ENVIRONMENT officials believe a new waste management contract will transform the way electrical goods are reused and increase recycling.

North Yorkshire County Council has appointed recycling specialist WasteCare, based in Leeds, to handle the management and recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment, alongside waste management and recycling company Yorwaste.

WasteCare and Yorwaste will provide a free collection and recycling service to the county council and York City Council for goods such as fridges, freezers, televisions, fluorescent tubes, washing machines and computers.

Electrical and electronic waste regulations, which came into force on July 1, mean the responsibility for recycling the goods falls on manufacturers and retailers, who have to belong to a producer compliance scheme.

The only compliance scheme based in Yorkshire is managed by WeeeCare, a subsidiary of WasteCare.

Peter Hunt, the managing director of WasteCare, which employs 220 people across the UK, said: "This contract is a natural extension to our existing services to businesses, which currently generate about 120,000 tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment a year.

"Approximately 92 per cent of the materials we recover are recycled.

"Our WeeeCare-run scheme is now the most popular in the country, having enrolled nearly 780 producers, about 20 per cent of the total number."

Yorwaste manages more than a million tonnes of waste a year and is owned by the county council and York City Council.

The company's recycling manager, John Miller, said: "The new waste electrical and electronic equipment regime will radically transform the way electrical and electronic items are recycled, and this provides us with an exciting opportunity."

Gordon Gresty, the county council's director of business and environmental services, said: "By working with WasteCare and Yorwaste, we are able to use our network of household waste recycling centres for North Yorkshire residents to deposit their waste electrical and electronic equipment, and by doing so, will further enhance recycling rates.

"This is why we have awarded the waste electrical and electronic equipment contract to WasteCare and Yorwaste, both of which have enormous experience in this field."