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Clear out your cables - action week planned

BBC A pair of man's hands are at the top of the picture resting on a tablecloth and holding a tangled mess of cables, chargers, leads and plugs which are in a big pile in front of him. We are looking down at the scene with a bird's eye view and can only see the man's hands.BBC
Sleaford Climate Action Network is planning an "e-waste action week" in March

People are to be encouraged to recycle electrical items and cables during a week of action being planned for March.

Sleaford Climate Action Network is organising an "e-waste action week" where people will be able to use local drop-off points to donate old electrical items including toasters, mobile phones, laptops and old chargers to be refurbished or recycled.

Chairman Tim Grigg said too many people put off sorting unwanted items, especially old cables, chargers and leads, which end up left in drawers.

"You think 'I'll keep it, it might come in handy'. It's one of the things you put away to do another day," he said.

A man sitting in an outside conservatory and looking directly at the camera. He is relaxed and wearing a blue v-neck jumper and green shirt. There is a garden behind him outside to his left and he looks amiable and is smiling with a rosy complexion.
Tim Grigg, Chairman of Sleaford Climate Action Network, hopes the week will make a big difference

"Having the e-waste action week will make it as easy as we can for people to drop off these things. If they can be refurbished they will be. If not, all the materials will be recovered from them.

"There's so much copper in all those cables that could be reused and make a really big difference to our society."

Sleaford Repair Cafe A man is mending an item and concentrating as a couple sitting opposite him watch him work. They are smiling. They are sitting at a table in a church hall and there are tools scattered on top of the table. This is a repair cafe where people can bring broken items to be repaired. Sleaford Repair Cafe
Sleaford Repair Cafe has been running since 2022

Mr Grigg was inspired to hold the event after running the Sleaford Repair Cafe which launched in 2022 with Saturday afternoon surgeries held at Riverside Church.

He said his team of volunteer repairers had fixed lots of items including clothes, food mixers, bikes and musical instruments.

Mr Grigg said it was satisfying to give items a new lease of life and save them from landfill.

"Over the 15 repair cafes we've run, we've had about 370 items and we've managed to repair about 65% of those," he said.

Arrangements for the e-waste action week at sites in and around Sleaford are still being finalised for March 2025.

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