Portsmouth electrical recycling firm launches schools Recycling Week to encourage people to recycle old technology

Hilsea-based Southern Electrical Recycling (SER) has started a scheme to encourage more people to recycle their tech, rather than keeping it untouched in drawers or throwing it away with household waste.

The family-run company is introducing a Recycling Week in schools throughout the area.

Boxes will be given to schools to encourage pupils and teachers to fill it with their unwanted electronic equipment.

Most items that have a plug or use a battery will be accepted.

Staff at SER will then collect the items and take them back to the base in Highgrove Industrial Park for sorting.

Items will then be dismantled and destroyed or recycled into reusable assets via the on-site electrical repair workshop.

The school will then receive a receipt for the items received, with a full report of how it was disposed of.

The reason that co-owners Gary Dalton and David Edwards decided to introduce the scheme is due to the amount of materials they see go to landfill due to a lack of education.

According to health and safety executive Mr Edwards, around two million tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment – also known as WEEE – items are discarded by households and companies in the UK every year.

He said: ‘A lot of electrical equipment contains toxic materials such as mercury, that when buried in the ground, will go on to pollute the air.

‘I’m no tree hugger but it’s common sense to protect the earth, whether it is for the benefit of us right now or our children and grandchildren.

‘As well as this there are a lot of expensive materials such as gold and even palladium that are in laptops, which will be getting buried in the ground forever.’

SER also fixes and resells items that were either perceived to be broken or are ex-display and cannot be sold due to cosmetic damage.

SEE ALSO: Portsmouth landmark Spinnaker Tower refunds ABBA event attendees over 'inedible' meals that left some ordering takeaway Burger King

Mr Dalton said: ‘A lot of the items that people ask us to collect to be disposed of can easily be fixed and recycled to be reused.

‘Our prices are usually a fraction of what people would pay for a new or even used computer item.

‘It’s a really cost-effective way of businesses buying equipment too.

‘We’ve built our whole office from things we’ve collected and fixed.’

The company is looking for schools – as well as businesses – to sign up to the Recycling Week initiative.

Enquiry emails can be sent to SER here.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

Subscribe here for unlimited access to all our coverage, including Pompey, for just 26p a day.