A whopping 627 million cables are either hidden away in so-called a “drawer of doom” in our homes or thrown in the bin across the UK. This cable clutter, along with old mobile phones, batteries, remote controls, and much more, is now mounting up, making the UK the world’s second largest per person producer of e-waste.
So what can we do about it?
CEN’s latest councillor webinar brought together a panel of experts from leading e-waste organisations (Material Focus, The Restart Project, and the British Metal Recycling Association) along with CEN Councillor Marisa Heath to discuss the answers to this question.
Fortunately, there are many national campaigns already underway to help raise awareness of our e-waste problem, to inform the public about how to correctly dispose of their electronics, and the consequences of not doing so. And to be clear: the consequences are severe.
As well as being an all too common source of litter and fly-tipping, incorrect disposal of e-waste, and lithium-ion batteries in particular, is causing an increasing number of fires in bin lorries and at waste sites across the UK. By May 2024, there had already been over 1,200 fires, representing a 71% increase from 2022. These fires raise air pollution concerns, cause severe disruption and damage to waste management businesses, and not to mention a hit to our domestic recycling capacity.
Rather than reinvent the wheel by creating your own campaigns, panellists agreed that councillors can play an important amplifying role for existing campaigns. Marketing 101 tells us that repetition is key, after all. Campaigns range from Material Focus’s Hypnocat (register an account in the top left hand corner of their website to access all digital assets) to the Environmental Services Association’s “Don’t Cause a Bincident” fire prevention campaign, and many others in between.
Councils can also play a leading role in the collection of these old, broken electronics. Twenty-five percent of councils already offer a kerbside collection of e-waste but, although incredibly easy for residents to access, this is not always possible for every council to roll out. Having successfully secured money through the Electricals Recycling Fund, the London Borough of Hillingdon has instead opted to introduce convenient and eye-catching e-waste collection points across the community, for residents to deposit their e-waste.
While we certainly should be moving these electronics out of general waste when they reach their end of life, there is also an opportunity to give them a new lease of life through repair and reuse. Councils can support their local repair cafes that host events for residents to fix their items. Support can come in different forms, but includes making council-owned spaces available for these events, showcasing the events through council communication channels, and providing small pots of funding to cover the cafe’s insurance bill.
This blog has only skimmed the surface of last week’s discussion. There are so many other ways a council can help to reduce the amount of e-waste produced in their community, so why not spend this International E-Waste Day exploring them! For readers wondering where to start, lead by example by rummaging through your “drawer of doom”, taking the disused cables you find to your nearest e-waste recycling point, and then encouraging your residents to do the same!
Click here to watch the ‘Tech Woes: councillor e-waste webinar’ recording.
If you are a CEN supporter, councillor, or parliamentarian and would like to write for the CEN blog, please email your idea to info@cen.uk.com
Comments