News Release

The information contained within this release was accurate at the time of writing, 10 August 2009.

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WEEE can recycle your electronic and electrical equipment

Residents in Basingstoke and Deane can now recycle their broken televisions and out of date game consoles thanks to an innovative new collection scheme.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has become the first council in the country to sign up for Midex’s free WEEECollect.IT service.

The year-long trial kicked off a few weeks ago and will enable most residents in the borough to recycle Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) or, put simply, anything that takes batteries or has an electric plug.

Everything from PCs, dishwashers and washing machines to cookers, kettles, vacuum cleaners and DVD players can be collected for free! The service also includes collection of household batteries.

The year long trial will see household collections take place on a quarterly basis. The aim is to collect around 200 tonnes of waste electronic and electrical equipment during the year for recycling.

It is estimated that UK households throw away around 1 million tonnes of WEEE each year and significant volumes of small domestic WEEE and batteries still end up in grey bins, putting a great strain on our already deteriorating environment.

Residents included in the trial will receive a leaflet with a set collection date and clear instructions on what to do. The first collection has already taken place and collected just below 40 tonnes of WEEE. The collection will be repeated in October 2009, January and April 2010.

Cabinet Member for the Environment and Climate Change Cllr Elaine Still said: “We are delighted to be the first council in the country to sign up to this year-long trial. This is a fantastic opportunity for residents to dispose of their waste electrical and electronic equipment in a positive way. This scheme is hassle free and simple to do and we hope that people will support it to help reduce the amount of WEEE going to waste.”

Midex General Manager Chris Spooner said: “Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has been following our initial trials with great interest and we are delighted they are the first council to sign up in partnership with us. Their support will allow us to move our trials to the next level. Our target it to remove 200 tonnes of WEEE from the borough and we are confident that residents will rise to the challenge.”

For more information on the scheme visit www.weeecollect.it or call 0871 2000 962 or call the borough council on 01256 844 844.


*A small charge will be applied for the collection of a fridge/freezer.