Media Release, 16 August 2024
A giant pink cat hologram will be surprising commuters at London Waterloo from Tuesday 20th August. The hologram will show HypnoCat, Recycle Your Electricals’ pink, fluffy mascot, playfully leaping out at commuters with his tail twitching and eyes swirling, giving commuters no other option than to be hypnotised into recycling their electricals by HypnoCat’s holographic eyes.
The giant, 3 metre pink HypnoCat will be seen pouncing on commuters and mesmerising them with electrical items spiralling around him, highlighting the tech items that he wants everyone to recycle. The state of the art technology, provided by HyperGram, uses the latest holographic technology, without the need for a screen or glasses. 3-D objects float mid-air, ensuring that HypnoCat and his message are impossible to ignore. He’ll make recycling electricals unmissable for commuters, holiday goers and shoppers.
The HypnoCat hologram is being launched in the run-up to International E-Waste Day (October 14th), to encourage people across the UK to participate in The Great Cable Challenge. This nationwide campaign aims to address the millions of unused cables lying idle across homes by urging households, local authorities, retailers, schools and community projects to collectively recycle 1 million cables. Cables contain at least 20% copper and this precious material is lost forever when cables and other electricals are thrown away. Copper is an essential part of everyday items we take for granted, including our smart tech, transport, medical equipment and our green energy future.
Scott Butler, Executive Director of Material Focus said, “HypnoCat is out and about and larger than ever before! Using incredible hologram technology in this unique visual way, we hope he will pawsuade many more people to take action and join us in our recycling efforts in the run up to International E-Waste Day.
“Almost all of us have those old, forgotten cables stashed away at home – I have a box under my bed of cables I’ve been holding onto ‘just in case’ but haven’t actually used in months or are broken. But by recycling them or donating those that still work, we can repurpose or reclaim that valuable copper currently going to waste. The Great Cable Challenge is a simple way for everyone to make a big, collective difference – by recycling at least one cable. Most people will be surprised at just how easy it is to do.”
As a nation of cat lovers, we all know that “cats rule” and this cat is no exception – he’ll be distracting commuters, and even a few dogs! With his tail twitching impatiently, and his voice booming, he’ll compete with essential train information. Commuters at Waterloo on 20th – 24th August will find HypnoCat in 3D underneath the big train time information board.
Bailey Young, Director at DMG said, “Disturbed Media Group, an innovative agency at the forefront of immersive experiences, is proud to announce the showcase of its latest project in the UK, HyperGram. Leveraging state-of-the-art 3D holographic technology developed by our esteemed tech partner, Hypervsn, HyperGram transforms traditional visual storytelling by creating animations that appear to float in mid-air.
It’s been a joy bringing to life Hypnocat which seemed incredibly fitting to what we were trying to achieve this year. We hope consumers around London have a really enjoyable experience and we look forward to the results of the campaign!”
How can you get involved in International E-Waste Day?
Anyone can participate in The Great Cable Challenge and take one small action to make a big difference. Simply bag up your cables – and any other old, unwanted electricals you find in your ‘drawer of doom’ – and visit Recycle Your Electricals’ postcode locator to find your local donation or recycling point.
Material Focus has created a campaign toolkit to enable local authorities, retailers, schools and community projects across the UK to take part in the challenge and help inspire people to recycle their old cables and other small electricals. If you would like more information then please email hello@materialfocus.org.uk.
Partners can either:
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For media enquiries please contact Kate Hinton or Will Treharne – kate@materialfocus.org.uk or will@materialfocus.org.uk
About Material Focus
Material Focus is a not-for-profit organisation whose goal is to stop the nation throwing away or hoarding all their old, small electricals. Material Focus is delivering the UK-wide Recycle Your Electricals campaign. The campaign is revealing the value hidden in electricals and is making it easier for us all to recycle and reuse the small electricals we no longer need by providing more recycling points as well as providing practical information on how households can reuse and recycle.
The campaign is funded by producers of electrical appliances which pays for a range of activities, including communications, behaviour change activities, increased recycling projects and research. Ultimately the aim is to support actions that will help the UK increase the levels of reuse and recycling of waste electricals.
About International E-Waste Day
IEWD was founded by the WEEE Forum, the international association representing producer responsibility organisations. The UK lead member is REPIC. IEWD is open to any one to participate.
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