The local authority outlined that it will now collect household items such as kettles, hair dryers, small toasters, irons and other similar-sized handheld electricals. It said this also includes e-cigarettes and vapes with removed batteries.
The council has also extended the range of household batteries accepted for recycling to now include rechargeable batteries from laptops, mobile phones and power tools as well as lithium button batteries and standard batteries such as AA, AAA and the like.
Electrical items for recycling can be placed on top of recycling containers on the usual recycling day, the council added.
The initiative aims to reduce the amount of electrical waste ending up in residual waste and instead ensure the proper recycling of electrical waste.
Cllr Rhys Sinnett, cabinet member for residents’ services, said: “This expansion to our kerbside recycling will not only allow us to remove electrical waste from our black bags but also see more of these unused items put to a new use.
“We will all have electrical items that are beyond repair and now they can be collected with the usual recycling for processing rather than ending up in landfill.”
Battery recycling
The council’s decision to expand the range of recycled batteries is important in light of a report published last year by Material Focus, a not-for-profit organisation focused on the recycling of e-waste.
The report highlighted that battery fires in lorries have increased by 71% from 2022, reaching an all-time high, with over 1,200 incidents reported between 2023 and 2024. Material Focus explained that, due to the rising number of portable electrical items containing lithium-ion batteries, the fire risk is higher if these items are binned instead of recycled (see letsrecycle.com story).
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