Last year, we spent a week examining every electronic and electrical device brought into a household reuse and recycling centre in West London. We tested hundreds of devices destined for the recycling shredder. And, shockingly, we found that almost half of them could have been reused instead.
As we noted at the time, while lots of products should be recycled, many shouldn’t be anywhere near the recycling bin. Instead they should be living a longer, or a second life in the hands and the homes of people that can use them. By focusing exclusively on recycling, we’re wasting more than we need to. Based on this study, we estimated that over 30,000 perfectly reusable small electrical and electronic products could be “wasted” in recycling skips at Household Waste and Recycling Centres (HWRCs) – every week.
Our experience in West London left us with a lot of questions. But one that’s stuck with us is this…
How many HWRCs actually offer reuse options for electrical devices in the UK?
We know that in some parts of the UK, waste authorities and waste management companies are testing out ways to separate reusable items from waste. We’ve even seen some of these in action. But industry insiders tell us that reuse remains rare, especially for electronic and electrical products. If true, this means we’re missing a huge opportunity to reduce waste and make the most of the products we have.
Right now, it’s hard to assess the state of reuse because there is surprisingly little public information about how common these initiatives are across the country. So now we plan to look into this ourselves and we need your help!
Help us answer this question
We’re looking for volunteers to join us on a deep dive into the world of Household Waste and Recycling Centres. Together we’ll investigate how many offer opportunities to reuse products, and we’ll have conversations with the staff on the ground about their work and the barriers they may face to moving beyond just recycling.
Don’t worry if you don’t know anything about waste management yet. We’ll brief you on everything you need to know.
All you need to take part is an internet-connected device and a sense of curiosity!
This project is supported, in part, by IMPETUS.
IMPETUS is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 101058677. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Here in NY State (Pawling) our town’s “transfer station” (where you would bring junk and recyclables) definitely doesn’t do electronics recycling. They have a container you put your electronics into, and they outright have a sign saying you aren’t allowed to take anything out. So they are definitely just scrapping and not refurbishing.
Thanks James, that’s interesting to hear. Our hunch is that a lot of equivalent sites here in the UK take a similar approach..
I’m more than happy to help …I have a ‘direct line’ to Veolia’s community outreach team at Southwark’s “Integrated Waste Management Facility” (that also processed ‘waste’ from The City of London)
That’s great, thanks Jane! I see you’ve completed the form too, so we’ll be in touch soon!
Look forward to getting involved and learning more as this is an emerging area of interest for me!
Brilliant! We look forward to having you involved Tamara
How is pandying up to MP when they are the onesresponsible for
Climate change Disparities
Cost of living Crisis. Its ordinary people that are suffering as a consequence.
Nothing to Blog Bragg or boast about.
Egos are quite destructive
Hi Keyna, thanks for your comment. It sounds like you might be referring to our blog post about taking repair into parliament. Our aim with that event was to build recognition for the work done by volunteer-led community groups across the UK and build support among MPs for legislation that fixes the broken systems you’ve identified. We agree that MPs should be doing more to tackle the climate crisis and the uneven impacts it has, as well as the cost of living crisis. This was part of our efforts to make that happen. I hope that makes sense and thanks again!
The Hampshire Household Waste & Recycling Centre near me appears to discourage direct reuse of E+E items. Those items go into a separate container, and then a team member snips off the plugs on the items or their power supplies. So, Recycling, but almost no Reuse.
Veolia has the waste collection contract; I think, but don’t know for sure, if they also run the WRCs.
Hi Jonathan, thanks for your comment – it’s really interesting to hear about this HWRC near you. That doesn’t sound particularly promising from a reuse perspective, indeed! If you’d like to get involved with the project, you can sign up here. Your insights into this site in Hampshire could be really useful!