CATS have always been one of the biggest things on the internet, and now the company that looks after the borough’s waste has turned to our feline friends to boost recycling.
The new Recycle Your Electricals campaign for re3 features HypnoCat, to encourage residents to recycle their old electricals.
The pink fluffy moggy wants to avoid around 500,000 tonnes of electrical items, broken and working, from being sent to landfill.
It’s been revealed that re3 householders alone are holding on to more than 3 million electrical items, including 100,000 cables that could run all the way along the River Thames nearly four times over.
During the coming weeks, HypnoCat will issue a series of rallying calls to local people including: “Humans of England. You will not bin your electricals.”
He will also play on his cat’s superior powers over humans: “Speaking of bags, go buy me a big bag of catnip” in between the repeated mantra of Recycle Your Electricals.
Scott Butler, Material Focus executive director which is behind the campaign, said: “Small electricals are one of the fastest-growing waste streams, and we are throwing away valuable materials that are lost forever.
“In reality, these small old, unwanted electricals contain 75% of materials that can be recycled or reused such as precious materials like gold, aluminium and steel.
“Through HypnoCat and our campaign, we will be providing step-by-step information on how to reuse and recycle old electricals.”
He added: “We are delighted to be working with re3 and are calling Bracknell, Reading and Wokingham residents to put their unwanted electricals in a bag and recycle either at the nearest recycling centre or local electronic retailer.
“In addition, Reading residents can place their broken or unusable small electricals in a carrier bag next to their red recycling bin on a collection day.”
And the project is welcomed by re3, whichis a joint partnership between Wokingham, Reading and Bracknell Forest borough councils.
In a joint statement, Cllr Parry Batth, Wokingham Borough Council’s executive member for environment and leisure, Cllr Dorothy Hayes, Bracknell Forest Council’s executive member for environment and chairman of the Joint Waste Disposal Board, and Cllr Adele Barnett-Ward, Reading Borough Council’s lead councillor for neighbourhoods and communities, said: “We are very pleased that Bracknell Forest, Reading and Wokingham Boroughs are one of the first areas in the UK to be part of the Recycle Your Electricals campaign.
“We have joined this campaign to further promote the importance of recycling electricals and to remind residents that everything with a plug, battery or cable should not be thrown away in rubbish bins but instead should be recycled.
“Any items in working condition such as kettles or toasters should be taken to the re3 Recycling Centres and left at the Reuse Area. By doing so, residents help to divert waste away from landfill and at the same time, support charities and local organisations.”
