Recycling At Home - Electrical & Electronics

Reasons To Recycle Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)- When obsolete materials are not recycled, raw materials have to be processed to make new products. This causes loss of resources as the energy, transport and environmental damage caused by these processes is substantial. Another major problem is the toxic nature of many of the substances, including arsenic, bromine, cadmium, halogenated flame retardant, hydro chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), lead, mercury and PCBs, which cause damage to the environment and health.  Fridges and freezers contain gases such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) used for the coolant and insulation. Both CFCs and HCFCs are greenhouse gases which when emitted into the atmosphere, contribute to climate change. (See our Fridge section)

What Equipment Can I Recycle?

Household appliances
IT and audio-visual equipment
Tools
Toys, leisure and sports equipment
Monitoring and control instruments
Medical devices
Heating, cooling and lighting equipment
Automatic dispensers
Mobile Phones
Printer cartridges

How Do I Recycle Electrical & Electronic Equipment?

Consider first if a current item of equipment can be upgraded, rather than being completely replaced. If an appliance has stopped working, before discarding it, see if it can be repaired. In some areas there are projects which take basic electrical equipment such as cookers and fridges to pass on to low-income households. Rather than putting unusable small appliances in the bin, take them to your local civic amenity site where they can be added to other scrap for recycling. If you have bulky items to be discarded, contact your council to arrange collection. As a general rule - if an item has a plug or batteries it should be disposed of carefully.

Computers and IT Equipment - The market for refurbished computers is huge, and there are many commercial organisations that buy and sell business computer systems, either as complete systems, or for refurbishment, or as spares for maintenance purposes.  Consider donating computers to schools, or charities; many of these go for export to developing countries. There are also a number of community computer reuse projects in the UK that pass redundant computers from businesses to the community, and who will deal with the legal liability and data protection aspects for you.  Upgrading a particular appliance can also extend the life span of electronic equipment, if the design is suitable for that.

Printer cartridges - 12-14,000 tonnes of discarded cartridges ended up in landfill in 2003. Refilling ink jet cartridges is straightforward and can be done on a DIY basis. It is also possible to send cartridges away for refilling or to buy refilled cartridges. Many charities and individuals raise money through the collection of used printer cartridges for refilling and resale. Toner cartridges cannot be refilled, but most cartridges can be remanufactured. They are then refilled with fresh toner, tested and sold with a guarantee.

Mobile phones - The rechargeable battery and other components such as the LCD display have toxic components. It is estimated that there are over 20 million potentially toxic redundant mobile phones in the UK, making up 1-2% of electronic waste. Dispose of your unwanted mobiles via the shops that sell them where possible. Several charities collect unwanted mobile phones too; these are refurbished and sold to eastern European and African countries.

Fluorescent Tubes - There are more than 100 million fluorescent and highway lamps used in the United Kingdom each year producing in excess of 3,100 tonnes of waste material which, until recently, has ended up in landfill sites. Fluorescent lighting contains potentially harmful substances such as mercury, cadmium and lead. If they enter the body, these substances can cause damage to the main body organs. Mercury is also a neurotoxin and has the potential to build up in the food chain. A four-foot long fluorescent tube may contain over 30 milligrams of mercury and this amount can contaminate up to 30,000 litres of water beyond a safe standard for drinking, if allowed to seep through to the water system. Fluorescent tubes should be taken to your local recycling centre for safe disposal, or if buying new then your supplier should take your old lighting tubes.