A Cumbrian nurse is encouraging people to recycle their unused cables.

Melanie Clapham, 41, an NHS staff nurse from Cumbria, is urging people to recycle their unused cables this International E-Waste Day on October 14.

This comes as Recycle Your Electricals launches the Great Cable Challenge nationwide.

The challenge aims to get people to recycle one million cables to help reduce e-waste.

Melanie has shared her experience of letting go of her old cables and tech and dropping off unused cables at the retail take-back scheme.

This is part of the Great Cable Challenge.

New research from Recycle Your Electricals shows that the UK's 1.3 billion unused or binned electricals, including 627 million cables, could help meet the country's growing demand for copper.

Cumbria alone has binned or held onto more than 7.8 million cables.

These cables could complete 151 laps of Lake Windermere.

Scott Butler, executive director of Recycle Your Electricals, said: "Fess up time everyone - we all have our own stashes of unused or broken electricals.

"But it’s time that we realised the value and power of the silent majority; the hidden treasures inside our homes.

"We need to start ‘urban mining’ and help protect the planet and nature from the harmful impacts of mining for raw materials and instead value and use what we have already.

"People may not realise that cables and electricals contain valuable materials, not just copper and that if binned or stashed, we lose everything inside of them when we don’t recycle them into something new.

"That’s why we’re starting with the Great Cable Challenge.

"Doing the right thing by your old and unwanted electricals has never been easier; with more than 26,000 recycling points around the UK.

"Just check our Recycling Locator for yours - anything with a plug, battery or cable can be reused and recycled and there’s somewhere near you to do it."

The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) supports this forward thinking.

Izzi Monk, RSC policy adviser for the environment, implores people to look to the future and do what they can.

For more information on the Great Cable Challenge and how to participate, visit recycleyourelectricals.org.uk/international-e-waste-day-2024.