17/02/2023: Phased small electrical items collections rolling out from 27 February

Breckland, Kings Lynn and West Norfolk and North Norfolk Councils are delighted to be launching another new free weekly kerbside collection service to residents in partnership with Serco.

Small electrical items collections will be gradually introduced over a four-month period, from 27 February. Residents will receive a hanger on their bin, detailing the week before collections are due to start in their area residents detailing what items we can take and when and how to put them out for collection. Due to the sizes of the cages on the vehicles we will only be able to collect from properties when they receive their hanger, so please don't try to put your items out before then. The service will be weekly so please don't store up items, instead take a little and often approach to help us deliver this service successfully to all.

We would also like to remind residents to be data secure and remind them if they are putting out laptops, mobile phones or devices that could contain sensitive data and passwords they need to carry out a "Factory reset" to wipe their data first.

Cllr Helen Crane, Executive Member for Waste, Environmental Health, Licensing & Sustainability at Breckland Council commented: "I'm delighted this is being introduced across our districts. I know our residents are passionate about environmental issues and want to contribute to global efforts to tackle climate change and achieve carbon net-zero. We can and must go much further every day to recycle valuable waste materials that were previously simply thrown away. This new free weekly service, following our successful launch in January 2023 around battery recycling kerbside collections,  will make it easier for residents to recycle broken small electrical items. These small electrical items will now be recycled to help make new products and reduced CO2 emissions during the manufacturing process."

Cllr Paul Kunes, Cabinet member for Environment and CO2 reduction at the Borough Council of King's Lynn & West Norfolk, said: "Recycling small electricals is another step towards reducing our impact on the environment. Many householders in west Norfolk will have old charger cables from mobile phones, cameras and other items. Several will have draws full of these unused or unusable pieces of modern life.  Working with Serco we can now recover and recycle the copper, aluminium, gold and plastic."

This scheme is not just about old cables and gadgets but includes small toasters and hairdryers all of which can now be recycled from home.  Please look out for your bin hanger to participate."

Cllr Nigel Lloyd, portfolio holder for Environmental Services, Climate Change and Environment, NNDC, said: "Recent studies have estimated that as many as 40 million unused electrical gadgets are languishing in UK homes. Many of these items contain valuable materials that can be refabricated into new products which in turn, will help to reduce the demand on increasingly scarce and expensive raw materials.  

"I am therefore really pleased that NNDC is able to further expand the scope of its kerbside waste collection services to residents with the introduction of small electrical appliance collections. 

"Small items such as broken kettles, hairdryers, old mobile phones, irons, toasters, clocks and many more will be collected with the green and black bins. Please look out for more information on the bin hangers that will soon be appearing across the District".

George Roach Serco Norfolk's Senior Contract Manger said, "Space on our vehicles is limited so please help our crews by putting out a little every week, rather that store up items for collection, when the service rolls out in your area."