Electrical recycling pilot scheme for Raunds

From Monday (September 23) East Northamptonshire Council will run their WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment) trial in the town, which will continue until the end of 2019. If it is a success it could be rolled out across the district.

During the trial residents will be able to place small and handheld electrical items out alongside their regular waste collection. These will be collected and taken to a dedicated facility for sorting and recycling.

Items that will be collected are: hairdryers, hair straighteners, shavers, electric toothbrushes, kitchen appliances such as toasters, kettles and hand blenders, DVD/CD Players, radios, MP3 players and remote controls, clocks, watches, calculators and torches, kettles, telephones, cameras, laptops, remote controls, small electrical DIY tools such as drills and electric screwdrivers, toys (remote control car or drone) and chargers.

Items for collection should be left next to recycling or refuse bin on normal collection days and should have cables attached with batteries removed.

Council leader Steven North said: “As a council, we are committed to helping residents with their recycling in East Northamptonshire. With a growing number of electrical items in households due to technologies constantly changing, this trial is the next step in ensuring that as many items as possible are sent to recycling facilities.

“We encourage residents in Raunds to have a rummage through their cupboards and dig out all those unused and unwanted household electrical items for our team to collect and recycle. We hope that the WEEE trial in Raunds will be a success and we can roll it out across the district.”

Any electrical items collected will be placed in a specially designed cage attached to waste trucks.

Due to the cage size only small and handheld items, such as the list above, can be accepted. If the cage becomes full, the waste team may have to leave items, but Raunds residents have been encouraged to place any items left behind out for collection the following week.