Bring banks for the collection of small waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) have been installed across York, in a bid to increase the amount of electronic waste collected in the city.
The Electrical Recycling Company, a part of waste management and recycling firm Yorwaste, has installed the banks at three locations for residents to dispose of small WEEE items including mobile phones, hairdryers, electric toothbrushes and DVD players.
Electrical waste deposited in the banks will be taken to a facility at Hessay on the outskirts of York for sorting and recycling.
The banks have been sited at three initial locations cross the city at the B&Q car park in Hull Road, York Designer Outlet Shopping Centre in Fulford, and at the park and ride facility at Rawcliffe Bar.
Bring sites are popular amongst councils where collections of WEEE are not practical, or where access to a household waste recycling centres is limited.
York council has advised residents wishing to dispose of larger electrical items to take them to HWRCs at Hazel Court and Towthorpe, and are also operated by Yorwaste.
Recycling
Councillor Dave Merrett, cabinet member for environmental services, planning and sustainability at City of York council, said: We are very pleased to have unveiled the citys first electrical bring banks and we hope that local people will take advantage of them and recycle any old small items they may have in their homes.
‘We are very pleased to have unveiled the citys first electrical bring banks and we hope that local people will take advantage of them and recycle any old small items they may have in their homes.’
Cllr Dave Merrett, York council
By locating the banks at places where a lot of people visit, we hope it will encourage more recycling and further reduce the amount of unnecessary waste that currently goes to landfill.
Yorks household waste facilities are managed on behalf of the council through a contract with Yorwaste, which gives the contractor ownership of all of the WEEE delivered to the sites.
Yorwaste works with producer compliance scheme WeeeCare to ensure that WEEE recycling rates are maximised whilst WeeeCare counts evidence generated from the York CA sites towards meeting its members recycling obligations.
WeeeCare has partnered with York council since 2007 (see letsrecycle.com story), and the city council has said it will review the arrangement in 2015 when its current HWRC management deal is due for renewal.
Paul Sellers, manager of the Electrical Recycling Company, added: It is estimated that around 25% of small electrical appliances that either no longer work or are just unwanted are sitting in peoples cupboards or lofts.
By using the new bring banks to recycle electrical items people will not only be able to clear space in their homes, they will also be helping the environment because of all the items collected in the banks and sent for processing a final recycling rate of over 80% will be achieved.
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