Recycling kids’ toys

No. Like anything with a plug, battery or cable, if your electrically powered toys are beyond use you should recycle them. But do check first to see if you could donate or sell them. It’s better for the environment – and you could make a little cash.

Remember – never bin batteries or battery-operated kids’ toys. Batteries can cause fires if you throw them in your normal recycling or waste bin, so it’s really important to recycle them properly. Find out more about recycling batteries here, or use our recycling locator to find your local recycling point.

Check out specialist toy charities and schemes such as The Toy Project, YoungPlanet, and Toys4life. And some charity shops welcome electrical devices that are in good working order, including kids’ electrical toys – see our page on donating electricals to charity shops.

If you’ve arranged for items to be picked up by your local council or collection service, then that’s okay. But don’t just just leave electrical goods on the pavement – it can lead to valuable and hazardous materials not being managed properly, and it’s considered to be flytipping. Contact your council, charities or social enterprises in the area to see if they will collect. If you’re buying new electrical toys or games, the retailer must take your old ones back. Find your nearest drop-off or collection point for all electricals by entering your postcode in our recycling locator.

If you can, then taking your unwanted electricals to your nearest waste and recycling centre is an option (check ahead for opening times and rules). But if this isn’t convenient, see Who will collect my unwanted electrical toys?, below.

Your council, charities and reuse organisations might collect from your doorstep or a designated spot near your home. Some provide this service for free, but others will charge. You could hire a licensed waste disposal firm to take your electricals away; this might be an option if you’re having a clear-out. You could also sell your electronic toys via peer-to-peer marketplaces such as eBay and Gumtree, or offer them free on Freecycle or Freegle, where you can ask the new owner to collect it.

Find your nearest donation and recycling point using our recycling locator. Or, if you’re shopping, bear in mind that retailers now take back old electricals when you’re buying new – that should include old electronic toys and games. You have 28 days to hand over your old gadgets for disposal from the time you buy a new product. What’s more, some stores will recycle your old electricals even if you’re not buying from them.

At a recycling centre old elecgrical toys may be checked to see if they can be refurbished and passed on. If they are beyond use they are broken down mechanically and by hand. The fragments are sorted into the various materials such as metals and plastics, and are cleaned. Then they go for further processing so that they can be reused in new products. Watch our video on How electricals are recycled.

The crossed-out wheelie bin indicates that this is hazardous waste if not disposed of correctly. This means you mustn’t put the product in the general rubbish bin. We need to dispose of electrical and electronic products properly to avoid polluting the environment and to save some of the planet’s most valuable resources from being lost forever.