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.
Donate or recycle after Christmas: it’s Give-Back January
Did the festive season bring electrical gifts? Make sure your older gadgets and appliances help someone who really needs them – by donating or recycling with Give-Back January.
Give-Back January
Donate or recycle electricals after Christmas
It’s time to make sure our old electricals are put to good use by giving more families access to affordable technology.
“If we’re buying so much over Christmas, then we all have a responsibility to do something useful with our replaced items,” says TV presenter Andrea McLean.
Join Andrea and husband Nick Freeney as they get boxing up to stop millions of pounds’ worth of usable electricals going to waste.
See who else is getting behind Give-Back January
“I can pass on my old record player. I know it will be making music with a new owner again someday soon,” says Emma Slade Edmondson.
Kate Thornton asks: “What else do you do on a wet weekend but have a clear out – and all for the greater good!”
“Currently swamped in wires, plugs and chargers!! No better time than now to #recycleyourelectricals,” says Konnie Huq
“Sorting my unwanted items before I donate or recycle. NEVER throw them away,” says Jean Johansson.
“Could you hold all the unused, broken and unwanted electronic items you have at home?” asks green blogger Captain Bobcat (Eva).
“Time to clear out your electricals and do something for the planet!” says Natalie Fee, photographed by Gregg Segal.
Recycling electricals: It’s as easy as ABC
If you’re planning to donate or recycle your electricals, preparing them is simple. Be sure to check opening times at your local recycling point for Covid-19 restrictions.
BAG IT
Find a bag that you can use to store old electricals until you can go to your recycling centre – or until collection day if you have one. With Covid-19 restrictions you might not be able to make the trip straight away.
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 your bag until after lockdown.
Recycling locatorWhy Give-Back January?
After the Christmas gift bonanza, you could brighten someone else’s 2021 by donating or recycling your older electricals – from Christmas lights to laptops.
The annual electricals spending spree
A staggering 53.5 million electricals were set to be sold between Black Friday and Christmas – as millions of us planned to buy new products.
Binning or neglecting our old electricals
People up and down the country said they were planning to throw away nearly 5 million older, unwanted electrical items.
Worth millions in good will
Those electricals would have a value of almost £160 million if used to give families access to affordable technology and appliances.
We want to do better – and we can
More than two-thirds of us would donate our old electricals to people who need them if we knew how. That’s where we can help.
Did you know?
Meet more people who are giving back
More and more of us are getting ready to donate or recycle our old electricals
What is Give-Back January?
Think of Give-Back January as a way to recycle Christmas. It’s a new campaign from Recycle Your Electricals encouraging everyone across the UK to reuse or recycle their old electricals instead of sending them to landfill or letting them hide away in drawers or garages. The campaign launched on 5 January 2020 – the Twelfth Day of Christmas – to help everyone make sure old electricals that have been superseded by new products during the festive season are put to good use. Those weeks from Black Friday in November through to Christmas see the UK’s biggest spending surge on household appliances and tech. Old, unwanted electricals are creating the world’s fastest growing waste stream. Yet anything with a plug, battery or cable can be recycled. Find your nearest recycling point.
Where can I donate or recycle old electricals after Christmas?
If you’ve got the taste for recycling Christmas, find your nearest reuse and recycling points by popping your postcode into our online locator. There are already thousands of collection and drop-off points across the UK. And from 1 January 2021 thousands more retailers will be offering a take-back service on a like-for-like basis. This means that when you buy a new product, the retailer will take your old one off your hands and dispose of it properly – whether or not you bought it in the same store. Some retailers will take an old electrical from you whether or not you’re buying something from them.
Why should I recycle old electricals?
We’re probably all familiar with the need to recycle Christmas trees, Christmas cards and Christmas wrapping to help save the environment. But you might not know that electricals are the fastest growing source of waste in the UK – and the rest of the world. Find out more about the problems with e-waste and the benefits of recycling electricals.
If my old devices are valuable, could I sell them?
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.
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