Recycling Campaign Proves WEEE-ly Successful

A campaign launched by West Sussex County Council and Viridor has seen a massive increase in the amount of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) recycling across Selsey.

Residents were encouraged to take their old and unwanted appliances to a mobile recycling bank in Selsey itself and the nearest Household Waste Recycling Site in Chichester.

Hannah Rogers, Senior Contracts Officer for waste for West Sussex County Council, said: “Recent research by WRAP indicated that people tend to hold on to their small electrical appliances, so we wanted to make it easy to get rid of old TVs and hairdryers that may be gathering dust.

“The Selsey trial is the second of a number of WEEE collection events in the county. The campaign was supported by the WEEE Local Project Fund, a government grant for local authorities from the department for Business, Innovation and Skills aimed at increasing WEEE recycling. We used the funding to design and manufacture an eye-catching container and to support a local communications campaign including leaflets and advertising.

“As well as Viridor, we also worked closely with Chichester District Council and PCS – Electrolink to make sure the approach was completely joined up.”

Bill Griffiths, Viridor’s Recycling Manager, said: “On top of the bespoke WEEE container and local promotion, what seemed really effective was providing a mobile service so that residents in rural areas didn’t have far to travel to access a recycling facility.

“In one day we received 208 televisions, 12 fridges and over three tonnes of small appliances. Overall the trial generated seven tonnes of WEEE, the same as some other districts in the county collect in an average month.”

West Sussex is now looking at rolling the trial out to other rural communities to help increase WEEE recycling in more parts of the county.

Viridor Waste Management Limited (Head Office)
Great Western House
Station Approach
Taunton
Somerset
TA1 1QW UK

T: 01823 721400