Recycling headphones

Listen up. Whether you’re into wireless headphones, over-ear headphones, noise-cancelling headphones or earbuds, it’s easier than ever to recycle headphones.

Electrical recycling near me

How to recycle unwanted headphones

It’s as easy as ABC

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ASK

Could your headphones be repaired? Could you donate them to a charity? Pass them on to someone you know? Or could you sell your unwanted headphones?

Line drawing graphic of a of bag of electricals

BAG IT

Find a bag or box that you can use to store your unwanted headphones along with other old electrical gadgets until you can go to the recycling centre – or until collection day if you have one.

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CHECK

Find your nearest recycling point. Simply enter your postcode in our recycling locator. And off you go.

Recycling locator

Where can you recycle headphones and earbuds?

Pick the option that suits you. Or mix it up.

Looking up at a mountainous pile of colourful waste electricals against a stormy sky.

DID YOU KNOW?

Half a billion*

That’s how many pairs of earphones and headphones were shipped worldwide in 2021 – nearly double the figure in 2013.

Like anything with a plug, battery or cable, headphones can be recycled at the end of their useful life – let’s make sure they are.

*Statista.com

You only have two ears

A 2017 survey found that over a quarter of headphone users in the US owned at least three, and sometimes as many as five, pairs of headphones.

Of course there are different types of headphones for different uses – bluetooth headphones, wireless headphones, wired headphones, on-ear headphones, over-ear headphones, in-ear headphones, sports headphones, gaming headsets, headphones for music production, headphones for pilots and deep sea divers. We could go on. But let’s be honest, many of us probably have at least one pair sitting quietly in that drawer of tangled wires, cables, adaptors, chargers and other electrical thingamajigs that we haven’t quite got around to sorting out. Well, now’s the time – and it’s never been easier.

Find out where to recycle all your unwanted headphones and other electricals.

Recycling locator

Find your nearest recycling point

Put in your postcode to find recycling and reuse centres near you