Prisoners get chance to tinker with electronics to help recycle them

Staffordshire County Council has enlisted the help of HMP Featherstone and HMP Brinsford prisoners for its latest recycling campaign to give electronic goods a longer life.

Prisoners will be repairing and PAT testing any small broken electronic waste, to sell on to raise money for charities and other great causes.

People can drop off their items at any of the county’s 14 household waste recycling centres.

Simon Tagg, cabinet member for environment, infrastructure and climate change at Staffordshire County Council, said: "We can all do our bit to make Staffordshire greener and reduce our impact on the environment.

"This is a really simple project that we hope will make a difference. Taking your broken items to one of the drop off points at our recycling centres rather than recycling, will give it a new lease of life and keep it in use for longer."

He added: "This is great for the environment as it reduces the amount of new resources needed for making new products."

Laurence Scott, regional employment broker in Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, believes prisoners will gain vital skills to help them into employment when they leave jail.

He said: "We are delighted to work with Staffordshire County Council on this exciting project. This is a great opportunity to reduce electronic waste, whilst also training prisoners in skills that will help them gain employment on release.

"This is crucial as employment is proven to reduce reoffending and we’re seeing unprecedented levels of interest from employers in recruiting prison leavers, as an effective way of addressing labour shortages."

He added: "Giving the men these additional skills is great news, both for them and their prospective employers.”