The council says that the initiative aims to reduce the amount of electrical waste going into black bags and instead ensure it is properly recycled.
From now on, household items such as kettles, hair dryers, small toasters, irons, and other similar-sized handheld electricals can be placed loose on top of residents’ recycling containers for collection on their usual recycling day.
The accepted items include handheld kitchen appliances, kettles and toasters (4 slice max) and small coffee machines as well as hairdryers and hair straighteners, handheld power tools, radios, irons, extension leads, power cables and battery chargers.
The council says the expanded service also includes e-cigarettes and vapes with batteries removed. These should be placed in a clear plastic bag and set on top of containers, following the same process used for household batteries.
Additionally, the range of household batteries accepted for recycling has been extended.
Residents can now include rechargeable batteries from laptops, mobile phones and power tools, lithium button batteries and standard batteries (AA, AAA, C, D, DD, 9v).
The council says that larger electrical items such as TVs, vacuum cleaners, microwaves, fridges, freezers, air fryers, and car batteries are not included in this kerbside collection and should be recycled at your nearest Waste and Recycling Centre.
Cllr Rhys Sinnett, Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services said: “This expansion to our kerbside recycling will not only allow us to remove electrical waste from our black bags but also see more of these unused items put to a new use.
“We will all have electrical items that are beyond repair and now they can be collected with the usual recycling for processing rather than ending up in landfill.
“Around 75% of old electrical items can be recycled and turned into anything from jewellery, lifesaving equipment to playgrounds.”
Research has shown that most of us have unwanted electricals we want to get rid of. On average there are at least 30 electricals hidden away in drawers in UK homes, a total of 880 million items across the UK – with a simple repair many could be donated or sold to people who could put them to good use.
