29 May 2009 03:05:06
UK consumers urged to recycle electricals
The UK is falling behind the rest of Europe when it comes to recycling electrical appliances, it has been warned.
Earlier this month, a survey was published by information technology and communications equipment maker Dell which revealed that just one percent of people in the UK bother to recycle electrical goods.
Responding to this statistic, environmental group Waste Watch suggested that more should be done to educate and encourage people to responsibly dispose of their unwanted electronics.
Caroline Laitner, senior consultant at the organisation, said: "I don't think it is as well known about as it could be.
"A lot of councils do have the facility to recycle electrical equipment but a lot of the time they are stripped of parts rather than being re-used in their current form."
However, she suggested that one of the big reasons why Britain is lagging behind other countries is because it has only recently signed up to the European Union's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive.
"Any country that has had that directive in place longer than we have, it's understandable that they would be ahead of us."
The Dell research revealed that a lack of awareness about technology recycling was most apparent in the north-east, with 60 percent of people in Yorkshire and the Humber never having heard of the WEEE directive.
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