New Rules

3:44pm Friday 13th July 2007

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WEEE!!!!!!!!
New rules came into force last week to encourage the recycling of electrical goods - mobile phones, TVs, computers and washing machines. Toxic metals from dumped electrical equipment pose a serious environmental threat.
To coincide with the new, excitingly titled WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) regulations, Comet is extending its collection and recycling service for large electrical items to all households across the UK for a standard charge of £20.00. Dixons, Currys and PC World, have opted to allow customers to return electrical waste to the stores where they were bought. Other producers and retailers have bought into a £10 million scheme to provide over 900 "designated collection facilities" in the UK.
Electronic and electrical equipment constitute the fastest growing waste stream in the UK. A survey of over 2000 people throughout the UK by the electrical retailer, Comet, disturbingly revealed that just under half of those surveyed had never recycled an electronic product in their lives, and one in five seemed unaware that they could be recycled. Let’s hope that the new regulations improve this situation.
To draw attention to our personal contribution to the problem Paul Bonomini designed a huge robotic figure mad of scrap electrical and electronic equipment called WEEE man which is currently on tour. It weighs 3.3 tonnes and stands seven metres tall – representing the average amount of e products every single one of us throws away over a life time.

Shirley Ali Khan