Residents who recycle unwanted electrical
items at the Householder Recycling Centre during March 2010 could
win a £50 John Lewis voucher towards buying a replacement.
Peterborough City Council is running the
scheme to encourage more people to recycle small electrical items
at the Householder Recycling Centre, on Welland Road, Dogsthorpe,
as part of its campaign to boost the city's recycling rates.
For every small electrical item taken to the
centre for recycling from 1 March 2010, residents will have the
chance to win one of a range of prizes, including £50 John Lewis
gift vouchers, an LED wind-up torch, or a re-useable bag.
The scheme will continue until all the prizes
have been won, or to 30 March 2010 - whichever falls first.
Participants have a one-in-five chance of winning a prize. Funding
for the scheme has been provided by REPIC (Recycling Electrical
Producers' Industry Consortium) and on-site support provided by HW
Martin Waste Ltd (the current site operator).
Councillor Matthew Lee, deputy leader of the
city council and cabinet member for environment capital and
culture, said: "This is a great initiative which will hopefully
increase the city's electrical recycling rates and contribute to
our aim of achieving a 65 per cent overall recycling rate by 2020.
It also adds to Peterborough's growing reputation as the UK's
environment capital."
Shah Faisal, the city council's waste
management officer, said: "This is a great opportunity for people
to recycle their unwanted electrical items and potentially win a
prize as a reward. It may be that they had an electrical gift for
Christmas and don't know what to do with the old one, so we would
encourage them to bring it to the centre and recycle it.
"If you have an item that you want to dispose
of but are unsure if it is classified as electronic then the
general rule is if it has a plug, uses batteries or needs
recharging it can be taken to the centre and recycled.
"Activities like this have proved successful
in other areas of the country, and if it works well in Peterborough
it's likely that we will run similar campaigns in the future."
Since the introduction of new regulations
regarding the recycling of electrical items (also known as Waste
Electronic and Electrical Equipment or WEEE) in 2008, an increasing
amount of this type of waste has been collected for recycling in
the city.
Residents can also take green garden waste,
household and car batteries, mixed glass bottles and jars, scrap
metal, newspapers and magazines, fluorescent tubes, textiles,
cardboard, garden waste, paint, used engine oil, gas bottles,
paper, cooking oil, hardcore and rubble and plasterboard, wood and
chipboard, plastic bottles and household and garden chemicals to
the centre for recycling.
The centre is open seven days a week from 8am
to 4pm from 1 October to 31 March, and 8am to 6pm from 1 April to
30 September.