According to the latest figures published last week by the Environment Agency the UK is now more than doubling the small WEEE (Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment) targets that were set by the European Union for the year ending 2011.

The figures that were published showed that through 2011, 31,331 tonnes of small household WEEE were collected. This works out at 8.3kg of WEEE per person, the target states that 4kg must be recycled per head, based on a population of around 62 million. In percentages 34.3% of all electronic equipment that was sold in 2011 was recycled correctly, this compares to 31.5% in 2010, but these amounts are still some way short of the 45% target set by the EU for 2016. (more…)

It was announced last week by the Home Secretary, Theresa May that the government would be banning scrap yards from paying cash to people who bring in scrap metal to be recycled.

The ban on selling scrap metal for cash comes after an estimated 15000 tonnes of metal was stolen and sold in the UK last year.Half of this amount was from the metal industry but the other 7500 tonnes was stolen from public places such as railways, other transport networks, electricity wires, war statues and even church roofs. (more…)

If you have an old or retro games console sat in your house collecting dust, or have recently upgraded to the latest system or held held device you may want to recycle your unwanted console to get some cash for it.

There are many recycling websites in the UK that now offer great cash or voucher payments for old and even broken gaming consoles and handhelds. (more…)

A brand new site has recently been launched called Trade Your Games which allows users to sell their unwanted console games, consoles and Blu-Rays for cash payments. Although this has been done before on other sites including Music Magpie, the thing that makes Trade Your Games unique is that it is the only place in the UK where users can sell games for credit to buy games off the same website just like the model that is used on the high street. (more…)

Music Magpie, the UK’s best site for selling old games, CDs and DVDs has recently launched a brand new cash for schools service.

The new service comes after a number of requests from schools wanting a quick and easy way to use the recycling service. It will allow both primary and secondary schools to sell their old and unwanted CDs and DVDS for cash payments which can be used for future projects and extra curricular activities. (more…)

Although Christmas brings fun and joy for all, the festive season is not great news for the environment. The following statistics show why Christmas is bad for the environment:

• Royal Mail delivers over 150 million cards and 1 billion end up rotting away at landfill
• 83 square kilometres of wrapping paper will be thrown in the bin (more…)

According to new figures that were published last Thursday the household recycling rate in England has gone over 40% for the first time ever.

Between April 2010 and March 2011 the average national household recycling rate was 41.2% which is up 1.5% compared to the same period last year.

The two English councils that came top of the recycling tables with record breaking rates were (more…)

Pen and stationary manufacturer, BIC has recently announced that they will be the first UK company to launch a recycling scheme for pens, markers and highlighters.

Every year over 10 million non-biodegradable pens end up at landfill sites around the world. Old pens contain nylon, polyester, polypropylene, steel and many chemicals all of which can be harmful to the environment. (more…)

The switchover to digital TV is starting to happen in some parts of the country this year and next year which may leave some people with an unwanted TV set in their homes. Most household recycling centres or local council tips around the UK will take your old TV set off you and its encouraging to know that almost 100% of the parts inside a TV can be recycled.

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University students in Newcastle are doing an experiment to what is being thrown in their bins by posting the contents on popular social networking site Facebook.

The experiment is being done to teach the students to become more efficient recyclers. A sensor and camera is put inside the bin and a photo taken of what is put inside is uploaded to Facebook. (more…)