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Talking Rubbish column: 17th January
Are friends electric?
It’s clear from the business pages of our newspapers that one group of people who did not enjoy Christmas were the high street retailers.
In particular, sales of electrical items do not appear to have been as successful as hoped – but you would not know it from Wiltshire’s Household Recycling Centres.
They are stuffed full of televisions, computers, game consoles and other gadgets. It seems that when many of these break down or become out of date most of us just bin them.
Electrical waste is the fastest-growing form of rubbish in the European Union and the UK produces an estimated 1.2m tonnes of it each year.
New legislation came into force last year which requires producers to take more responsibility for how their electrical products are disposed of and in particular to ensure they get recycled.
The county council sends the waste electrical items on to reprocessors who, where possible, ensure they are stripped of all materials that might be reused and the hazardous elements are disposed of properly. For example, when you throw away an old TV at the household recycling centre, 98% of it will be recycled.
Shine a light
Recently there have been warnings about the dangers of low energy light bulbs.
These contain small amounts of mercury, which is toxic, but are perfectly safe as long as they are not broken.
If you need to dispose of them then, like fluorescent light tubes, they can be taken to your nearest Household Recycling Centre. They are sent on to reprocessors and as much as possible is recycled.
It certainly should not put you off using these bulbs as they provide a cost-effective and environmentally-friendly alternative to standard light bulbs.
Forest of cards
The Woodland Trust has teamed up WHSmith, Tesco, TK Maxx and Marks & Spencer and aims to recycle 100 million Christmas cards by January 31. The money raised will be used to plant 24,000 trees.
All you have to do is take your cards to one of the participating stores and put them in the specially-marked bins.
The rest of the year greeting cards can be recycled through the cardboard banks at the household recycling centres.
ENDS
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