Biffa’s launch of a new service collecting small waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) from the doorsteps of householders in Woking, Surrey, has got off to an excellent start.
Since it was introduced in early December as an addition to Biffa’s recycling and refuse collection contract for Woking Borough Council, the service has collected around six tonnes of small WEEE that would otherwise have been sent for disposal by landfill or incineration.
Nearly 300kg of used batteries have also been collected by the Biffa-operated service.
Designed to be as easy as possible to use, the service enables residents to leave small WEEE in a carrier bag alongside their refuse and recycling bins. Biffa’s crews collect these bags during normal rounds and place them in special cages mounted underneath their collection vehicles.
Bulk loads of WEEE are then sent to MDJ Light Brothers’ specialist recycling centre in East Sussex for processing into reusable materials.
Councillor Beryl Hunwicks, Portfolio Holder for Waste and Recycling at Woking Borough Council, said: “We are thrilled that residents have embraced the new WEEE collection service and diverted several tonnes of electrical items away from local landfill. This additional recycling stream will help to push our recycling rate beyond the current 60% mark.”
Woking’s new service, plus equivalent schemes being launched later this year for Swale and Surrey Heath Borough Councils, results from Biffa’s successful application on behalf of those councils to the Distributor Takeback Scheme (DTS) Local Project Fund.
Pete Dickson, development director for Biffa’s municipal division, described the excellent service start as ‘very encouraging’.
“From the outset,” he said, “we wanted to deliver a service providing outstanding value both in terms of cost to the council and convenience to residents. Our extensive experience tells us that if you make a collection service easy to use, residents will really get involved.
“Biffa is now enabling local authorities to offer a service that easily lets residents get rid of ‘difficult’ waste items.”
Chris Edwards, commercial manager at MDJ Light Bros, commented: “We are delighted to be working with Biffa and Woking Borough Council on this innovative project tackling the difficult issue of collecting small WEEE items from households. The early stages of the service have produced very encouraging tonnages collected, with virtually no contamination.”
ENDS
Further press information from:
Blair Drummond, PR consultant
Tel: 07798 686 217
Email: blair.drummond@btopenworld.com
Notes to editors:
The municipal division of recycling, waste and renewable energy business Biffa (www.biffa.co.uk) currently provides high quality, efficient recycling, refuse, street cleansing and grounds maintenance services for over 40 local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland. The division expanded considerably in late 2010 when municipal services specialist Verdant Group, and its 24 local authority contracts, joined Biffa when Greenstar UK was acquired. The municipal business makes over 2½ million collections per week, and employs in excess of 2,500 staff who use over 1,000 vehicles. Its notable successes include helping South Oxfordshire District Council achieve a recycling and composting rate of 70% during 2010, placing the council second in Defra’s 2009-2010 league tables for overall recycling, composting and reuse and winning a LARAC Award for the most improved recycling authority. The first months of Vale of White Horse District Council’s new service saw its recycling and composting rate match that of its South Oxfordshire neighbour, while a redesigned service for Surrey Heath Borough Council doubled its recycling and composting rate to almost 65%, helping it meet its 2025 target almost 15 years early.
