Renfrewshire Council

If you have an electrical item that is still in good working condition, consider the following options:

Sell or donate

• Ask family and friends if they would like your unwanted electricals - it could be just what they are looking for.
• Look out for local swapping events - you might even bag yourself a bargain in return!
• Sell locally at car boot, nearly new and bring and buy sales
• Put an ad in your local newspaper or shop window
• Some shops such as Cash Converters and CeX buy electrical or electronic items, especially if you have the original box and instructions etc. 
• Electrical items can be donated to some charity shops or furniture re-use organisations - many offer collection services

Why not call our partners at local charity collection Project Oskar? They will come and collect your items so that they can be re-used within the Renfrewshire community. Call them on 0141 847 6626 or visit the Oskar's website for a full list of what they collect. All items donated are cleaned or refurbished before displaying them for sale at 55 Clark Street, Paisley, PA3 1QS.

You can call the National Re-use Phoneline to donate your electrical items on 0800 0665 820.

Pass on items for free at places such as Freecycle and Freegle

Search online for companies that will exchange old electrical items for cash, for example Music Magpie.

Or sell them on websites like eBay, Gumtree and Preloved.

If the item is broken

A simple repair could give an item a new lease of life and save you money too - especially on those more expensive electrical items. 

Check online for advice on how to make repairs yourself or to check whether it might be a simple and cheap repair for an expert to do. For example, www.espares.co.uk and www.ifixit.com offer free information for repairing a range of electrical items.

How do I recycle it?

It's easy to check if an electrical item, toy or game is recyclable.  Simply ask the following questions:

• Does it have a plug?
• Does it use batteries?
• Does it need charging?
• Does it have a picture of a crossed out wheelie bin on it?

If you answer yes to any of these, it can be recycled.