The free service, the first time a kerbside collection has been available locally for recycling electricals, launches on Monday 5 August, when collections will begin.

It aims to help more than 88,000 households across the city to recycle their small electricals and is part of ongoing efforts to improve recycling across the city. 

The new service makes recycling unwanted or broken small electricals easier than ever. The council will collect small electrical items left for recycling from residents' kerbsides during existing household domestic rubbish and recycling bin collections.

Wolverhampton’s small electricals recycling service is one of over 40 UK projects funded by Material Focus, the not for profit organisation leading the Recycle Your Electricals campaign, who have provided £44,020 to support the city’s project.

The council is joining other projects around the country in making it easier for 10 million UK residents to recycle their electricals.

Residents can simply leave their small electrical items in a carrier bag when they put out their domestic and recycling bins. The items left for collection will then be checked to ensure they can be recycled, and then removed for storage at the collection depot ready for the final recycling process.

Unwanted or broken small electrical items can include toasters, chargers, hairdryers and electronic gadgets. Batteries can be left in a separate small bag, which will also be collected and recycled safely.

Residents can find out more at www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/recycle-electricals

In this initial launch phase residential kerbside collections will be in operation, but it is hoped that the service will extend to include flats in the future.

Residents will be made aware of how and where they can recycle electricals through information on social media, leaflets and on eye-catching posters featuring HypnoCat. Keep an eye out for HypnoCat, the Recycle Your Electricals mesmerising pink, fluffy mascot, who is on a mission to hypnotise local residents into recycling their electricals.

The aim of the nationwide Electricals Recycling Fund is to significantly reduce e-waste and its environmental impact by making it easier for consumers to recycle their electricals. The projects that have been funded by Material Focus include a variety of recycling methods, from kerbside collections to more drop-off points in schools, community centres, and bring banks. Overall, there will be over 400 new collection points plus kerbside collections for 5.5 million UK residents.

Recycle Your Electricals research has shown that 80% of consumers believe recycling is a good thing, and many of us already recycle things like paper and plastic. Research has also shown that most of us have unwanted electricals we want to get rid of. On average there are at least 30 electricals hidden away in drawers in UK homes, a total of 880 million items across the UK - with a simple repair many could be donated or sold to people who could put them to good use. And yet 39% of people bin electricals, rather than recycle or reuse them leading to over 100,000 tonnes of electricals thrown away every year. The aim of these projects is to overcome these issues by making it easier to repair, donate or recycle electricals.

Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal, cabinet member for resident services at City of Wolverhampton Council, said: “I am delighted that we are able to offer our residents the city’s first small electricals recycling collection. Technology moves at such a quick pace and more and more electrical items are being thrown away when they could be recycled.

“We know local people want to do their bit to help the environment, as shown by our recent successful ‘Check before you chuck’ campaign, and these free small electricals collections will offer local people a further route to recycling.

“The service is part of our commitment to a greener future for all residents, it will help protect the environment and support us as we work to create a greener and more sustainable city.”

"We are pleased to support Wolverhampton’s small electricals recycling service that addresses the pressing issue of e-waste.” said Scott Butler, Executive Director of Material Focus.

"By investing in improved collection and drop-off services and exploring new recycling methods, we are taking a significant step towards creating a more sustainable future by making it easier for 10 million more people to recycle their electricals."