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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, I draw attention to an issue on practical, environmental and financial grounds. My concern is that old analogue radios that are no longer required should be disposed of in an environmentally acceptable way. It is clear that many individual parts of such radios have a recycling value, and we do not want piles of radios to be disposed of in landfills or wherever else. I read in a newspaper recently that it is likely that there are something like 2.4 radios per household, although I suggest there are a lot more. The older generation quite commonly have many more radios—in different rooms in the house and collected over many years. My wife and I definitely have more than 2.4 radios. Having to dispose of and replace radios could result in financial hardship for many people. I am talking about the older generation, who are likely to have many more radios, or to need many more radios, the disabled, and others who will have difficulty replacing radios, financially in terms of buying new ones. My amendment calls for environmental and financial aspects to be addressed. In this amendment, I am calling for a scheme to be devised for the disposal of old analogue radios, but the scheme should include a financial incentive. That incentive should be based upon profit from the disposal of the radio. It could be—why not?—that the council will dispose of radios, and that they could give a ticket or voucher to the people handing in the radios, which they could then present to a retailer to go towards the cost of buying a new radio. I hope that the Minister will consider this issue as something of great importance and concern to the older generation, and many who cannot afford to buy new radios, which they do not really feel that they should need. I beg to move.