Material Focus has reopened its Electricals Recycling Fund, offering £750,000 of funding to support projects that make it easier for people to reuse and recycle small household electricals. Previous rounds of funding have provided £1.8 million to fund over 40 UK projects, some of which are described here.
The Electricals Recycling Fund is looking for project proposals that will test creative, practical and scalable new methods for collecting electricals that could deliver significant environmental benefits in the future.
Scott Butler, Executive Director of Material Focus said: “This additional funding is a testament to the success of the projects so far and shows the commitment to tackling e-waste in the UK. We are excited to continue expanding our efforts and making electricals reuse and recycling easier for more people across the UK.”
Kieran O’Leary Policy Officer at Durham County Council said, “Since October we have held 10 Repair Cafés and repaired 97 items. We have also supported two volunteer-led repair Cafes and are in the process of setting up a further two. The benefits of HypnoCat and Material Focus’ excellent marketing is hugely beneficial for any project – be it a new one or an existing one. We already had a collection network but this project has allowed us to expand and raise awareness through useful assets including HypnoCat.”
The fund aims to support two types of projects – those seeking to grow or develop existing household collection services for small electricals, and those seeking to innovate new collection methods. Material Focus are seeking applicants from a range of organisations including: local authorities, waste collection authority areas, waste contractors, reuse organisations, non-profits, producer compliance schemes, retailers, and startups are all encouraged to apply. Individuals are not eligible for the funding.
If you are interested, the group asks you to submit an application on its website. There is no deadline and this funding round is open on a rolling basis. Applicants can expect to hear within 3 months of applying if they are successful, says the group.
Example projects so far
From the Orkneys to the Isles of Scilly and from Norfolk to Derry the projects span the UK, with a selection of these described below.
• Durham’s project has installed 200 recycling points for small electricals across the county, recycling over 8 tonnes of electrical waste. Additionally, 156kg of electricals have been reused through monthly repair cafes, attended by 115 people so far.
• In Ashford, amnesty/blitz style electrical collections days and repair workshops have seen over 225 people attending resulting in 209 items being donated to the local hospice and 52 items booked in for repair.
• ILM Highland’s project installed 7 Small Electrical Recycling banks in rurally isolated locations across the Highlands, collecting 7.69 tonnes of waste electricals.
• Newcastle’s doorstep collection of small electricals and pop-up recycling centres has reached over 300,000 individuals, collecting 1.64 tonnes of old unused electricals, equivalent to 1161 items.
• Piloting the first vape recycling scheme in the UK, Oxfordshire collected over 10,000 disposable vapes at household waste recycling centres alongside a dedicated separate kerbside collection for 70,000 households.
• Derry and Strabane Council’s partnership with Repair Cafe Foyle holds twice-monthly volunteer-run repair cafes across the county, aiming to encourage local residents to repair rather than discard electrical items.
• Wastesavers’ project in Newport, Wales focuses on increasing donations of small domestic appliances, collecting 38.73 tonnes of small electricals, of which 26.84 tonnes were able to be reused.
