Basildon’s ‘Essex Talking Toaster’ wins national campaign of the year award

28 Jun Basildon’s ‘Essex Talking Toaster’ wins national campaign of the year award

A Basildon Council campaign that has saved 24 tonnes of waste from landfill has won a Campaign of the Year award at national recycling awards.

The campaign featured the ‘Essex Talking Toaster’ video and resulted in a massive 97% increase of donations, making a significant impact across the borough. Almost 24 tonnes – the weight equivalent of five elephants – of electrical items were collected and diverted from landfill during the year since launching in January 2018, up from 11.9 tonnes in 2017.

The campaign won the ‘Campaign of the Year – up to £10k’ award in Material Recycling World National Recycling Awards 2019, which were held at the London Hilton, Park Lane on Thursday 27 June.

Cllr David Harrison, Chairman of the Neighbourhoods and Public Spaces Committee, said: “This campaign has had a wonderful impact; saving money, helping the community with affordable electricals and the environment. We are really pleased the community got behind this initiative and are delighted to have won this prestigious industry award.”

Basildon Council, in partnership with Lighthouse Furniture Project, still collects unwanted electrical items at its WEEE reuse outlet at the recycling centre at Barleylands. Residents can place all unwanted electrical items that are in good working order into a specific container which Lighthouse will collect and retrieve for repair and reuse. Outlets have also been set up in local libraries, including Billericay, Wickford, Fryerns and Laindon, for all small electrical items.

Find out more about the initiative at www.basildon.gov.uk/reuse