Recycle broken electricals

Electrical and electronic items are anything with wires, plugs, or that use batteries. Before recycling them, consider whether they might be repaired or reused. If so, find out how to get an electrical item repaired or passed on for reuse. If not, you should recycle electrical items as they can be hazardous – products may leak hazardous chemicals, contributing to water and air pollution, and so shouldn’t be thrown directly in your rubbish bin.

Items that can be recycled include:

• Headphones
• E-cigarette tips
• Electrical toys including games consoles
• Mobile phones
• Household appliances like irons, hairdryers, toasters, microwaves, radios
• Computers, equipment and screens
• Smoke detectors and monitors
• Televisions
• Vacuum cleaners
• Larger appliances and white goods like fridges and cookers

How to recycle broken electrical items

• Visit the local collection services page to see if your local borough or district council will collect small electrical items from your home. Or if they will collect bulky items for a fee.
• There are recycling banks for small electrical items at some locations across the county.
• All of our community recycling centres accept electrical and electronic goods, including large items. For full information on opening dates and times, and waste types accepted at each site, please check Surrey County Council’s website.
• Many stores will take away old electrical and electronic items to be recycled if you’ve bought a new one.
• You can get money for recycling your old electronics online. For example, Compare and Recycle is a comparison website that enables you to find the best deal when recycling your old mobile phone or other gadgets for cash.

Battery recycling

Batteries are hazardous so can’t be put into your rubbish bin. You can take household batteries back to shops such as supermarkets and electrical retailers that have battery recycling bins. The Battrecycle scheme allows you to find battery recycling collection points; use the online collection point locater to identify your closest Battrecycle bin.

You can usually take car batteries to a community recycling centre (CRC), but check the Surrey County Council website before your visit.

In some areas batteries can be collected from your home, here batteries should be put into a separate bag to other electrical items. Check the search tool to see if you have this service where you live.

In your area: