Croydonians are set to become some of the first residents in the country to be able to recycle electrical items.

New facilities are to be offered to residents to help minimise the amount of electrical waste people routinely discard.

By next April all three of the council's recycling and reuse sites will be set up to receive electrical goods and two of them will be able to take them as early as January.

This means Croydon will be fully compliant with European environmental legislation months in advance of next summer's implementation of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive.

The council is also examining ways to get electrical goods collected and put to good use elsewhere.

Councillor Phil Thomas, cabinet member for streets and environmental services, said: "Many everyday consumer items now contain electronic parts and it seems they are becoming increasingly short lived with ever growing quantities of obsolete or broken equipment being thrown away.

"This type of waste is expanding at a faster rate than anything else. But just because a piece of equipment may have reached the end of its life in one situation, doesn't mean it is no longer useable."

He added: "This is why the WEEE directive has been brought in and why we in Croydon are aiming to be ahead of the game in making it easier for electrical goods to be recycled or reused."