Media release, 10 June 2021
Electrical waste is now one of the fastest growing waste streams in the UK and in the world, and we are throwing away some of the most precious materials on the planet. In a concerted effort to tackle this Material Focus, the independent not-for-profit, was launched with the goal to stop the nation throwing away or hoarding their old small electricals. In May 2020 Material Focus launched the public-facing Recycle Your Electricals campaign to encourage, and make it easier for, UK households to reuse and recycle their unwanted electricals rather than throwing them away or hoarding them.
“Everything we’re doing, our research, investment and our campaign, is aimed at making it easier to recycle your electricals. We are working with a range of partners to deliver our work, and are keen to work with more including businesses and local authorities and re-use organisations. The sooner we get our message, “Recycle your electricals”, to UK householders, the sooner we can stop precious materials from unwanted electricals being lost forever,” said Scott Butler, Executive Director of Material Focus.
During 2020 Material Focus achieved the following:
Material Focus worked collaboratively with a number of partners to amplify the message to as many households across the UK as possible. These partners include local authorities, businesses, re-use organisations, waste and recycling companies, government and politicians, and schools.
Material Focus’s 2020 annual review shows that the campaign is beginning to change behaviour, yet there is still a lot more work to be done to achieve mass awareness. The campaign will continue until at least 2024.
For further information please contact Kate Hinton; mobile 07714708416.
Material Focus is an independent not-for-profit organisation whose goal is to stop the nation throwing away or hoarding their old small electricals. It has launched the new UK-wide Recycle Your Electricals campaign. The campaign is revealing the value hidden in electricals and is making it easier for us all to recycle and reuse the small electricals we no longer need by providing more recycling points as well as providing practical information on how households can recycle.
The campaign is funded by producers of electrical appliances. The UK Government sets annual targets for the recycling of all waste electricals, including small electricals. If producers of electrical appliances don’t meet this target, then they contribute towards a fund, which pays for a range of activities including communications, behaviour change activities, increasing recycling collection points and options and technical research. Ultimately the aim is to support actions that will help the UK increase the levels of reuse and recycling of waste electricals.
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