North Kesteven residents urged to offload 'E-Waste' during action week

‘E Waste’ is electrical and electronic items, everything from mobile phones and computers to toasters and kettles.

According to Sleaford CAN, every year two million tonnes of E Waste are discarded in the UK.

They add that we also have millions of unused or broken tech items hiding in our homes and enough unwanted cables to reach to the moon and back. That is why supporters of the project say weneed to take action.

During E Waste Week everyone is encouraged to:

REDUCE – Think about your impact and vow to keep Items for longer, putting off that upgrade.

REHOME – Any unwanted working electrical items you have. Sell them or take them to charity shops which take electricals - Andy’s Hospice, Cancer Research, Sense, Second Chance and St Barnabas Hospice.

DONATE - Drop off your old mobile phones, laptops, tablets, chargers and cables at local drop off points, including: Sleaford and Heckington Libraries (during opening hours), and Sleaford, Ruskington and Billinghay Methodist Churches (selected dates and times only). Any refurbished items will be donated to good causes.

There are other community donation points around North Kesteven. From there the are taken to Sivill Service in Tattershall for reuse, refurbishing and recycling.

You can bring broken items to the Sleaford Repair Cafe at Riverside Church Hall on Saturday May 23 from 12.30pm to 3.30pm for repair. You can donate phones, laptops, tablets and cables there too (no other items accepted). There will also be a Repair Cafe at Bracebridge Heath Village Hall and Library on Saturday May 16 from 12.30pm to 3pm.

According to Sleaford CAN, the 2025 E-Waste Week focused on Sleaford saw 84 laptops, more than 380 phones and tablets, and 220kg of cables donated.

Everything was processed by the team at Sivill Service at Tattershall which included data wiping and resetting to protect the original user’s information. All the items that could be refurbished are being distributed to local

people and good causes, older devices such as those on 3G signals or where operating systems could not be updated, were sent to Ghana and Ukraine. Any remaining items were securely destroyed and the materials recycled.

For more information visit the NKDC website at https://www.n-kesteven.gov.uk/e-waste.

Representatives of Sleaford Repair Cafe attended UK Parliament on March 25 to ask MPs to fix the ‘Throwaway Economy’ by making it easier to repair items.

The event was organised by The Restart Project and Back Market and saw 91 MP’s in attendance and 100 repair groups represented from all four UK nations. Organisers and allies called for ambitious repair and reuse policies and celebrated the 143 MPs that have signed up to the Repair and Reuse Declaration.

Over the six Repair Cafes in 2025, 165 of the 244 items brought in were repaired – a success rate of around 66 per cent. Notable fixes included a

vintage sewing machine, a carver chair and a toy Thomas the Tank Engine.

If you would like to get involved fixing items or helping to organise the Repair Cafes get in touch. Visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/1693384177462626, email sleafordcan@gmail, or call Tim on 07962360581.