In advance of the Black Friday and Christmas spending bonanza, which sees UK households buy nearly 40 million electricals, new research has found that across the UK we throw away 11.4 million toasters per year. To help households create space for their new electricals Recycle Your Electricals have launched the Love Your Old Toaster campaign encouraging the nation to donate or recycle their old toasters and other electricals.
With the help of a giant 6.8ft by 12.8ft toaster, the campaign will raise awareness that there are now 5,000 electrical and battery recycling points across the UK. It will be launched at Manchester Trafford Centre on November 4.
Lending a helping hand to launch the Love Your Old Toaster campaign and also donate and recycle her old unwanted electricals is TV presenter Michelle Ackerley. To help show the people of the UK what can be done with our toasters, and all their other old and unwanted small, household electricals, the Recycle Your Electricals campaign has joined forces with exciting young artist Eloisa Henderson-Figueroa, to create a giant, colourful toaster - which will appear in Trafford Centre.
This toaster is designed to create a standout drop-off point, with shoppers encouraged to bring along their old, unwanted electricals and pop them into the toaster.
REPIC and EMERGE Recycling are working in partnership to provide collection, reuse and recycling of the electricals collected. Members of the REPIC team will also be on hand to support Material Focus at the collection days offering advice to the public on recycling their electricals.
The design, by Eloisa Henderson-Figueroa features all over hand painted abstract illustrations of small household electricals, the kind of electricals items that are binned or hoarded in homes all over the UK, such as remote controls, speakers, mobile phones, batteries and kettles.
Recycle Your Electrical’s research also identified that 46% of those who have thrown away a toaster did not know how or where to recycle it or were not aware that it could be recycled. The Giant Toaster is designed to change that by helping to highlight that there are over 5,000 electrical and battery recycling points across the UK, with more being added. These recycling points can be found on the Recycle Your Electricals postcode locator - www.recycleyourelectricals.org.uk
Recycle Your Electricals campaign aims to get UK households to stop throwing away or hoarding their small old electricals and instead start donating or recycling them. Electricals contain some of the most precious materials on our planet - gold, silver, copper aluminium, and platinum. And yet the nation is throwing away 155,000 tonnes of electricals each year, and hoarding 527 million items. Everything with a plug, battery or cable can be recycled and turn into anything from children’s playgrounds to life-saving equipment. The Recycle Your Electricals Giant Toaster is designed to create a bold, bright and unmissable bring bank for donating and recycling electricals, to raise awareness of the 5,000 thousand drop off points around the UK for old, unwanted electricals. Simply put your postcode into the locator on the Recycle Your Electricals website to find your nearest locations for recycling or donations
Speaking about the campaign, Michelle Ackerley said, “I recently moved house, and the vast amount of old phones, cables, batteries, chargers and devices I found shocked me. Even the most organised and sustainable minded of us tend to hang on to these things. So, I’m taking part in the Recycle Your Electricals ‘Love Your Old Toaster’ campaign because I’m determined to be part of the generation that does something proactive about the problem of unwanted household electricals. We can all learn more about the small things we can do to help the world become a better, more sustainable place. It’s time for individual action, because anything with a plug, cable or battery can be recycled. Don’t dump yours in the rubbish and let it go to waste, log on to the Recycle Your Electricals website and pop your postcode in the locator, it will show you where you can take your beloved old toasters to be recycled – it’s that easy!”
Eloisa Henderson-Figueroa, artist added, “I’ve always been interested in recycling, and the small actions we can make to help the planet. So when I was approached to design and paint the toaster to encourage people to recycle their small electricals, I was thrilled! Colour and eye-catching designs can be a great way for people to take notice and be inspired to make changes. My design is a visual representation of iconic electrical items we hoard in our homes mixed in with my colourful style. The toaster is a fun way to engage people and raise awareness of a serious topic.”
Scott Butler, Executive Director of Material Focus, the not-for-profit organisation leading the Recycle Your Electricals campaign, said “One of my favourite snacks is a slice of toast with butter and marmite! Toasters are one of the nation’s favourite electrical items, and yet we aren’t showing them enough love. Toasters also contain an amazing array of metals including nickel, chromium and iron. With 11 million toasters being thrown away each year, it's time we all loved our toasters a bit more and instead recycled them or donated them and our other old unwanted electricals ”.
Zoe Inman, Centre Director at Trafford Centre, said: “We are proud to join forces with Recycle Your Electricals to launch the ‘Love Your Old Toaster’ campaign, offering space for the stand-out toaster installation at Trafford Centre. The activation will give our customers, and local residents in the North West [and beyond] the opportunity to recycle their old toasters and other electricals; we strongly support this initiative as we endeavour to work towards a more green and sustainable future”.
