A – ASK
Does your old electrical contain batteries or bulbs? Remove these before recycling. It’s your responsibility to remove personal data from smart devices and computers, so remember to take out memory cards and delete your data.
Ethical jewellery from recycled electricals
Tiny amounts of precious metals in millions of old electricals can be salvaged and turned into valuable new products – including jewellery.
FIVE GOLD RINGS
The Five Gold Rings collection
Handcrafted by sustainable jeweller Lylie’s, in gold and silver from recycled electricals.
A partnership with Recycle Your Electricals.
Ethical jewellery from recycled electricals is just the beginning
From a dusty cupboard to the sparkle of the catwalk and more – recycled electricals are the gift that will keep on giving.
Tonnes of electricals are going to waste
In homes across the UK we’re hoarding an incredible 527 million unwanted electrical products. And we throw away 155,000 tonnes of electricals a year.
We can recycle the precious metals…
Old electricals contain tiny amounts of gold, silver, platinum, palladium and other valuable materials that can be salvaged and used again.
…so old tech becomes new treasure
The precious metals in each gadget quickly add up: one brand new gold ring could be made from the idle electricals in just 30 homes.
And it’s not just jewellery
Recycling the UK’s 31 million unwanted laptops could yield enough aluminium to make 159,000 bicycles, or enough plastic for 5 million defibrillators.
DID YOU KNOW?
95 tonnes
That’s the astonishing haul of gold, silver and palladium that could be salvaged from the unwanted electricals in the UK each year.
And all you have to do is recycle your electricals.
What you can do now to unleash the value in your old electricals
Could you repair or sell your old electricals, or donate them to a charity? If not, anything with a plug, battery or cable can be recycled – and preparing them is simple.
B – BAG IT
Find a bag that you can use to store all your old electricals until you can go to the recycling centre – or until collection day, if you have one.
C – CHECK
Check our easy recycling locator to find your nearest repair, reuse or recycling point. Some councils will also collect directly from your home. Otherwise keep your electricals in the bag until you’re ready.
Recycling locatorEthical jewellery. You pop the questions. We’ve got the answers.
Put simply ethical jewellery is made from materials and using processes that don’t put people or their rights at risk or damage the environment. Some precious materials commonly used to make jewellery – such as gold, silver, and palladium – are extracted at a cost to the natural environment and communities where they are found. Some of these materials are also used to make components in circuit boards in our personal tech and everyday appliances. So reusing and recycling electricals should help reduce the amount of new material being mined and ensure a more sustainable supply of these vital materials – as well as being kinder to the environment.
The Recycle Your Electricals campaign has created the ‘Five Gold Rings’ collection in partnership with British sustainable jeweller Lylie’s. The handcrafted pieces, made from gold and silver salvaged from old electrical items, are an eco-friendly option and represent the potential in recycling electrical items. If we’re being picky, this is ethical jewellery made from recycled materials, not recycled jewellery. But, like buying second-hand or vintage jewellery, opting for jewellery from recycled materials helps ease the pressure on the Earth’s precious resources.
Yes. There’s a thriving second-hand market for preloved electrical and electronic products. Our research shows that on average UK households could make £620 each by selling unwanted electricals they have lying around. Check out our page on selling your old electricals. And if you don’t want to sell them, but would like to let your unwanted electricals go to a good cause, see our guide to donating electricals to charities.
A single electrical appliance or device will contain tiny amounts of precious metals – but these are still critical to the functioning of things like circuit boards. Your old mobile phone, for example, will contain a fraction of 1 gram of gold. But put all our unwanted phones together and we’re talking tonnes of precious metals. If all the old electricals we hoard or throw away every year in the UK were recycled, we’d have enough gold to make rings for 18 months’ worth of weddings and civil partnerships. Check our locator for your nearest recycling drop-off or collection point.
“The answer is yes,” says sustainable jeweller Eliza Walter, who’s company Lylie’s has partnered with Recycle Your Electricals to make the ‘Five Gold Rings’ collection. “In many ways the jewellery we make is much more precious. Our high-quality, certified pieces are proof that one person’s trash can literally become someone else’s treasure. I’m passionate about helping people realise the potential that their electrical waste has.”
It’s not just ethical jewellery that can be made from recycled electricals. Our unwanted gadgets and appliances contain a range of metals and plastic materials that can be recovered and remanufactured into anything from bicycles to children’s swings to life-saving defibrillators.
