Newcastle City Council and Newcastle United Football Club are working together with Recycle Your Electricals to participate in The Great Cable Challenge – a nationwide campaign aimed at tackling the millions of cables sitting idle across UK households.
The initiative forms part of Recycle Week 2024, which kicks off with International E-Waste Day on the 14th October.
Fans attending Newcastle United’s Premier League fixture against Brighton & Hove Albion, and residents travelling into the city on Saturday 19th October, are encouraged to bring along old cables which can be recycled via a collection point located behind the temporary club shop on Strawberry Place.
Fans have been set the challenge of donating enough unwanted cables to wrap around the perimeter of the St. James’ Park pitch.
There are also a number of pop-up recycling events taking place throughout the week where local people can come along and deposit their small electrical items for recycling, listed below.
New research commissioned by Recycle Your Electricals found that nearly 40% of UK homes keep their small electricals in a ‘drawer of doom’ and over a quarter of respondents who store unused electricals (28%) said they felt embarrassed, annoyed or frustrated by the small electricals they store in their homes.*
The research also reveals that over a third of UK homes (35%) who hold on to electricals do so because they don't know how to dispose of them properly.*
With over one third of respondents (37%) checking for unused electricals less than once a year, the challenge aims to give a second life to the valuable materials contained in cables, such as copper. Copper can be recycled into new items such as wind turbines and new tech such as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smart watches.
Cllr Irim Ali, Cabinet Member for a Resilient City at Newcastle City Council said: “We are committed to making it easier for residents to recycle goods to help protect the environment and create a greener and more sustainable city, however we are seeing more and more small electrical items being thrown away.
“Some people don’t realise that the devices contain valuable materials which can be recycled, so we are encouraging everyone to use recycling week as a chance to check their homes for any items that could be recycled.
Helen Hughes, Sustainability Manager at Newcastle United, added: “Teamwork is the key to success both on and off the pitch, so we encourage supporters to unite as we set out to achieve our target for The Great Cable Challenge.
“As even the smallest of steps can lead to significant progress, we’re proud to support an initiative which will help our community to enhance their sustainability practice.”
Recycling electricals has never been easier as there are over 26,000 recycling points around the UK.
Find your local recycling centre or visit on of the upcoming recycling events:
Local free cable and small electrical drop off points in Newcastle
14th -19th October
City Library
Jesmond Library
West End Library
Gosforth Library
NUFC Foundation
West end Women and Girls Centre
Blakelaw Centre
Lemington Centre
East End Pool
Gosforth Pool
Walker Activity Dome
Newcastle Trampoline Park
West Denton Leisure Centre
Civic Centre
*research conducted for Material Focus between 23rd – 26th July 2024 amongst a nationally-representative sample of 4,000 UK adults