Forty schools across ten councils in South-East Wales (four per local authority) are asking their pupils to bring in broken or unwanted waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) as part of WEEE Reuse Recycle 2012.
Starting from today (24 September) small domestic appliances such as toasters, DVD players, games consoles, and mobile phones will be accepted at participating schools on specified days, as part of the local authority-led initiative which runs until the end of October.
The school that collects the most WEEE per pupil in each local authority will win up to £1,000 of electrical prizes for the school (with the three runners up each receiving £300 worth of prizes), and the best performing school from across the ten councils will receive a further £2,000 of prizes, presented to the school by Wales rugby captain Sam Warburton later this year.
Designed to target the ‘high volumes’ of WEEE found in households either ‘unused, broken or not in use due to replacement with newer goods’, the initiative hopes to increase the awareness of reuse and WEEE recycling explained James Kay, South Wales Regional Waste Co-ordinator.
Kay, a representative from Resource Efficiency Wales Ltd, added: “This is a truly collaborative project led by local authorities in partnership with community re-use organisations and private sector companies.“
Funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills through the award of WEEE Distributor Take-back Scheme (DTS) funds, WEEE Reuse Recycle 2012 is the result of a successful multi local authority bid submitted by Resource Efficiency Wales Ltd. European Recycling Platform UK Ltd, who also contributed financially to the project, is managing the logistical aspects of the project.
Scott Butler, ERP UK’s Managing Director, said: “We’re very excited about WEEE Reuse Recycle 2012. This is a fantastic opportunity to spread the recycling message and to give new life to broken or unwanted electronic items. We hope there will be a great contest between all the schools to collect the most WEEE!”
According to Resource Efficiency Wales Ltd, all potentially reusable small domestic appliances collected from the schools will be made available to low income families through shops run by community reuse groups, with any broken WEEE sent for recycling at local re-processors.
Find out more about WEEE Reuse Recycle 2012.
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