Hifi International's Big Collect Service
For the last few weeks, I have been in contact with Hifi International to find out about the Big Collect Service, a great recycling initiative to help residents of Luxembourg (and the border) recycle any electronic items or appliances that they no longer want. This initiative, forming part of Hifi’s collection of actions and solutions to reduce our environmental impact, started as a trial run in 2021, where 480 tonnes of electrical and electronic waste was collected. Since then, Hifi decided to bring the service back permanently and make it available all year round! The Big Collect Service, they are aiming to collect around 600 tonnes of waste in 2022. Hifi’s main goal with this initiative is to help us recycle our electronic and electrical items in the proper manner, whilst still making it easy and accessible for everyone. Certain appliances or electronics require special steps for recycling, and Hifi has made that so easy for us! For those of us who like having real-life examples, here are two (of many) examples where smarter recycling would make a huge difference. One culprit is smartphone batteries, which are a major source of soil contamination and water pollution due to their accumulation in the environment. Another culprit is fridge engines, containing gas which is very polluting. One badly recycled fridge has the same pollution impact as a car journey of 7,500km!
The big question on everyone’s minds is, what happens once Hifi collects these appliances? How can we be sure these items are being properly recycled? It’s simple - Hifi collects and sorts through all the appliances and electronics. Parts of certain items are kept at Hifi as they can be reused when repairing other items, thus giving a longer life to those items. For the other items, they are sent to Lamesch for recycling in the proper way. At Lamesch, strict recycling procedures are followed. So what items can actually be recycled? The list of items includes, but is definitely not limited to tv’s, any household appliances, audio equipment, computers, laptops, phones, tablets, batteries, ink cartridges etc.
Now that we’ve covered the who and the what, here’s how we can do it. The Big Collect Service is available every day of the year for anyone who needs it - free of charge and without any purchasing conditions! There are 3 options if you want to use the Big Collect Service: (1) Small items and appliances (eg. laptops, hairdryers…) can be brought into the Hifi shop, where you can deposit your items in the special Big Collect Service bins.(2) If Hifi is delivering any items to your home, they can pick up small or large items/appliances at the same time.(3) You can schedule an appointment with Hifi to collect any large items or appliances from your home. To make an appointment, please either call Hifi at 40 24 24 74 or you can email them at livraison@hifi.lu.
This type of service has been lacking in Luxembourg, especially with the high consumption rate here, so I am pleased that Hifi International has stepped in and provided us with access to such a service. As consumers, it’s so important to be aware of our actions and their impact on the environment. So, what better way to take steps in the right direction than using the Big Collect Service where Hifi does all the hard work for us. Hifi wants to help us do better together, so why not try the Big Collect Service yourself and let us know your thoughts! If you are curious to find out more, please check out Hifi’s website with all the info on the Big Collect Service, as well as my recent posts on The Luxembourg Life’s Instagram page.
More information about The Big Collect
