This message has become even more important as householders spend more time at home due to the Covid-19 epidemic and may be seeking to de-clutter previously hoarded unwanted or broken electricals.

The organisation behind the new campaign, Material Focus (the former WEEE Fund) is not for profit and was created by the Joint Trades Association (JTA) to administer the spending of money collected through the WEEE Compliance Fee mechanism.

An extensive survey conducted to develop Recycle Your Electricals found that 48% of people said they were not aware that they could recycle electricals, when asked why they binned their electricals instead of recycling them.

A similar low awareness of how, where and why to recycle electricals has been reported in REPIC’s annual household survey. The results of the latest REPIC survey will be published in early August.

Recycle Your Electricals will also be funding trials of small waste electrical kerbside collections and reuse organisation projects. Support is also being provided for technical research that pilots innovative models of collection and help improve efficiency in resource use and recycling.

Hear more from Material Focus’ executive director, Scott Butler, on why the lockdown has provided the campaign with the perfect backdrop to kick off the “unapologetically big” household recycling campaign in his latest opinion blog: https://www.techuk.org/insights/opinions/item/17812-shining-a-light-on-the-hidden-treasure-in-waste-electronics

Material Focus would like other organisations to back the campaign as well. If you are interested in getting involved, using the iconography, sharing content on social media or exploring partnership opportunities then they would like you to get in touch. If you are a Producer member, one of our Local Authorities, or one of our reuse partners, we would also love to hear about your plans and discuss opportunities to work together.

To follow the campaign progress: visit recycleyourelectricals.org