ILKLEY residents are being asked to dig out a range of unwanted items and donate them for recycling.

Building on the success of last year's bicycle recycling event, Ilkley Wharfedale Rotary Club's recycling day on September 24 will be bigger than ever.

As well as bicycles of any age, size or condition, they will also be collecting unwanted wheelchairs, mobility aids, spectacles, hand tools, power tools, workshop equipment and sewing machines.

Bicycles and wheelchairs will be refurbished by the Keighley-based Margaret Carey Foundation, which runs workshops in various prisons in England so that prisoners can learn new skills and contribute something back to society. They are then donated to people in the Third World who need them but can’t afford them.

Mobility aids (including walking frames, crutches and rollators) are refurbished by the PhysioNet charity, and will also make their way to the Third World.

Another partner charity involved is the Ilkley-based volunteer group Tools for Africa, which refurbishes and sends items to the charity Workaid, which then assembles them into kits suitable for business start-ups. They are particularly looking for hand tools (but not gardening equipment), power tools, workshop equipment and sewing machines, which will enable people in Africa to start businesses, earn a living and kick-start local economies.

All items for recycling can be taken to the main car park in South Hawkesworth Street, Ilkley, between 10am and 2pm on September 24

“We have had a phenomenal response in previous years, and we hope for the same again,” said Rotarian Marten Koopmans. “Donations of bikes, wheelchairs, tools and spectacles of any size and in any condition will be gratefully accepted.”