REPIC sets up a fund to support regional WEEE recycling schemes

A recent survey found that 72 per cent of industry experts thought that low public awareness of waste electrical goods recycling is one of the biggest challenges the sector faces. Additional research suggests the UK is also behind its European counterparts in terms of public understanding, so awareness campaigns such as these are important to encourage households to think more carefully about how they dispose of their WEEE.

REPIC, the UK’s largest B2C WEEE scheme, has set up a fund to support regional recycling schemes for its collection partners and is seeking local authorities wishing to apply for grants to encourage recycling in their area.

Leicestershire County Council was one of the first local authorities to apply for a grant from REPIC’s regional recycling fund. The local authority used the funding to support its campaign to boost recycling of small WEEE throughout the county. Part of this initiative included a competition whereby every Leicester resident taking a small electrical item to one of the County Council's 14 recycling and household waste sites was given a scratchcard with a 1-in-16 chance of winning a range of prizes - including holiday vouchers worth £200.

By the end of the campaign, Leicester County Council had generated a 45 per cent increase in the level of small WEEE items collected for recycling – a result which demonstrates the power of public awareness in encouraging households to recycle.

Philip Morton, chief executive of REPIC, says: “Leicester County Council is an excellent example of why REPIC set up its regional recycling grant scheme. In addition to collecting a larger proportion of the county’s WEEE, this project has demonstrated unequivocally that engaging the public is a really effective way of enhancing the proportion of small WEEE collected by councils. REPIC is therefore keen to hear from other councils planning to run their own recycling campaigns. We believe that these results could be replicated across the country and look forward to partnering with more local authorities and helping this process.”

Related categories:  Electronic and electrical waste recycling 

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