A YORK-BASED company which recycles waste electrical equipment has won new contracts to recycle almost 1,500 tonnes of unwanted televisions each year from across the UK.

The Electrical Recycling Company (ERC) has been awarded two contracts from ‘Producer Compliance Schemes’ (PCS), which is responsible for ensuring local authorities comply with regulations relating to the disposal and recycling of electrical waste.

The first of these contracts, with a PCS known as Valpack, is seeing ERC handling 1,000 tonnes of televisions disposed of at household waste recycling centres in Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Gateshead, Sunderland and Northumberland.

A second contract, with a PCS known as European Recycling Platform, will result in a further 450 tonnes of televisions being handled from Cumbria and the Scottish Borders.

The televisions collected through the schemes will be taken to ERC’s licensed recycling facility at Hessay, near York.

Paul Sellers, ERC manager, said: "We are delighted to have won these substantial contracts with two of the UK’s largest producer compliance schemes.

"This work will add around 1,450 additional tonnes of TV’s per annum to our business and along with our existing work, this will make ERC one of the leading TV recyclers in the country."

ERC is one of only a few companies in the UK, which is not only an Approved Authorised Treatment Facility (ATTF) but also complies with the European Government’s Best Available Treatment Recovery & Recycling Techniques (BATRRT).

Production line techniques are used to safely dismantle cathode ray tube (CRT) televisions and computer monitors.

A glass feed enclosed conveyor system helps to safely filter out the hazardous phosphorus coating found in the screens, before the televisions undergo final recycling.

THE ERC is part of the Yorwaste group of companies and was set up to tackle the complex issues arising from the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations, which sets collection, recycling and recovery targets for all types of electrical and electronic wastes.

The regulations place a legal responsibility on businesses, local authorities and other organisation to dispose of WEEE via correctly licensed recyclers like ERC.