An NHS nurse has taken part in a challenge to recycle old household cables to retrieve copper.

Melanie Clapham, 41, an NHS staff nurse from Cumbria, decided to finally recycle a collection of more than 60 cables which had included Ethernet and modem cables, chargers, headphones, and even a brand-new, never-used, landline phone set.

Ms Clapham's efforts come as part of The Great Cable Challenge, launched by Recycle Your Electricals.

The nationwide campaign aims to collectively recycle one million cables.

Copper is infinitely recyclable, according to Recycle Your Electricals, meaning it can be used again and again without losing its functionality.

The material is used in phones, transport, and medical equipment, as well as green energy.

Recycle Your Electricals claims that £266m worth of copper is either currently stored in people's houses, or has already been thrown away - which would have been enough to provide "30 per cent of the copper needed in our green future."

Scott Butler, executive director of Recycle Your Electricals, said: "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."

For more information about The Great Cable Challenge, visit www.recycleyourelectricals.org.uk/international-e-waste-day-2024/

A recycling locator is available at https://www.recycleyourelectricals.org.uk/electrical-recycling-near-me/