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Love your electricals, and set them free, this Recycle Week.

This feature was added on 24th June 2010

Has your kettle run out of steam? Is your TV facing the final credits? Many of us are already recycling everyday items such as newspapers, cans and plastic bottles. But did you know that old and unused electrical items can also become useful again?

This Recycle Week, running from 21st to 27th June, is focusing on small electrical items, that means anything with a battery or plug: from broken toasters and kettles gathering dust in the loft, to old mobile phones in drawers and disused power tools cluttering up the garage, all can be re-used or recycled at one of Hertfordshire Waste Partnership's 18 Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC's).

Each of us accumulates three new electrical items each year on average, or 173 million nationally, but we find it harder to let them go as only one in five of our small electricals gets recycled.

Broken electricals contain valuable materials such as silver that can be used again, saving precious new resources. Many that are disused after an upgrade could find a new home somewhere else.

Derrick Ashley, Executive Member for Waste and Chairman of the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership said: "Recycle Week is a great opportunity to remind us just how easy it is to recycle, reduce or reuse the waste we generate. This year, why not give your old electricals a new lease of life? Whether it's old power tools in the garage or kids' toys in a cupboard, sometimes it's hard to part with things that seem too valuable to throw away. Visit www.recyclenow.com today to find out how your old electricals can realise their value once again either by being recycled into something new, or being donated to charity and going on to find a new home"

Recycle Week's 'Love your electricals: set them free' campaign will show people how they can part with their once-loved possessions to give them a new life.

Follow the top tips for recycling below, visit the Recycle Now website at www.recyclenow.com and let's waste less together this Recycle Week.