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Electricals

What to do with Electrical items

There is around £17 billion worth of old or unwanted electricals in UK homes. Many of these items can be repaired, donated or sold, but all electrical items can be recycled. In fact, if we recycled our old electricals it would cut as much CO2 as taking 1.3 million cars off the road.

Recycling not only saves resources, cash and protects the environment, it also stops electricals causing dangerous fires in bins and waste vehicles and waste facilities. Electricals and batteries that are disposed of incorrectly lead to fires in general waste and mixed recycling facilities each year in the UK. It's really important to dispose of electricals separately and never put them in a bin with other waste or recyclables.

It's easy to check if an electrical item, toy or game is recyclable if it reached the end of its working life. Simply ask the following questions and if the answer is yes, to any of these, it is recyclable:

  • Does it have a plug?
  • Does it use batteries?
  • Does it need charging?
  • Does it have a picture of a crossed out wheelie bin on it?

Small electrical items, which is any electrical item that fits inside a shoe box, can be recycled at all nine household recycling centres where they are kept separate from other waste and sent for recycling.

Residents can also put their small electricals in a carrier bag on top of their recycling bin lid for collection. Crews put the small electricals in a separate part of the wagon and send them on for recycling. You can get information about bin collections in your local area here.

Large electrical items, which is any electrical item larger than a shoe box, can be recycled at all nine household recycling centres where they are kept separate from other waste and send for recycling. You could have the items collected from your home, for a fee, by the Council's bulky item collections. These collections keep electricals separate and drop them off for recycling.

What to do with batteries?

You can recycle your batteries by putting them in a small plastic bag (like a sandwich bag) and popping them on top of your (recycling or refuse) wheelie bin lid on collection day. This service is available all across Buckinghamshire. You can get information about bin collections in your local area here.

You can also recycle household batteries at your local supermarket. All major retailers that sell batteries have a drop off point in store for customers to recycle their batteries.