BANKS for small electrical items will soon be installed at household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) in Skipton and Settle.

People who received new electrical items such as mobiles or laptops for Christmas can recycle their old models at 15 HWRCs across North Yorkshire.

Enclosed containers are now in place at 15 HWRCs owned by North Yorkshire County Council and managed by Yorwaste, with three of the closest being Harrogate, West Harrogate and Ripon.

The remaining five HWRCs in the county, at Settle, Skipton, Leyburn, Thornton-le-Dale and Wombleton, will have banks installed in the new year.

The new containers are signed to show they can accept small items such as laptops, tablets, games consoles, mobile phones and digital TV boxes.

Other small and large electrical items can still be recycled on site within the open containers, but the new containers allow residents to recycle small items more easily.

County councillor Andrew Lee, executive member for waste management, said: “Residents have been asking for a way of disposing and recycling their old laptops and mobile phones without putting them in open containers.

“The new containers clearly show the new items of modern technology that can be accepted. We always advise people to remove any personal data before they dispose of any items.”

Rachel Stewart, Yorwaste’s HWRC operations manager, said: “People may not realise the wide range of old and broken electrical items they can recycle, even things such as electric toothbrushes and hair dryers.

“They contain components such as plastic, glass and metals, all of which can be recycled.”