Advice about recycling small electrical items

Small Electricals – Kerbside Recycling

Recycling your electrical items just became easier! You can now recycle your small electrical items on your waste or recycling collection day. Please place the items in a carrier bag and place them on top of either your black or green bin. Please do not place items inside your black or green bins.

If the electrical items won’t fit into a carrier bag then it is too large to fit into the compartments on our collection vehicles and you should take it to a Household Waste and Recycling Site. Check the table below for examples of items you can present for collection.

Yes please:

Anything with a plug.
Anything battery operated.
Cables, plugs.
Only items that can fit in a standard size plastic carrier bag.
Batteries (if removable) in a separate bag please.

No thanks (Please take these to a Household Waste Recycling Site):

Items too big to fit in a standard size plastic carrier bag.
Traditional old style light bulbs, low energy light bulbs and fluorescent tubes.

Yes please

No thanks

(Please take these to a Household Waste Recycling Site)

Small household appliances: Hairdryers, straighteners, irons, clocks and alarms, smoke detectors, electric razors and toothbrushes.

Small kitchen appliances: Food mixers, toasters, kettles, blenders.

Electric or battery powered toys and games.

Electric or battery powered tools.

Computer equipment: laptops, tablets, external storage drives, mouses, keyboards, small flatscreen monitors.

Telephones: telephone handsets, base stations, mobile phones, smart phones.

Music equipment: Radios, CD and DVD players, record players, portable speakers.

Remote control handsets.

Household lighting including LED bulbs, desk lamps, garden lights and Christmas lights.

E-cigarette tips.

Cables, plugs, transformers and charging units for the above.

Sockets, switches, dimmers, taps with safety features or sensors.

Refrigerator, freezer, washing machine, dryer.

Cookers, ovens and microwaves.

Televisions, (including flat screens).

Old style light bulbs, low energy light bulbs and fluorescent tubes.

Car batteries.

Batteries are hazardous waste and should never be placed in your black bin or your green bin. Batteries cause fires within waste collection vehicles and at Waste Transfer Stations.

Please place batteries in a separate bag on top of either your black bin or your green bin.

Please remove batteries and battery units from any small electricals that you are putting out for collection. Integrated or built in rechargeable batteries do not need to be removed.

Alkaline, Silver-Oxide and Zinc carbon and lithium batteries can all be recycled through our kerbside battery collection service. Rechargeable batteries and power packs can also be recycled through this service.

Lead-acid, mercury and other types of industrial and vehicle batteries cannot be recycled through this collection services.

What happens to small electricals and batteries placed out for kerbside recycling?

Once taken back to depots, small electricals are collected by MDJ Light Bros in Lewes for reprocessing and recycling on its site at Greystone Quarry facility. There, the items are separated into the various different components for recycling. The separated components are then sold to customers depending on demand and market conditions.

Household batteries collected at the kerbside are taken to a facility in Garforth, Leeds, where they are bulked and sent on for recycling. The bulked batteries are taken to one of two specialist facilities owned by Revatech in Belgium. Here at either the Monsin or Engis facility, the batteries are sorted by type before going through mechanical treatment to crush and screen the material. The material goes through a chemical treatment process before being recycled. Base metals and plastics are recovered. The resources gained from recycling batteries are the very same materials being mined in other parts of the world.