Shoppers are being asked to help a supermarket do its bit for the environment by recycling thousands of old phone chargers.

Sainsbury’s in Manor Road, Richmond, is asking customers to drop off their unwanted phone chargers, which will be recycled by the store during the month-long campaign.

Phone charger recycling banks have been set up at the store and it is hoped 150,000 will be collected - the equivalent in weight of about five double-decker buses.

Neil Sachdev, Sainsbury’s property director, said: “We’ve all got lots of old chargers lying around, and local recycling centres already recycle them, but most people are unaware of this.

“By running this campaign, we hope to raise awareness of charger recycling facilities, while at the same time preventing nearly 40 tonnes of waste from going to landfill.”

Currently only 28,000 charges are currently recycled every year.

The chargers will be collected by Valpak, the UK’s leading provider of recycling solutions, and taken to a recycling company in Newcastle.