If you have unwanted or broken electrical items you can :
1. Donate or sell them
The best thing you can do with unwanted electricals that are in good working condition is give them a second life by:
- donating them to a charity shop
- gifting them to family or friends
- selling them online and making some money back
2. Visit a repair café
Before you give up on a broken household item, try one of Cornwall’s repair cafés.
Repair cafés are a wonderful way of making your things last longer so you get your money’s worth and reduce your waste.
They can also be fun, social events that are great for connecting with your community and learning useful new skills.
3. Recycle them at a Household Waste and Recycling Centre (HWRC)
Unwanted electricals that you can’t donate, sell or repair can be recycled at your HWRC. Recycling centres can take:
- kettles and other kitchen appliances
- DVD players
- old computers and laptops
- digital cameras
- electric toothbrushes
- mobile phones
- children’s electronic toys
- batteries and vapes
Not sure if something can be recycled or not? Visit our recycling A-Z - a useful tool that allows you to search for items to see if, where and how they can be recycled.
Visit our recycling A-ZBatteries
The average household in Cornwall throws away about 20 batteries a year. That adds up to about 5.35 million batteries thrown away in total, at a weight of 123 tonnes.
You should never throw batteries in your rubbish bin. They have started fires in our collection vehicles.
Instead you should:
- Reduce: where possible, choose rechargeable devices that don’t need batteries
- Recharge: consider using rechargeable batteries instead of single use ones
- Recycle: collect batteries in a container at home and, once full, take to a HWRC or supermarket battery recycling point