Cambridge City Council makes lamp recycling more convenient in partnership with Recolight

Cambridge City Council has further expanded the free light bulb recycling service it provides to residents through its partnership with Recolight. Originally one of the first local authorities to trial Recolight’s recycling scheme, Cambridge has gradually expanded the service to ensure that the city’s 130,000 inhabitants can conveniently recycle their old low-energy light bulbs.

In autumn last year, Cambridge installed two extra collection points, bringing the number of locations where residents could drop off end-of-life light bulbs across the city to 9. Now Cambridge are adding a further two collection points, at the car park at The Ship Public House, Northfield Avenue and on George IV Street.

They join Recolight’s network of over 800 collection points which are open for consumers to use for free. These complement the existing 1,100 Household Waste Recycling Centres operating in local authorities across the UK.

Cambridge City Council was the first local authority to sign up to Recolight’s collection point network. In April 2010, its initial collection points were opened at convenient locations across the city including the local Sainsbury’s and Tesco stores. By June the following year, almost 2,000 low-energy light bulbs had been collected.

Rebecca Weymouth-Wood, recycling officer for Cambridge City Council, said “We are pleased to be able to further extend the free light bulb recycling provision. We hope that the extra two locations will make recycling more convenient and help to raise awareness of the need to recycle light bulbs.”

Cambridge differs from most cities as many residents do not own cars, making a strong case for collection points to be located at convenient locations on the high street.

Recolight’s Customer Service Manager, Lyndsey Smith, said: “Recolight is delighted that Cambridge City Council is expanding its number of collection points again. As the first local authority to sign up to our network, it is important that we continue to raise consumer awareness, even in areas already working hard to promote the recycling of low-energy light bulbs”

Residents in Cambridge and across the UK can search for their nearest Recolight collection point or civil amenity centre at www.recolight.co.uk.