CLAPPED-OUT toasters, computers and TVs can have second or even third
lives, a recycling trial in Scotland suggests.
A charity called the Lothian and Edinburgh Environmental Partnership
collected 120 tonnes of office and household junk and recycled every material
possible. About 67 per cent of the original weight of the junk was recovered as
metals, and another 8 per cent as plastics and wood. The remainder, 25 per cent
by weight, was waste.
鈥淭he recycling industry tends to look at one particular material stream and
then chuck the rest away,鈥� says Kate Tonge of Mann UK, a recycling and asset
management company which joined forces with the Electronic Equipment
Manufacturers Recycling Group to conduct the pilot project.
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The charity reports that recycling the entire heap of electrical goods made a
profit of 拢691鈥攏ot including the steep costs of collection. They can
run to at least 拢133 per tonne and would have to be met through
subsidies.