Recycling Electrical, Electronic and White Goods


			Recycle your Electrical, Electronic and White Goods

Safe recycling of White Goods and other Electrical, Electronic and IT Goods is an international priority

In today's societies White Goods, the larger Electrical and Electronic Goods and IT equipment are ubiquitous. Generally speaking their lives are finite and improved versions are released frequently. As a result they are replaced regularly and that means a lot of waste is generated. Unfortunately much electrical waste can be dangerous if it is indirectly released into the environment. Normally they contain substantial amounts of metals (which are toxic in varying degrees) and some items such as refrigerators can contain fluoride gases which have been the main culprits in ozone depletion. Some are quite bulky, for example White Goods, and if dumped, soon take up available, expensive space in landfill sites. The problems have been recognised and international directives calling for the mandatory recycling of electrical and electronic goods now exist (for example see our reference to WEEE below). Recycling can take the form of recovery of the basic materials for new manufacturing or, in some cases, goods can be refurbished for reuse. The range of goods is very wide, from the giant fridge-freezers at the upper extreme down to the handheld gadgets which proliferate. We have categorised various types which can be identified in the menu to the left, and this page concentrates on the larger electrical and electronic goods including white goods.

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Electrical and White Goods Index
General Electrical/Electronic Goods	White Goods

WEEE is referenced several times on this page. WEEE stands for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment; for our reference summary of WEEE click here

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General Electrical and Electronic

The following lists identify some organisations which can recycle electrical and electronic waste, often providing assurance of safe disposal. The latter feature has become more important since the European WEEE directive has been introduced. In many cases the firms work in conjunction with other environmental or charitable concerns.

It is worth noting that all shops selling electrical products covered by the WEEE Directive must help their customers to recycle old electrical goods for free, e.g. by taking back old products in-store when they buy an equivalent replacement electrical item, or subsidising an alternative recycling service for customers, like a local council recycling facility.

The Applegate Directory is for the electronics, engineering, plastics and rubber industry sectors in the UK and Ireland. You can advertise in the Directories to promote your business

CCL North provide secure WEEE and IT hardware recycling services for Corporate, Educational and Government bodies in UK & Ireland, specialising in recycling and environmental disposal of old and unwanted electronic and electrical equipment including: computers, laptops, keyboards, cables, UPS, routers, modems, monitors, mobiles, telephones, fridges/freezers, network and telecom equipment, fluorescent tubes and batteries.

Currys state that they offer free recycling of most electrical appliances if you take them to their stores or when you have your new appliance delivered and that you do not need to have purchased new equipment to be able to recycle your old appliances, see theri site for details.

Euro Electronic Services specialise in refurbishment of small electronic assemblies. They dispose of surplus equipment (electronic/mechanical) and refurbish serviceable equipment; all equipment disposal complies with WEEE.

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General Electrical and Electronic continued

The Industry Council for Electronic Equipment Recycling Ltd (ICER) is a non-profit association for the electronics industry. It provides information exchange, research involving life cycle assessment through equipment design and content, aiding preparation for the EU WEEE directive. They are a major information source on the WEEE, RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) and EuP (Energy-using Products) directives

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) now incorporates the International Association of Electronics Recyclers, Inc. (IAER). Although US, claims it is the electronics recycling industry's only trade association, promoting environmental quality and regulatory compliance standards

Mann Organisation recycles end of life electronic equipment and reclaims metals, plastics, and other recoverable materials for sale and reuse.

Precious Metal Recovery aim to provide cost effective and environmentally sound global recycling solutions, for excess and obsolete equipment and new components from Original Electronics Manufacturers (OEMs).

Pure Planet Recycling offers WEEE recycling of all Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment: large & small household appliances; IT, telecoms, consumer, lighting equipment; electrical & electronic tools; toys; leisure & sports equipment; medical devices; fluorescent tubes.

Recycling4you Limited offer businesses and organisations a single solution for collection of all electrical equipment, IT Computer equipment and refrigeration; this is all handled and recycled in the UK with zero land fill.

S2S Lifecycle Services provide services from decommissioning of IT equipment, refurbishment, re-sale, end of life recycling, secure data destruction and WEEE services; equipment includes: computers, monitors, mobiles, telecoms, UPS, medical, games & vending machines.

Sims Recycling Solutions, a multi-national recycling company for WEEE, collect UK wide and refurbish where possible; if not material is processed in their own WEEE recycling plants. They can recycle all WEEE, fridges, IT equipment, CRTs, base units, keyboards, mice, Audio Visual. 99% of materials recovered from end of life equipment including plastics and glass.

Surplex collect and recycle all types of electronic waste including redundant computer/IT, audio, photographic and communications equipment, plus secure mobile phone, PDA and Blackberry recycling, at competitive cost. Equipment is recycled/re-used in accordance with WEEE and not exported.

SWEEEP Ltd (Specialist WEEE Processing) has invested heavily in the latest recycling plant and is capable of processing over 10 Tonnes of mixed WEEE per hour, including CRT screens. They are able to exceed WEEE directive recovery targets and make WEEE recycling cheaper for their customers.

WasteCare are a recycling company specialising in hazardous and “difficult” non-hazardous waste including a wide range of electrical and IT equipment recycling throughout the UK in accordance with the WEEE directive.

Waste Online provide an information sheet about Electrical and electronic equipment recycling, including telecom, video/sound, IT, large household appliances. Lots of other information is available on the site.

Waste Watch provide information about recycling, reuse and recovery of electronics equipment, environmental implications, legislation and WEEE, various initiatives, what you can to, contacts etc.

Which? give useful information about how and where to recycle electrical items, on-line and in the Feb 2010 issue. They have a product recycling tool and state how the WEEE Directive means retailers should contribute to the costs of recycling electrical items.

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White Goods

White Goods are large domestic electrical appliances like cookers, washing machines, fridges and freezers. Despite the name they don't have to be white; they can be brown, black or silver in practice. According to the DTI up to 350,000 tonnes of white goods are discarded in the UK each year. Although over 75% of these are profitably recycled, there is a growing demand for refurbished appliances and a number of organisations collect, refurbish and sell such items. Also, some of the organisations in the General Electrical Recycling section above recycle fridges, freezers and other white goods.
Many local council web sites provide constructive information on recycling of white goods.

ASM are a specialised fridge recycling contractor offering legal collection and disposal of fridges to householders, local authorities or commercial outlets.

Bath & North East Somerset Council says if you are unable to take your old fridges/freezers to the Recycling Centre for disposal, they can be picked up from your home. They work with The Sofa Project. Search for Fridges .

The BIS 'Unwanted White Goods: A Guide to Reuse' is intended to provide help, advice and information for organisations or individuals to dispose of their old white goods in a socially responsible way. For a summary, click here

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CREATE (Community Recycling Enterprise and Training for Employment) charitable trust collects, refurbishes and then sells discarded white goods, eg washing machines, cookers, fridges etc. CREATE helps reintroduce long term unemployed people back to the workplace

European Metal Recycling (EMR) provide a facility for a secure, cost effective recycling route for old fridges and information to local authorities etc

Greener World collects all white goods (fridges etc) as well as fluorescent tubes and bulbs, waste paper, glass, drink cans, electrical equipment, etc from offices, hotels and restaurants in the London area

Hertfordshire's WasteAware Campaign tells you where and how you can recycle Fridges and Freezers if you live in or near this district

Manga-Fu operate a fully national electrical waste collection service including fridges, freezers and white goods. All refrigerants are specially treated to safely removes cfc’s or ozone damaging substances, maximising reuse of materials. Their operatives are specially trained in handling hazardous WEEE.

Recycle now has a section on recycling White Goods, including fridges, freezers, air-conditioners, cookers, washing machines and dishwashers. If you enter your postcode, they'll tell you where you can recycle these.

Recycling Expert has a section on recycling White Goods, including CFC's and the environment, refurbishing and reusing and safe disposal.

Recycling.co.uk operates nationally to provide a wide range of recycling activities to Local Authorities, commercial organisations and the public. There's a section on recycling White Goods.

SOFA Project is a Bristol-based charity which refurbishes and sells white goods (electrical appliances) and furniture to low income households in the surrounding area; they also collect donated items

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Page originated: 9 December, 2005, Last amended: 24 April, 2012

Recycle your Electrical, Electronic and White Goods