launch of its ‘Electricals Recycling Fund, with up to £2.5m up for grabs to support organisations looking to test “creative and practical methods” of collecting unwanted electricals (see letsrecycle.com story).
Today (27 September) the company announced that £1.8m has been awarded to projects which “provide a variety of recycling methods, from kerbside collections to more drop-off points in schools, community centres, and on-street bring banks”.
Projects awarded funding include:
- Half a million residents of Richmond Upon Thames and Wandsworth Councils will be able to recycle their electricals through the introduction of a small waste electricals kerbside collection service and bring banks providing them with easier recycling options for their waste electricals
- The Library of Things, will be launching an online platform that allows their existing 12,000+ Brighton and London users to connect with more sustainable and affordable alternatives to buying electrical items including rental, repair, reuse and recycling services. They want to develop new elements of their service to unlock latent capacity in communities to self-organise and take local action on e-waste
- Solihull Council in partnership with Veolia will provide a bookable kerbside collection service which will be available to over 215,000 residents in the Solihull area, making it convenient for them to responsibly dispose of their small electrical items
- North Tyneside Council will set up 30 additional small electricals recycling points in schools and community centres across their local area. This initiative will enable 209,000 residents of North Tyneside to recycle their electricals
- Four thousand residents in North Kensington in West London, will be provided with new local drop-off points, regular collections, and educational electrical repair workshops, to enable them to recycle or repair their electricals
‘Significant step’
Scott Butler, executive director of Material Focus, said: “By investing in improved drop-off options services and exploring new ways of collecting electricals, we are taking a significant step towards creating a more sustainable future by making it easier for 10 million more people to recycle their electricals.”
Councillor Ken Hawkins, Solihull council’s cabinet member for environment and infrastructure, said: “It’s great that our residents will soon be able to get rid of their small electrical goods in a responsible and environmentally friendly way.
“Recycling and reusing materials is key to creating a circular economy where we reduce the need for ‘new’ resources by reusing old ones. I am sure our residents will appreciate this new service from Veolia, supported by Material Focus.”
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