Return your unwanted walking aids this Recycle Week

The Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust is asking the public to return walking aids they no longer need so that they can be used by others who need them.

From 14-20 October it is National Recycle Week, and the Trust’s Acute Therapy Service and Community Rehab Team are asking people to collect up unused elbow crutches, walking sticks and walking frames (wheeled or static), and bring them to one of four drop-off locations across the community or to a household waste recycling centre.

Once walking aids are no longer needed, they often end up in the garage, shed or under the stairs gathering dust. This is your chance to have a declutter and put your old walking aids back into use for the NHS by returning unwanted equipment to one of the collection points. They will be checked, cleaned and reused to help new patients struggling with their mobility.

Aside from helping new patients, the returns will reduce costs incurred by unnecessarily replacing equipment. They will also prevent unused items from ending up in landfill sites or being reclaimed for scrap metal. Reuse of items that still have useful life left in them is the most sustainable option and such approaches avoid carbon emissions that go into the manufacture of new products.

Please help us to do more to avoid waste and respond to climate change and the net zero challenge by giving back the walking aids you no longer need.

When and where to recycle your walking aids

To help you get involved with this initiative, collection points for walking aids have been arranged during Recycle Week at the following locations from Monday 14 October to Friday 20 October, between 8am and 4pm: