By Patrick Avenell

Sharp is doing its bit to clean up the footpaths of its local community and promote environmentalism worldwide by hosting a recycling drive at its western Sydney head office this weekend.

This event is being run as part of Sharp's global partnership with Earth Hour. Every year in March, Earth Hour's organisers, the World Wildlife Fund, encourage citizens of the world to switch off all their electrical items for one hour in a symbolic gesture towards conservation.

An Australian initiative, the Earth Hour is credited to ad-man and star of The Gruen TV franchise Todd Sampson.

Earth Hour this year begins at 8:30pm (local time, wherever you are) on Saturday 23 March 2013.

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Before switching all their working electronics off, Sharp is encouraging residents in the area around its Huntingwood, Sydney, headquarters to drop off their end-of-life TVs and PCs, saving them from an unhappy afterlife on footpaths and landfill. Sharp will be arranging for all products collected to be recycled responsibly.

Sharp's offices at 1 Huntingwood Drive, Huntingwood, will be open from 8am to 4pm on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 March 2013.

As is now tradition, Sharp will be leading from the front come Earth Hour, switching off the LED lights on its famous North Sydney billboard at 8:30pm.

"Sharp has a long history in Australia and we’re very proud to support this Sydney-grown initiative," said national marketing manager Mark Beard. "The support for Earth Hour around the world demonstrates the importance of this issue and energy efficiency is something we are constantly working to deliver in our product development.”