The UK is sitting on a mountain of unused electricals - and this International E-Waste Day, GAP Group and Newcastle Red Bulls are urging people and businesses to do something about it.
Research from Material Focus shows UK households are holding on to an estimated 880 million unused electrical items, with around £488 million in valuable raw materials thrown away every year. “Fast tech” - cheap, quickly discarded gadgets, chargers and cables - is now one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the country.
To tackle it, GAP Group - Newcastle Red Bulls’ Official Waste Management & Sustainability Sponsor - has teamed up with the club for a film released on International E-Waste Day (14 October), carrying one simple message: if it’s got a cable or a plug, it can be recycled.
Bringing a serious message to a new audience
Newcastle Red Bulls players feature in a film shared across GAP Group’s, the club’s and partner channels, turning a recycling message into something people actually want to watch and share. The aim is simple - make e-waste recycling visible, easy and a bit more fun, and reach audiences who might never read a sustainability report.
Why it matters for the industry
For producers, retailers and businesses, unused and discarded electricals aren’t just an environmental issue - they’re a lost-resource problem. Every binned charger, cable or small appliance takes valuable, recoverable materials out of the supply chain.
There’s a safety dimension, too. Electricals that aren’t disposed of correctly - particularly anything containing a battery - are a growing cause of fires in bin lorries and at waste and recycling sites, which makes safe, correct recycling more important than ever.
As an authorised WEEE recycler, GAP Group recovers those materials and keeps electricals out of landfill, helping close the loop on a growing waste stream. Partnerships like this one - and the support of others across the sector in sharing the message - show how industry collaboration can move the dial on public awareness far faster than any single organisation acting alone.
“There’s real value sitting unused in homes and businesses across the country. Most people simply don’t realise their old electricals can be recycled and their materials put back to use. Working with Newcastle Red Bulls lets us take that message to a huge new audience - and make it easy to act on.” - Connor Benson, Marketing Manager, GAP Group
Whether you’re a household clearing out a drawer or a business managing end-of-life equipment, the message this International E-Waste Day is the same: don’t bin it, recycle it. Individuals can find their nearest recycling point at recycleyourelectricals.org.uk, and businesses looking to recycle electricals responsibly - and recover the value in them - can get in touch with GAP Group at gapgroupuk.com.
