As we told you last week, this week is Recycle Week and this year the theme is ‘love your electricals’ as we are being encouraged to part with our used electrical items so they can find a new home.
According to research conducted by the national recycling campaign ‘Recycle Now’ many of us hoard old mobile phones and other electrical equipment like CD players and laptops, even if we don’t use them anymore and even if they’re broken!
The survey showed people keep their old things for sentimental and practical reasons:
- 40% are too sad to part with an item which they don’t use anymore
- 41% hope the item might come in handy again one day, or that they might be able to pass it on to someone who needs it
- 23% feel that the items seem too valuable just to throw in the bin
- 29% keep them because they are don’t know what to do with them
- 37% would feel better if they could donate or recycle them
It’s clear that public awareness of mobile phone recycling and recycling of other small electricals still needs to be promoted. As part of Recycling Week, The British Heart Foundation is collecting unused or unwanted small electricals that still work, and selling them on to raise additional funds.
Mike Lucas at the British Heart Foundation (BHF) says: “Recycle Week is a new and exciting partnership for the BHF raising vital funds in the fight against heart disease – the nation’s biggest killer. Many people don’t know what to do with their working items once they’ve been replaced with newer versions, but by donating them in Recycle Week, they could become a life saver.”