Unwanted electricals or furniture lying around the house? Find out how to reuse or recycle them.
Whether its old mobile phones, old power tools, beat up sofa’s or simply a broken kettle or toaster, all your unwanted electrical items or furniture can be reused or recycled!
Electrical and Furniture items can be recycled at Charity shops, Recycling Centres and Reuse networks.
Visit the Search Your Area map to see where your local Charity shops and Reycling Centers are.
Some companies even offer free collections to those who want to donate electrical goods. See below for a list of companies that offer this service.
So what electrical items can you recycle? Below are a few examples ranging from angle grinders to VCR's!
High-Tech Electronical Devices
Phones, mobile phones, remote controls, chargers, radios, VCR’s, digi-boxes, speakers, hi-fi units, electronic toys and more
Personal Care
Hairdryers, hair straighteners, electric toothbrushes, hair trimmers, shavers, hair curlers, facial saunas, power showers and more
Small kitchen appliances
Kettles, toasters, irons, blenders, smoothie makers, sandwich toasters, coffee machines, food processors, bread makers, electric scales and more
DIY and garden electricals
Drills, power tools, garden shears, strimmers, sanders, angle grinders, chainsaws, lawnmowers, garden sprinklers and more
Where can I recycle my unwanted electricals?
Recycling electricals in your area:
Click here to fnd out where your nearest electrical waste recycling facility is.
If you are unsure about which district your address falls under click here for a postcode checker, which will tell you your district.
Furniture Items
Yes, wooden furniture and other household furniture items can be recycled too! Visit your local recycling facility to deposit any unusable furniture. (Leather and synthetic items can not be recycled). Click here for furniture accepting facilities in your area.
Tried selling it? If not, try selling it in your local newspaper or an online market place. Also donating such items to friends, families or charities can be a great idea.
FREEGLE: You might not need that old sofa or wheelbarrow any more – but there might be someone just round the corner who does. Or if there’s something you’d like, someone nearby might have one.There’s just one main rule: everything posted must be FREE!
Freegle is a national grassroots organisation of people throughout the United Kingdom who are giving and receiving free unwanted items in their immediate communities. Local charities, non-profit groups and communities are encouraged to join.
All groups within this organisation operate with a basic principle – all offers and requests must be freegle (free and legal). Some groups may have additional guidelines such as no offers or requests for animals, or that items must be suitable for all ages.
Freegle’s aim is to keep anything reusable out of landfill sites. Meeting new people helps to develop local community networks and friendships in the process.
How it works
1) You have a washing machine you don’t need and may have to dispose of
2) You join your local Freegle group
3) You post an OFFER on the list, seen by everyone who looks on the site or receives messages in their inbox (members get to choose whether to receive all messages or just view online.
4) OFFER: washing machine (just off High St)
5) Old and noisy but working washing machine available
6) Interested members will reply to you privately
7) You choose who you would like to give it to
8) Between you, you arrange for them to come and pick up the washing machine
9) It gets collected
10) You’ve given away your machine with little effort, and you also got to meet someone new from your neighbourhood in the process
11) Someone local to you who needed your unwanted machine can now use it, fix it or use parts for spares
12) It didn’t go into landfill. Great for both you and our planet. Everyone wins!
Likewise, if you need an item you can request one on the list in the same way and if someone has what you’d like they will contact you off-list to offer it.
The group moderators will be happy to help you if you need any advice about any part of the above process.
Check out your local Freegle group www.ilovefreegle.org/, help to moderate it or set one up yourself for your local area.
DFF: The Devon Furniture Forum (DFF) was set up in 1998 to provide a support, advocacy and networking service to the community sector furniture and electrical appliance re-use organisations in Devon. It also serves to develop new reuse projects, and facilities, to address the new WEEE (Waste Electrical & Electrical Equipment) legislation.
The DFF is a not-for-profit social business working in Devon and the South West.
Its three principle aims are to:
Protect the environment through the collection, reuse and recycling of household and commercial waste.
Alleviate poverty, by supplying safe, clean and affordable goods to people on low incomes.
Provide training, employment and volunteering opportunities for a variety of people, and groups, including those who have been unemployed long term and/or have support needs.
To find out more about the Devon Furniture Forum click here or telephone 01752 897311
Furniture Re-use Network:
Established in 1989 The Furniture Re-use Network (FRN) is the national co-ordinating body for 400 furniture and appliance re-use and recycling organisations in the UK that collect a wide range of household items to pass onto people in need. The FRN promotes the re-use of unwanted furniture and household effects for the alleviation of need, hardship, distress and poverty. 2 million items per year are re-used and passed onto low income families. 85,000 tonnes of waste is diverted from landfill and 3000 people are working in the UK to collect and deliver furniture and appliances.
