ASK
Are you planning to buy something with a plug, battery or cable? And do you have an old one to get rid of? If the answer to both questions is yes, go to B.
Buying a new electrical item from the high street? Shops will now recycle the one you’re replacing – for free.
With over 26,600 new drop-off points to recycle your electricals
If you’re buying a new toaster, kettle – or any new electrical item – you can now recycle your old one at the same store.
Anything with a plug, battery or cable can be recycled and turned into something new – from children’s playgrounds to life-saving equipment!
Thousands of retailers are offering the service – so remember to take your old electrical when you go shopping for something new.
It all kicked in on 1 January 2021 with the Retailer Take-back scheme, which applies across the UK. Ready to recycle?
Are you planning to buy something with a plug, battery or cable? And do you have an old one to get rid of? If the answer to both questions is yes, go to B.
Find a bag and put your old electrical item in it. If it’s a big item, you might need a big bag. Or a box. Just make sure you can carry it. Then leave it at the door ready to take with you to the shops.
Before you go, check you’ve removed batteries, SIM and memory cards. Check you have deleted your personal data from any laptops, phones or other smart gadgets.
Find your nearest recycling pointFor more detail check out the FAQs below, and our page on retailers and appliance recycling.
If you buy a product from your local electrical retailer, you can hand in your old one for recycling. Just take in your electrical item within 28 days, show the receipt for its replacement – and the retailer will do the rest. Remember: never bin old electricals.
More than 22,000 of them. And drop-off locations are being added to our recycling locator all the time.
Anything with a plug, battery or cable can be recycled. So when you’re buying any new electrical item the store you’re buying from will take the old one for recycling.
No. You could have bought your old product from any retailer.
No it doesn’t. What’s more, you can take back a broadly similar type of product, of any brand. So if you buy a DVD player, the retailer should accept your old VHS player for recycling.
No. The Distributor Takeback Scheme (DTS) is about local councils collecting electrical waste on behalf of retailers. The new Retailer Take-back scheme is where retailers themselves are collecting in store. This means thousands more drop-off points on the high street, making it much easier for us all to recycle our old electricals.
WEEE stands for waste electrical and electronic equipment. So if you come across the term WEEE takeback it’s probably referring to the Distributor Takeback Scheme (council collecting on behalf of retailers) or the new Retailer Take-back scheme (in-store drop-off points). Both are part of the drive to make it easier for us all to recycle more of our old electricals.