Ahead of International E-Waste Day, Material Focus is launching a nationwide campaign aimed at tackling the millions of cables sitting idle across UK households.
As part of “The Great Cable Challenge”, Material Focus is calling on households, local authorities, retailers, schools and community projects across the UK to collectively recycle 1 million cables.
International E-Waste Day takes place on 14 October and encourages people to take action by recycling their old and unwanted electricals.
Cables contain at least 20% copper and this precious material is lost forever when cables and other electricals are thrown away, Material Focus said.
According to Material Focus’ research, if one million people recycled at least one cable this could save 5,000 kg of copper from landfill.
The Great Cable Challenge aims to make it easier for people to reuse and recycle their old cables and other electricals.
The Great Cable Challenge is a simple way for everyone to make a big, collective difference.
Material Focus has created a campaign toolkit to enable local authorities, retailers, schools and community projects across the UK to take part in the challenge. The toolkit includes a step-by-step guide for setting up a pop-up collection point for household electricals.
Commenting on the toolkit, Scott Butler, Executive Director of Material Focus, said: “Almost all of us have those old, forgotten cables stashed away at home – I have a box under my bed of cables I’ve been holding onto ‘just in case’ but haven’t actually used in months or are broken.
“But by recycling them or donating those that still work, we can repurpose or reclaim that valuable copper and prevent it from going to waste.
“The Great Cable Challenge is a simple way for everyone to make a big, collective difference. And by recycling at least one cable, people will then understand how easy it is to do. Let’s come together this October and recycle one million cables.”
