The yearly event, now in its sixth year, has collected 140 tonnes of broken or unwanted electronics for recycling, recovering many tonnes of plastic, iron, copper and other valuable resources in the process. The amount of waste collected is equivalent to over 1,800 TVs, 3,080 items of small household equipment, 840 washing machines and 560 fridges.

All items collected at the event will be treated in the UK to recover the metals and plastics which they contain, and the recovered materials will be used by manufacturers to make new products.

Cllr Rosy Moore, Executive Councillor for Environmental Services and City Centre, said: “We value events like this as they raise awareness amongst businesses and residents how important it is to recycle e-waste. And I am very pleased to see how popular the event has been yet again and the amount of waste collected is impressive. I’d like to say a big thank you to the organisers and everybody who took part and recycled their e-waste responsibly as e-waste is not accepted in any of our domestic bins.”

Peter Lumb, Environmental Coordinator at the University of Cambridge, said: “We were delighted to host this event at the University’s Sidgwick Site this year, and were pleased to see the large amount of e-waste which was recycled. The University is committed to increasing our recycling rates, and this event provided a great opportunity to encourage staff and students at the University to send electrical and electronic waste to be recycled, while also playing a part in helping local residents to recycle their electronic waste.”

John Redmayne, ERP UK General Manager, said: “Everybody at ERP really enjoys the annual e-waste recycling event in Cambridge. This is a great event that does a lot to raise awareness among the local community that all electrical waste can and should be recycled.”

Residents in Cambridge can recycle their e-waste for free at household waste recycling centres. More info can be found on www.cambridge.gov.uk/bins or large items can be collected by the council for a fee. To arrange a bulky waste collection, residents need to contact the council on wasteandstreets@cambridge.gov.uk or call 01223 458282.