Being Green and Recycling your Old Electricals

15 Mar Being Green and Recycling your Old Electricals

Electrical systems and portable electronics regularly get sent to landfill where they live for 20, 30 or even 40 years before being buried. They pollute and take up space, yet thankfully the UK government is now pushing for these pieces of equipment to be disposed of in a greener more environmentally friendly way.

If you have recently cleaned out your business premises or your own home, you will have probably found a large range of old electronics that need to be thrown out. Unlike paper, cardboard or food waste, electronics cannot simply be put in to a domestic waste bin as not only is it bad for the environment, but these electronics will go to land fill and never degrade over time. They will quite simply last forever, polluting the earth and taking up unnecessary space.

Chances are you will have found old mobile phones, kids toys or even keyboards and computer mice that need to go, and if you have the simplest and easiest way to be green and get rid of them is to have them recycled.

Local recycling centers

All you need to do to have any old electrical equipment recycled is drop the electronics off at your local recycling centers, of which most councils have one or two or even in cases three. After you have dropped off your old electronics all of the days collect gets sent to an assorting office where individual devices are sorted or stripped for parts manually. After this, they go through a process of advanced stripping which separates any re-usable materials which can then be recycled.

Here is a brilliant Government owned website called Don’t bin it, bring it which offers further information on the recycling of your old electronics.

Store take-back schemes

Another way to recycle old electricals is to take them to a store which offers a take-back scheme. Stores which offer these schemes will take your old equipment from you so long as you agree to buy a new like-for-like device. If you are throwing out an old washing machine, for example, this is the best way of recycling purely due to convenience.

Stores also regularly offer a collection service, and will come round to your business premises or home to collect equipment you no longer need, in exchange for new paid for equipment.