Residents in Newport will be the first to have Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) bins, helping them to recycle their small household electrical items more effectively. The bins are being provided by Sims Recycling Solutions, which earlier this year announced it will build a new £8 million recycling facility for WEEE at Newport Docks.
Any small item of WEEE in Newport was previously processed together with other mixed metals, which meant that only the metallic components of electrical items were recycled. The new WEEE bins, which will be installed at the Newport City Council civic amenity site from today, will now divert small electrical items from the standard metals recycling route to Sims' dedicated WEEE plant, where a much larger percentage of each unit can be recovered, including plastics and circuit boards.
Sims already recycles fridges and processes mixed metals for Newport City Council. The introduction of WEEE bins will increase its services, allowing local residents to dispose of any small electrical item that has a plug on it, from a hi-fi to a hairdryer. Larger items, such as televisions and monitors or florescent lighting, will not go into the bins and should instead be taken to the dedicated recycling disposal points within the civic amenity site.
"This initiative is a further demonstration of our commitment to recycling best practice, both locally and nationally," commented Graham Davy, managing director of Sims Recycling Solutions. "The bin system is already well-established for the collection and recycling of other items, such as paper or glass and the method should work extremely well to boost electrical recycling in the area. The bins will provide Newport's civic amenity site with a complete system of separation for WEEE recycling and could potentially be adopted by WEEE compliance schemes, that are run on behalf of retailers or manufacturers of electrical goods."
Commenting on the impact on residents within the area, councillor Ray Truman from Newport City Council said: "We are delighted that Sims Recycling Solutions has made Newport the first location in the UK to provide WEEE bins for community recycling. This development will further expand our increasingly robust recycling processes and we hope this easy to use facility will encourage even more people to do the right thing with their old electrical goods."
The WEEE Directive aims to reduce the amount of electrical waste being disposed in landfills by promoting separate collection, treatment and recycling. It became legislation in the UK on 2 January 2007 and businesses that produce WEEE must be registered with a compliance scheme by 15 March with the aim for businesses to be fully compliant by 1 July.
More information about Newport's recycling and refuse schemes can be found on the council website or by calling the city contact centre. For further information residents can call 01633 656656 or visit www.newport.gov.uk/recyclefornewport.
Sims Group's metals recycling business is the world's leading recycler of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, operating from over 120 sites worldwide and recycling 9 million tons of metal each year.
Sims Group is a public limited company, listed on the Australian stock exchange, which seeks to meet and better legislation ahead of its implementation, their range of services in Europe cover End of Life Vehicles, Abandoned Vehicles, End of Life Tyres; Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Recycling and End of Life Fridge Recycling.
Sims' Newport Site already houses the World's largest Shredder for recycling end of life vehicles and light iron and the World's largest Fridge Recycling Plant as well as a metal's recycling yard, rail link and deepwater docks facility.