OLD electrical items can be as easily recycled as paper or glass bottles – that is a message that Hampshire County Council is hoping to get across as part of Recycle Week.

People are being urged to use waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) banks located at recycling points across Hampshire.

Earlier, this year Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council installed 10 blue banks in Basingstoke, as well as Overton, and Whit-church.

The banks accept small plug or battery-operated electrical items such as kettles, toasters, or hairdryers. Larger electrical items can be recycled at county council run Household Waste Recycling Centres, such as Wade Road.

Councillor Leslie Keeble, chairman of the Project Integra waste partnership’s strategic board, said he hopes borough residents can help top last year’s Recycling Week effort which collected seven-and-a-half tons of old electrical goods.

He said: “It is vital that we recycle as many of our broken electrical goods as possible. Each year in the UK, we go through 1.2million tons of electrical waste – the equivalent of 150,000 double-decker buses – which would fill Wembley Stadium to the brim six times and a typical domestic iron contains enough steel to make as many as 13 food cans.”

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Recycle Week, which runs from June 17 to 21.