Time to empty that “Drawer of Doom”!
Many households have a “drawer (or even cupboard) of doom” full of old gadgets, unwanted cables etc. A recent study by ‘Recycle your electricals’ (https://www.recycleyourelectricals.org.uk/) estimated that “unused electrical goods could contain as much as £266m worth of copper”. With the drive to decarbonise the UK economy and a potential shortage of copper (important for solar and wind power generation, and electric vehicles), recovering materials from old electrical devices/ items is imperative. Apart from copper, this could also include steel, aluminium and lithium.
Recycling of small electrical items
As announced by Rushcliffe Borough Council recently*, from 28 October 2024, you can place small electrical items to be recycled on top of (but not inside) your blue bin. They stress that such items should never be put in the grey bin.
The current list of items is shown below, and may be extended in the future:
- Kettles
- Toasters
- Irons
- Lamps – must have bulb removed
- Hairdryers
- Straighteners
- Hair clippers
- Shavers
- Electric toothbrushes
- Games consoles
- Digital clocks
- Digital watches
- Remote controls
- Torches
- Calculators
- Laptops and tablets
- Cameras and camera chargers
- Mobile phones
- Radios
For items with removable batteries, Rushcliffe ask you to remove them, pop them in any bag and leave on top of your bin (or you can drop off at local supermarkets).
Prefer to donate to charity?
Many of the above items are also collected by charities; contact your chosen organisation or check the Donate section of the ‘Recycle your electricals’ website: https://www.recycleyourelectricals.org.uk/donate-electrical-goods/ (for example: Sue Ryder, The Salvation Army, Children’s Air Ambulance and Barnardo’s).
Hearing aids do not feature in the list above, but can be donated to ‘GiveHear’, who recondition and distribute to people in need: https://givehear.org/hearingaiddonation/.
Could it be repaired?
We’ve previously highlighted local Repair Cafes (https://www.repaircafe.org/en/), where volunteers will help you mend/refurbish all sorts of broken items (not just electrical gadgets). The nearest currently appear to be Keyworth, Sherwood and West Bridgford, with the next WB one being Saturday 7 December. Worth noting that Bingham is planning to start one in March 2025 (see Orston Sustainability Hub Facebook group), and volunteers are currently being sought. If you’d like to know more, please email: binghamrepaircafe@gmail.com (they’re looking for people to help with admin and refreshments, not just repairs!).
If you have ideas to help Orston be more sustainable, please contact: Fiona Winfield or Julian Humpheson. Email: orstonsh@gmail.com or Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/orstonsustainabilityhub.
