Pilot supported by local charity Refurbit, providing recycling collections at community spaces across Hull.
Hull’s Recycling Revolution with Refurbit, today unveils its plans for a city-wide initiative that will make it easier for residents across Hull to recycle unwanted small electrical items. The pilot launches today with the hope that all 124,000 local residents will get behind its drive to recycle their electricals.
Striking pink dedicated recycling collection boxes, or secure lockers, will be installed at eight community centres, initially in the East and West Central Wards of Hull, with more planned for further wards later on. Residents can leave their electrical items for Refurbit to collect, for reuse or for safe recycling. The pilot aims to reduce local e-waste, increase the reuse of items that are still in working order for later donation to those facing digital exclusion, and to keep valuable materials out of landfill.
This is one of over 80 UK pilots funded by Material Focus, the not for profit leading the Recycle Your Electricals campaign, who have provided £56,000 to support this pilot. Hull’s Recycling Revolution, joins other pilots around the country in making it easier for over 12 million UK residents to recycle their electricals.
Pink recycling collection boxes, or secure lockers, will be positioned in the Reception areas at eight local community centres, including at Maurice Rawling Centre, Lonsdale Centre, Hull Afro Caribbean Association, The Mitchell Centre and Vulcan Centre. All sites are easily accessible and residents will be able to hand their small electrical items such as laptops, tablets, phones, cables and small household electricals to Reception staff who will deposit them into the secure recycling boxes or lockers.
Items collected at each site will be transported by Refurbit to its Hull hub for secure data-wiping, testing and preparation for reuse or recycling. The collection boxes and lockers will be closely monitored by Refurbit, and replaced as they fill with recycled items.
Alongside the collections, Refurbit will also host community engagement activities which include drop-in events offering expert technical support and advice on keeping electricals in use and they’ll attend events across the city showcasing how donated electricals can be reused.
Residents will be made aware of how and where they can recycle their electricals through information on leaflets and on eye-catching posters featuring HypnoCat. Keep an eye out for HypnoCat, the Recycle Your Electricals mesmerising pink, fluffy mascot, who is on a mission to hypnotise local residents into recycling their electricals.
This pilot is funded by the Electricals Recycling Fund where Material Focus has allocated £750,000 to pilots across the UK. The aim of the nationwide Electricals Recycling Fund is to significantly reduce e-waste and its environmental impact by making it easier for consumers to recycle their electricals.
The pilots that have been funded by Material Focus include a variety of recycling methods, from kerbside collections to more drop-off points in schools, community centres, and bring banks. Overall, there will be over 400 new collection points plus kerbside collections for three million residents – together helping over 12 million UK residents to recycle their electricals.
Recycle Your Electricals research has shown that 80% of consumers believe recycling is a good thing, and many of us already recycle things like paper and plastic. Research has also shown that most of us have unwanted electricals we want to get rid of. On average there are at least 30 electricals hidden away in drawers in UK homes, a total of 880 million items across the UK – with a simple repair many could be donated or sold to people who could put them to good use.
And yet 39% of people bin electricals, rather than recycle or reuse them leading to over 100,000 tonnes of electricals thrown away every year. The aim of these pilots is to overcome these issues by making it easier to repair, donate or recycle electricals.
Sam Carlisle, Founder Refurbit, said: “If we want change, we have to build it ourselves. Hull has the chance to show the world how a city can recycle and reuse technology properly and prove that communities can lead the way.
“We are pleased to support Hull’s Recycling Revolution that addresses the pressing issue of e-waste.” said Scott Butler, Executive Director of Material Focus. “By investing in improved collection and drop-off services and exploring new recycling methods, we are taking a significant step towards creating a more sustainable future by making it easier for over 12 million more people to recycle their electricals.”
To find your nearest recycling point, search recycle your electricals.