North Tyneside Council has launched Repair and Recharge, a new small electricals doorstep collection and repair project. The trial project is now up and running, with the hope that 96,223 local households will get behind its drive to recycle and repair their old or unwanted electricals.
Each week, 40 collection slots are available for booking via Repair and Recharge, open to all local residents. North Tyneside Council collects the small electricals once a collection has been booked. To book a collection, visit http://my.northtyneside.gov.uk/electricals.
This is one of over 60 UK projects funded by Material Focus, the not-for-profit leading the Recycle Your Electricals campaign, who have provided £42,411 to support it. North Tyneside Council has joined other projects around the country in making it easier for 10 million UK residents to recycle their electricals.
Any small electricals that can be repaired are refurbished by The Recharge Club, hosted by Whitley Bay Big Local twice a week. Once repaired, these items are redistributed to community centres, charity shops, and pop-up reuse events across the borough and either given away for free or for a small fee. Residents visiting the Club can also learn how to fix items from an experienced onsite fixer, conduct minor repairs themselves, and have their electricals tested for safety.
Residents are being made aware of how and where they can recycle their electricals through leaflets and eye-catching posters featuring HypnoCat, as well as on lorry sides, social media posts, bus shelter advertising, newspaper and magazine ads, and school newsletters. Keep an eye out for HypnoCat, the Recycle Your Electricals mesmerising pink, fluffy mascot, who is on a mission to hypnotise local residents into recycling their electricals.
This project is part of the new 2025 funding for the Electricals Recycling Fund, where Material Focus has allocated an additional £750,000. The aim of the nationwide Electricals Recycling Fund is to significantly reduce e-waste and its environmental impact by making it easier for consumers to recycle their electricals. The projects funded by Material Focus include a variety of recycling methods, from kerbside collections to more drop-off points in schools, community centres, and bring banks. Overall there will be over 400 new collection points plus kerbside collections for 3 million UK residents.
Recycle Your Electricals research has shown that 80% of consumers believe recycling is a good thing, and many of us already recycle things like paper and plastic. Research has also shown that most of us have unwanted electricals we want to get rid of. On average there are at least 30 electricals hidden away in drawers in UK homes – a total of 880 million items across the UK – and with a simple repair many could be donated or sold to people who could put them to good use. Yet 39% of people bin electricals rather than recycle or reuse them, leading to over 100,000 tonnes of electricals thrown away every year. The aim of these projects is to overcome these issues by making it easier to repair, donate or recycle electricals.
Councillor Sandra Graham, Cabinet Member for the Community Safety and the Climate Emergency, said: “This project is an exciting step forward in making recycling easier and more accessible for everyone in North Tyneside. By offering doorstep collections for small electricals, we’re reducing waste and giving residents the chance to learn valuable repair skills through the Repair and Recharge initiative. It’s a win-win for the community and the environment. We’ve already seen great success with our Electricals recycling project, which has collected over 9.5 tonnes of small electricals in just one year, which is 43% more than the year before. It’s all about making it simpler for people to recycle, repair, and reuse, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it benefits our borough.”
"We are pleased to support North Tyneside’s Repair and Recharge project, that addresses the pressing issue of e-waste.” said Scott Butler, Executive Director of Material Focus. "By investing in improved collection and drop-off services and exploring new recycling and reuse methods, we are taking a significant step towards creating a more sustainable future by making it easier for 10 million more people to recycle their electricals."
Find out more about electricals recycling in North Tyneside.