Social welfare charity Recycle Lives UK and waste management company Veolia Environmental Services (Veolia) have begun free waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) kerbside collections for residents of Chorley Borough Council.

Residents wishing to recycle unwanted or broken electrical items can contact the council to arrange for Veolia Environmental Services to collect the items for free, with the item going to Recycling Lives for recycling.

The new service follows Recycling Lives’ move to Chorley Council’s recycling depot, after having signed a 15-year contract to jointly occupy the site earlier this month (9 April).

The charity plan to provide metal and scrap car buying and waste recycling facilities, alongside similar services already run at the Bengal Street site.

It is hoped that the collaboration will ‘add social value to Chorley, with local employment opportunities available’, ‘boost local start ups’ and contribute to ‘successful outcomes for the charity’s residents’.

The partnership is part of the local authorities drive to ’reduce costs and generate income from its buildings to provide better value for local residents’.

According to the charity, planning permission has now been submitted for the construction of a new building to house collected WEEE and metal as well as for the conversion of the existing offices into living accommodation for the charity’s residents and ‘incubators’ – local start ups that have been provided with office space and facilities.

“Doing all we can”

Councillor Peter Wilson, Deputy Leader of Chorley Council, said: “In the difficult economic climate we have been doing all we can to look at where we can save money and looking at the accommodation we use has been a big part of that.

“By making better use of the space we have at the Town Hall and Union Street offices we have been able to vacate the vast majority of the office space at Bengal Street and we have been looking for organisations interested in using the site.”

Recycling Lives’ founder and CEO, Steve Jackson, added: “Since the introduction of the Social Value Act, councils have been striving to provide the communities they work in with even better value for their money. People want to see their local authorities working with organisations that offer more – and Recycling Lives strives to do that in every project we undertake.

“We’re optimistic about this collaboration and look forward to future developments with every other local authority across the North West.”