Raunds residents to take part in innovative waste collection pilot

Raunds residents will pilot a new waste collection scheme from East Northamptonshire Council (ENC).

The WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) collection scheme goes live on Monday 23 September and will run until the end of 2019. If successful, the scheme could be rolled out across the district.

During the trial, residents will be able to place small and handheld electrical items out alongside their regular waste collection and these will be collected, taken to a dedicated facility for sorting and recycling.

Items for collection should be left next to recycling or refuse bin on normal collection days and the following small electrical items will be collected:

• Hairdryers, hair straighteners, shavers, electric toothbrushes
• Kitchen appliances such as toasters, kettles, hand blenders
• DVD/CD Players, radios, MP3 players and remote controls
• Clocks, watches, calculators and torches
• Kettles
• Telephones, cameras
• Laptops, remote controls
• Small electrical DIY tools such as drills and electric screwdrivers
• Toys (remote control car or drone)
• Chargers

Items should still have the cables attached and all batteries removed.

Steven North, Leader of East Northamptonshire Council said:

"As a council, we are committed to helping residents with their recycling in East Northamptonshire. With a growing number of electrical items in households due to technologies constantly changing, this trial is the next step in ensuring that as many items as possible are sent to recycling facilities.

"We encourage residents in Raunds to have a rummage through their cupboards and dig out all those unused and unwanted household electrical items for our team to collect and recycle. At ENC, we hope that the WEEE trial in Raunds will be a success and we can roll it out across the district."

Any electrical items collected will be placed in a specially designed cage attached to waste trucks and due to the cage size only small and handheld items, such as the above list, can be accepted. If the cage becomes full, the waste team may have to leave items, but Raunds residents are encouraged to place any items left behind out for collection the following week.

More information about the WEEE pilot scheme can be found at: www.east-northamptonshire.gov.uk/WEEE