Southey Green has been crowned the “Greenest Town” in the UK 2021 by mobile phone comparison and recycling company, Compare and Recycle.
Where is Southey Green?
Southey Green is an area of North Sheffield, located to the north of Sheffield city centre and the west of Rotherham.
Why was Southey Green in Sheffield chosen?
Compare and Recycle analysed 40,000 anonymised recent transactions and created a list of the top 10 greenest towns in the UK based on which recycled the most tech over the past year.
For the purposes of this study, “tech” refers to mobile phones, digital cameras, smartwatches, and tablets.
The study found that the residents of Southey Green had recycled more electronic waste with Compare and Recycle in the past year than any other town in the UK.
Which other towns performed well?
Southey Green was crowned number one, but which towns came in at numbers two to 10?
The list below is in order of recycling rate, from top to bottom.
- Taughmonagh, Belfast
- Preston, Lancashire
- Crewe, Cheshire
- Wells Green, Solihull
- Bodmin, Cornwall
- Epping, Essex
- Lower Clapton, Hackney
- Bletchley, Milton Keynes
- Dagenham, Essex
All but one are in England, with one (number two in the list) located in Northern Ireland.
Why should e-waste be recycled?
E-waste is full of harmful chemicals which pollute the area when sent to landfill — posing a danger to human and animal health, as well as the environment.
Alongside this, waste left in landfill produces methane — a greenhouse gas that contributes heavily to climate change.
Tech such as mobile phones and tablets can be refurbished and therefore put back to use for many more years — as well as making technology available at a cheaper price for those who can’t afford to buy brand new.
Tech items that can’t be refurbished can have valuable materials removed and kept in circulation — so, remember that even a very broken phone should be sent for recycling.
You can learn more about why electronic waste should be recycled in our blog post entitled ‘Everything you need to know about electronic waste recycling’.
