15/05/2012 - Permalink

New places to recycle your unwanted electrical items

Related topics: Community

People in Shropshire can now recycle their unwanted small electrical items at 16 locations in Shropshire, as Shropshire Council introduces new recycling banks in partnership with Veolia. 

Large black steel containers have now been placed at the following locations: 

  • Albrighton – Crown Car Park
  • Bishop’s Castle – Crowgate
  • Bridgnorth – Innage Lane
  • Cosford – RAF Sports Stadium
  • Ellesmere – Talbot Street Car Park
  • Ludlow – South Shropshire Leisure Centre
  • Minsterley – Parish Hall, Callow Cresent
  • Oswestry – Morrisons Car Park, Oswald Road
  • Prees – Church Street Car Park
  • Shrewsbury – Morrisons, Harlescott
  • Shrewsbury – Sainsbury’s, Meole Brace
  • Shrewsbury – Asda, Old Potts Way
  • Shrewsbury – Shirehall Car Park
  • Shrewsbury – Guildhall – Frankwell Car Park
  • Shrewsbury – The Red Barn, London Road
  • St Martins – Stans Store, Overton Road 

These are just the first 16 of many to be placed around the county; to see the latest locations people can click here.

Mike Owen, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member with responsibility for recycling, said:

“We are hoping that the new banks will make it even easier for people to recycle small electrical items such as toasters, kettles, hair dryers, radios, toys and remote controls.  These items can already be recycled at the main Household Recycling Centres, but by installing more local and convenient drop off points we hope that even more people will choose to recycle which helps the environment and reduces the cost to taxpayers of ever rising landfill costs.” 

The new Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) banks are provided for the council at no charge by national producer compliance scheme Veolia, as part of their new contract to recycle all electrical items on behalf of Shropshire Council.  

The banks are clearly marked with a list of items which they accept.  This includes any small electrical items such as remote controls, hairdryers, hair straighteners, shavers, kettles, VCRs, MP3 players, sat navs and drills.  They cannot accept large electrical items such as TVs and fridges (but these can be taken to the larger Household Recycling Centres).

For more information on what can be recycled through these recycling banks, or for advice on disposing of larger items, people can contact the council’s customer services team on 0345 678 9007 or visit www.recycleforshropshire.com 

  • Although the overall amount of rubbish we throw away is decreasing year on year the amount of electrical items is increasing
  • Waste electrical goods range from hairdryers to washing machines and make up the fastest growing waste stream in the UK  
  • Many types of WEEE contain rare and precious metals, which make it especially important not to throw them away
  • Some types of WEEE also contain hazardous substances which can cause pollution if they are not recycled properly.
  • In one year the amount of electrical waste we create in the UK would fill the new Wembley 6 times
  • That’s more than 1,000,000 tonnes every year across the UK 
  • So to reduce the amount of electrical items going to landfill the EU agreed a Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) 
  • This requires electronics producers to fund recycling schemes for WEEE at no expense to the taxpayer 
  • All WEEE collected in the banks will be taken to Overton Recycling in Stourbridge for dismantling to recover metals, plastics and glass.