Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

More than 17 tonnes of small electricals have been recycled by residents since the WEEE banks were launched last year - the equivalent of 8,550 kettles! The council, in partnership with DHL Envirosolutions, has provided 10 WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) banks across the county. Unwanted or broken small electrical appliances can be disposed of such as hairdryers, radios, toasters, kettles and mobile phones; in fact any electrical item that can fit inside the bin will be accepted, recycled and turned into something new. By keeping old WEEE separate from other household wastes it can be treated, the hazardous substances can be removed and a large proportion recycled rather than sent to landfill. Executive Board Member for Technical Services Cllr Colin Evans (pictured) said: “We all know that we can recycle paper, cans and glass for example, but few people realise that old electrical items such as toasters and power tools can also be recycled. “We must continue to in...

Council staff in Carmarthenshire were encouraged to bring and not bin their old electrical items to be recycled during Recycle Week. Many of us are already recycling everyday items such as newspapers, cans and plastic bottles but old and unused electrical items can also be recycled from broken toasters and kettles gathering dust in the loft, to old mobile phones in drawers and disused power tools cluttering up the garage. To raise awareness of this the council’s waste team put pink skips in council offices during Recycle Week and asked to staff to bring in any small electrical items that were either broken or not being used anymore. Research shows that just under 30 per cent of us simply throw broken or unwanted items away in the rubbish, whereas if we switched to recycling these items we could divert over 100,000 tonnes of valuable waste electricals from UK landfills each year - the equivalent weight of 14,000 double decker buses! Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is on...