How are electricals recycled?

Recycle your electricals

Approximately 75% of the materials in old electrical items can be recovered and repurposed. These items are rich in valuable materials, including metals like copper, aluminium, and steel, as well as precious metals such as gold, silver, and palladium. 

When recycled correctly, electricals are safely dismantled so hazardous parts (like batteries) are removed, and reusable materials are recovered. This reduces the need for raw materials, cuts carbon emissions and helps prevent fires in waste vehicles.

Most electrical items follow a similar recycling process. Watch the short video below to see what happens when electricals are recycled properly.

To find out where electricals are recycled at our Household Recycling Centres or in your kerbside collection, visit our end destinations pages.

We filmed this video inside a real electrical recycling facility to show what happens behind the scenes - from removing batteries to breaking items down into reusable materials. Watch it here  🎥👉 TV recycling - what happens to them?

Not sure what to do with an electrical item?

If an item has a plug, cable or battery, it should never go in your general rubbish bin.

Use our Waste Wizard to quickly check how and where to recycle any electrical item, including batteries, phones, vapes and appliances.