Last-minute eco-friendly Valentine’s Day gifts – jewellery from recycled electricals and more

Have you left the Valentine’s Day gift shopping a little late? Relax. We’ve got 7 great tips to help show the love for your significant other – and the planet.

Giving jewellery made from recycled electricals is just one of the many ways we can all have a more eco-friendly Valentine’s Day. 

1. Give jewellery made from recycled materials – Lots of gold and silver jewellery is made from recycled metal. But did you know that electricals contain precious metals like gold and silver that can be salvaged and recycled? And waste electricals are the fastest-growing waste stream in the UK and globally? Well, our research shows that if all the electricals we hoard or throw away were recycled, we would have enough gold to make 858,000 gold rings. Recycled gold, silver and platinum are better for the environment because they produce less carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions than when we mine for precious metals. Check out our list of jewellers using recycled metals.
2. Romantic lighting? Buy eco-friendly candles – Instead of paraffin-wax candles, opt for an eco-friendly natural candle free from chemicals and made from recycled glass, natural ingredients and essential oils.
3. Bake together – An hour or two baking together is the perfect way to show your Valentine how much you love them. Aim for sustainably sourced ingredients and less plastic packaging. Oh, and if discover you’ve got an old blender or kettle that’s broken beyond repair remember to recycle it using our electrical recycling locator.
4. Valentine’s dinner date? Make an eco-friendly meal – Cut down on your meat intake this Valentine’s Day. A vegetarian diet uses 2.5 times less carbon than a meat diet. With so many fantastic vegetarian and vegan meal options it’s a no-brainer to make a beautiful veggie meal for your significant other.
5. Wrapping that beautiful gift? Avoid paper – We all use too much wrapping paper all year round, at Christmas, on birthdays, for weddings and Valentine’s Day. Some 83 square kilometres of wrapping ends up in UK bins each year according to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra). An eco alternative is brown paper and natural string that can be recycled or even reused. Or buy a tote bag to gift the present in – it can be re-used later as an alternative to paper.
6. Make a hand-crafted gift for your Valentine – Spending time hand-making a gift yourself shows how much you care – from making a candle from organic wax to knitting a jumper or blanket.
7. Gift houseplants instead of flowers – Flowers are always a lovely gift but cut flowers don’t last long, do they? A new houseplant is a gift for your Valentine that will last a long time. Plus, it will absorb CO₂ and give off oxygen – a breath of fresh air.

Show your love for Valentine’s Days to come: find out where to recycle your unwanted electricals now using our recycling locator.