Don't throw out your old electricals, recycle responsibly!
13/Jan/2012
With Christmas now over, Sims Recycling Solutions is reminding consumers not to throw Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) in their wheelie bins but to take unwanted equipment to their local civic amenity site for recycling.
Sims’ Myles Pilkington, explains: “With the ever increasing number or electrical and electronic items now available on the market, many people will have received such items as Christmas gifts. Whether it’s an old toaster, kettle, TV, laptop, mobile phone, games console, coffee machine, hair straightener or microwave, all of these items contain valuable materials that can be recycled.
“WEEE is the world’s fastest growing waste stream and at Christmas, there is inevitably an increase in the volume of WEEE becoming redundant and consumers discarding their unwanted items. Unwanted or redundant electrical equipment that is thrown in domestic wheelie bins, ends up in landfill and the metals it contains are lost forever. If an item is still in working order, it should be sold or sent for reuse wherever possible. This prolongs the life of that particular piece of equipment until it finally breaks down and can be recycled. WEEE that is not in working order should be taken to the local civic amenity site for responsible recycling by professional companies such as ours.
“Once recycled, the materials can be re-used by manufacturers in the production of new products rather than using virgin materials. We are rapidly running out of the precious metals we need to make these products worldwide, so we need to do everything we can to preserve them.”
Myles concludes: “It is very important that in the case of unwanted computers and other data bearing devices such as Blackberrys and mobile phones, that data should be removed from these devices before selling them on or donating to charities. Whilst reusing computers and computer equipment benefits communities, if your personal data should fall into the wrong hands you could be creating problems for yourself further down the line.”