Spark a second life for your unwanted electricals

Anything with a plug, battery or cable can be reused or recycled. If you have electrical items sitting in cupboards, drawers or garages, now is a good time to give them a new spark by donating, repairing or recycling them responsibly.

This could include an old PC gathering dust in a cupboard, a tablet you have upgraded from, or a laptop that still works but is no longer needed. Some items may still be working, others may be repairable, and some may need to be recycled safely.

Reuse first

Before recycling or disposing of electricals correctly, if they are still in good condition, consider whether they could be donated to charity, sold or shared with neighbours or friends.

There are several charities where you can drop items off or book a collection. Find out where to donate unwanted items.

Repair where possible

Some items you no longer need could be useful to someone else. Getting an item repaired can help keep more electricals in use for longer, reduce waste and support local repair organisations.

You can take items to The Fixery, which is open Friday to Sunday from 11am to 4pm, or bring them along to a local repair café such as the monthly Twickenham repair café or Kew the Transition repair and share events.

New repair option at Townmead Road

If you’ve got unwanted electricals that need fixing but are still in good condition, bring them to Townmead Road, from where they will be collected by certified repairers who can fix them, ready for a new home. This gives suitable items another chance to be repaired and reused, rather than recycled or thrown away.

If you're donating devices such as laptops, tablets or mobile phones, you can do so with confidence. All repairs are carried out by Tfix and Action West London who are certified providers working to recognised industry standards. Any personal data stored on devices is securely wiped as part of the process before the item is reused.

Quality items will be assessed, repaired where possible, securely data-wiped where needed, and returned to the community through donation schemes or affordable resale. Please bring any cables and chargers that come with your device that you are getting repaired.

By getting quality items repaired, we can all:

• Keep valuable resources in use for longer
• Reduce waste and increase reuse
• Make affordable electrical items available to local people
• Support local repair businesses and skills development

You can take a wide range of small household electrical items, including:

• Laptops, tablets and PCs
• Mobile phones
• Small kitchen appliances
• Radios and audio equipment
• Games consoles and other small electronic devices
• Audio / stereo equipment

Lastly recycle

If your item cannot be reused or repaired, there are several options for recycling or disposing of electricals correctly.

If you receive kerbside recycling collections, you can recycle electricals through this service. Present used, broken and unwanted small electrical items next to your weekly mixed container black box collections, in a standard-size, open carrier bag. 

You can also recycle electricals at one of our 20 large pink community banks around the borough or recycle small electricals for free at 10 local libraries.

See more ways to recycle your electrical items.

You must never put electricals including batteries in household recycling and rubbish bins or community recycling banks as this can cause fires when damaged during collection and processing. Batteries should be taken to a dedicated battery recycling point. There are many across the borough, including most battery retailers and selected libraries.

To find your nearest battery recycling point and more information on how to recycle a wide range of household items, use our recycling A-Z guide.

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