Lambeth recycling event

Consumers in London can take their unwanted electrical gadgets and gizmos to Lambeth for recycling this Saturday 18 March.

The one-off event at the Recycling and Reuse Centre in West Norwood will be open between 9am and 4pm. It has been organised by London Remade, an organisation dedicated to promoting recycling.

More information can be found at a recycling website set up by Lambeth.

Just about any electrical product will be accepted including computers, printers, iPods, MP3 players, kettles, toasters or games consoles; if it has a plug it is in.

All the devices collected will be recycled by a company called Technowaste at its reprocessing plant in Essex where the materials used to make them will be reclaimed.

Everybody who brings something to be recycled will be entered into a draw to win an hp digital camera and photo printer.

A representative for London Remade said the reason behind the event is to see if there is consumer demand for easy recycling of these products.

However, goods such as the ones to be collected on Saturday will eventually have to be disposed of responsibly under the forthcoming Waste Electrical and Electronic Electronic (WEEE) directive.

Under the directive, manufacturers and retailers have a legal responsibility for financing the treatment, recycling and recovery of waste electrical goods. The aim is to make sure only a fraction of this waste that currently ends up in landfill is disposed of this way.

Such waste has disturbing undertones. Electrical goods, especially older ones, contain some fearsome elements, including lead and barium. In a single PC, for example, these toxins pose no threat, but when thousands of such devices are buried in landfill sites the risk of the toxins leaking into the water supply become apparent.

There are other effects on communities around the world, linked to poverty and even the funding of wars. You can find out more at a website set up to inform people about the urgent need for action.

But implantation of the directive has been delayed. It was meant to be enforced in August 2004 but keeps getting put back by the UK government and it is not expected to be enforced until next year at the earliest.

At the moment there is no established system for the disposal of consumer WEEE and no guidelines for consumers on how they can dispose of these goods.

However some manufacturers, such as HP and Dell and retailers such as PC World, have bitten the bullet and set up recycling schemes that are easy to use, don’t cost consumers a penny to use or aid charity.

This website gives further details on what other greater London boroughs are doing regarding hazardous waste or people can contact their local authority to find out policy.