Almost all of us have unwanted or broken electricals lying around or have considered binning them. In fact, discarded electricals are the fastest-growing source of waste in the UK – and the world – with over 100,000 tonnes binned every year in the UK and a further 880 million unwanted gadgets gathering dust in our homes. That’s an average of 30 per household!
But unwanted electricals aren’t actually waste. These electricals contain valuable materials like copper, lithium and gold which can be reused and turned into anything from solar panels to life-saving equipment.
Recycle Your Electricals and the consumer audience
Material Focus, an independent not-for-profit organisation, is on a mission to ensure the materials inside our electricals are never wasted. Their nationwide Recycle Your Electricals campaign raises awareness that anything with a plug, battery, or cable can and should always be reused or recycled, and makes it easy by pointing you towards your local drop-off points.
It’s super easy – just bag up your unwanted and broken electricals and pop your postcode into Recycle Your Electricals Locator to find one of 27,000 donate, repair, reuse and recycling points across the UK. Together, we can save valuable materials from being lost to landfill!
Local Funding Opportunities
Material Focus doesn’t just raise awareness – they also fund real solutions to make electrical recycling more accessible for everyone across the UK, including Scotland.
Through their Electricals Recycling Fund, they’ve supported over 60 projects from Aberdeen to Dorest, supporting kerbside collection schemes, drop-off points in community centres, schools and libraries, and innovative solutions that make it easier for the UK to repair, reuse or recycle their electricals.
The Electricals Recycling Fund is now open for new applications. Read more about the Funding here.
Tally Richmond, Local Authority Partnerships Officer
