You can recycle your small electrical items with our free collection service
Recycle Your Electricals
Recycle Your Electricals is a UK-wide campaign motivating and making it easier for everyone to reuse and recycle unwanted Electricals. The advert, which can be seen below, forms part of Recycling Your Electricals's behaviour change campaign, which aims to reduce the 155,000 tonnes of small Electricals discarded every year.
When will the small electrical item recycling collections start?
From Monday 27 February, we will be gradually rolling out small electrical items collections as part of your rubbish and recycling collection. Our crews will place a hanger on your bin the week before collections start in your area to notify you collections are starting in your area.
How will I be able to recycle my small electrical items?
When you receive a hanger on your bin advising that small electrical collections will be staring in your area, the week before collections commence. Once you receive this hanger you will be able to put out your small electrical items out on your normal collection day the following week. They will need to be placed inside a loosely tied-up standard size supermarket carrier bag and will be collected weekly with either your grey or green bin. We have limited space on our collection vehicles, so we kindly ask you to follow a 'little and often' approach. If items are not collected due to lack of space on the vehicle, please take them back in and put them out the following week.
How frequently will you be collecting small electrical items?
When you receive the hanger on your bin advising that small electrical collections will be staring in your area, you will be able to put out your small electrical items out the following week. Collections will then be weekly.
What size electrical items can I put out to be recycled?
We can accept items up to the size of a two-slice toaster. They must be presented inside a loosely tied-up standard size supermarket carrier bag, on top of either your grey or green bin on collection day.
All batteries must be removed where possible before disposal with the exception of products such as laptops, mobile phones, electric toothbrushes and tablets with lithium batteries built into them.
What electrical items will you take?
We can take and recycle the following electrical items:
- Blenders
- Calculators
- Cameras
- Chargers
- Clippers
- Clocks
- Coffee grinders
- Coffee machines
- Curlers
- Drills
- Small DVD players
- Electrical cables
- Electric and battery-powered toys
- Electric scales
- Electric shavers
- Electric toothbrushes (leave battery in)
- Electric whisks
- Extension leads
- Small Fans
- Games consoles and controllers
- Grinders
- Hair dryers
- Hair straighteners
- Hand-held hoovers
- Hi-Fi equipment
- Impact drivers
- Irons
- Juicers
- Kettles
- Keyboards and mice
- Small Lamp(light bulbs removed)
- Laptops (leave battery in)
- Light switches
- Mains sockets
- Mobile phones (leave battery in)
- Printers (without ink cartridges or toners)
- Radios
- Remote controls
- Routers
- Sanders
- Sandwich makers
- Set top boxes
- Soldering irons
- Tablets (leave battery in)
- Telephones
- Thermostats
- Two slice toasters
- Vapes and disposable vapes
- VHS players
- Watches
Please note, this is not a complete list.
We will accept accompanying cables, please remember to remove any non-lithium batteries and place these in a separate loosely tied-up freezer bag.
We have limited space on our collection vehicles, so we kindly ask you to follow a 'little and often' approach. If items are not collected due to lack of space on the vehicle, please take them back in and put them out the following week.
What electrical items will you not take?
We cannot take the following:
- Anything bigger than a two-slice toaster
- Anything sharp i.e., electric knife
- Cookers
- Desktop computers
- Large white goods
- Microwaves Ovens
- Televisions
- Vacuum cleaners
What do I do with larger electrical items?
If you have electric items that are larger than a two-slice toaster, you can visit your local recycling centre: Find your local recycling centre or rubbish tip - Norfolk County Council
You can also book a bulky waste collection by calling 0330 1099 220 or emailing norfolkwaste@serco.com.
Please ensure that small electronics that are left for collection adhere to our size guidelines.
What if the battery of my small electrical item cannot be removed?
For electrical items such as laptops, tablets, mobile phones and electric toothbrushes, we're able to collect them with the batteries still inside.
What if my small electrical item is still in working condition?
If your small electrical items are still working and could be used by someone else, please consider donating it to a charity shop as we really only want to that are at the end of their usable life.
What if my small electrical item is still in good condition and just needs a service?
Please consider donating these items to a reuse cafe or donate them as we only want items that are at the end of their usable life.
Why is it important to recycle my electrical items and batteries?
If your electrical item is at the end of its life and there is no way to reuse it, the next best thing is to recycle the valuable plastics and metals that make up the product. With the declining supply of natural resources, it's important that we all recycle these valuable materials.
How will the electrical items collected be recycled?
Once your items have reached the waste facility, they'll be sorted based on their size and shape properties. Contaminant materials will be removed, which involves extra time and resources, and the remaining items will be sorted based on material - glass, cans, etc. Materials are then recycled and repurposed into a variety of different products. For example, aluminium and steel into new cans or car parts, glass into bottles or windows, and so on.
Material processing information from our suppliers here
How many bags of small electrical items can I leave out?
There is limited space on the vehicles so we would ask you to place your items out 'little and often. This means we will only be able to take one small standard size supermarket carrier bag of small electrical items at a time. If items are not collected due to lack of space on the vehicle, please take them back in and put them out the following week.
What if all my items won't fit in a small bag?
Following the 'little and often' approach, please save items that do not fit in a single carrier bag for the next collection.
What if I have a sack collection?
At the moment this service is only available for properties that have a wheelie bin, but we are working hard to find a solution so we can offer the service to all our residents. You can still recycle small electrical items at your local Reuse and Recycling Centre, or for larger items you can use our bulky waste collection service.
What if I live in a flat and have my waste and recycling collection in large bins?
We're currently unable to provide kerbside collection of small electrical items to properties with large, shared bins. You can recycle small electrical items at your local Reuse and Recycling Centre, or for larger items you can use our bulky waste collection service