The Londoners recycling to tackle ‘fast-tech crisis’

We speak to Jayne who is inspiring a younger generation.

Transcript

00:00New research from Recycle Your Electricals has shown the heatwave's hottest new tech trend and its minifans.

00:09However, minifans are just one piece of a growing e-waste crisis that is on track to rival that of fast fashion.

00:18According to this data from the non-profit organisation, in 2023, the UK's annual spend on fast tech had quadrupled to over 11 billion

00:28and over 1 billion fast tech items were bought in the last 12 months, enough to cover 4,000 football pitches, slightly over that actually.

00:39In light of this, Londoners are ready to take action and donate or reuse or recycle their items to try and inspire a younger generation.

00:48I went to a curry store in South London today, just one of many places available for people to take back old electricals to be recycled,

00:57including recycling centres as well, community drop-off points in libraries and on-street recycling bring banks as well,

01:07and all shops that sell electricals.

01:10Now, any shop that does sell an electrical must take your old one back when you're buying a new similar item,

01:18provided you have the receipt for the new purchase.

01:22Today, I spoke to Jane, a keen recycler in Greenwich, who was taking some old equipment back to her local point in South East London.

01:32With the fast tech, over the years, I've bought them over the years, because my kids, they will buy an own impulse.

01:40Yeah, some of the items I've got in there, like the minifans and the leather lights,

01:46that's so easy to buy and throw away or hold it, so we usually store them at home, in the cupboards or under the beds,

01:53and it gets forgotten, but I've made it a priority to try to recycle, and I saw the opportunity of recycling.

02:01Recycle your electricals website, which you can put in your postcode locator.

02:07You put it in and it gives you several locations, drop-off points for you to recycle your electricals.

02:15It's easy and very accessible.

02:17You say you do it with your children, so what do your children think of you doing all the recycling?

02:22I think it's very intriguing. I've opened up their minds to it.

02:26They never thought there was anything like recycling, so when they saw me carrying the box with the electricals,

02:33I said, Mum, what are you doing? I said, yes, I'm going to recycle.

02:35And they thought it was quite strange, but I came back with an empty box,

02:38and apparently one of them followed me to recycle, and they saw how easy it was to recycle.

02:43I feel potentially like inspiring a new generation.

02:46Yes, the younger generation, too, yes, to recycle.

02:49Then I'll see if it's possible to do it and not to just throw away the electricals.

02:54They could actually be reused or recycled for better use.