Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and batteries recycling collection
New from 7 April 2025
We can now collect small waste electrical and electronic equipment items and batteries from your home every week.
Please help our collection teams by following these guidelines:
- Place small electrical items on top of any bin or by your sacks on collection day (if you live in a flat please see information below)
- Place batteries into a small tied bag and leave it on top of any bin or by your sacks on collection day
- Do not place electrical items or batteries inside any bins
- Do not tie the bag to your bin
- Remove any batteries from the electrical items
Small electrical items you can recycle
Any small electrical or electronic item similar in size to the list below can be recycled, including mains or battery powered items.
Yes please
- Kettles, 2 slice toasters, irons and other small kitchen appliances
- Hairdryers, hair straighteners and hair clippers
- Clocks, watches, calculators and torches
- Remote controllers, cameras and chargers
- Mobile phones
- Radios, alarms, mini hi-fis and CD and MP3 players
- Small electronic toys, for example remote control cars
- Power tools, smoke detectors and thermostats
Please leave any cables and plugs attached to the electrical items. Remove all batteries from electrical items and place these with your other batteries in a small clear bag.
Space is very limited on the collection vehicles, therefore, we prefer it if you put the item out as it becomes unwanted and not store until you have several items. If large quantities of items are left out for collection it will be at the discretion of the collector and the space available on the truck as to whether they will all be collected.
Electrical items you can't recycle
No thanks
- Light bulbs, fluorescent tubes
- Lamps
- Televisions, laptops, computer monitors of any size
- Cookers, microwave ovens, air fryers
- Fridges and freezers, washing machines
- Glass or ceramic electrical items, such as slow cookers or glass kettles
- Vapes and e-cigarettes
If your item is too large it will not be collected. You can still recycle larger items at your local household recycling centre or check your local electrical retailer as many items can be returned to these free of charge.
Also see our reuse and repair page, and some of the larger items are covered under our chargeable bulky waste collection service.
Batteries
Most batteries you find in your home can be put out of collection, including single use and rechargeable.
Industrial and car batteries cannot be collected via this scheme. Car batteries can be disposed of at your local household recycling centre.
Batteries with trailing wires can also not be collected as part of this scheme.
How to put your batteries out for recycling
Batteries should be placed in a small clear tied bag, for example a sandwich bag, and placed of top of your bin lid. You could reuse an old empty bread bag. To reduce the risk of short circuiting, cover the contacts on lithium and button cell batteries with sticky tape.
How many batteries you should put out for recycling
To help make the scheme more efficient, please put at least 10 batteries out for collection. This helps reduce the risk of the bag blowing away in windy weather and reduces the use of plastic bags. Bags with fewer than 10 batteries will still be collected.
Why you shouldn't put electrical items or batteries into the green bin
Electrical items are stripped down to the component parts, for example metals and plastics, and require a specialist recycling process so cannot be recycled along with the contents of the green bin.
Batteries require a specialist recycling process so cannot be recycled along with the contents of the green bin or electrical items. Certain batteries also pose a fire risk and could cause a fire in the recycling.
Items should be placed on top of your bin
You should put items on your bin lid for collection. This helps with the collection process and ensures they are not accidentally missed by the crews.
You should place power leads and cables inside the item or wrap them around the item. Cables must not be left dangling from the item.
During windy weather don't put items out for collection in case they blow away, instead save them for your next collection.
Where the items go
Items will be taken back to the depot and collected by our disposal contractor who will send items off for recycling. Find out what happens to your recycling.
If your item hasn't been collected
If your item is too big there should be a sticker on it. You can still recycle larger items at your local household recycling centre or check your local electrical retailer as many items can be returned to these free of charge.
Alternatively, the separate space on the vehicle to put small electrical items may have filled up by the time we reached you. We apologise. Please check if your item is acceptable and put it out again next week if it is. We can collect these items on both your recycling and your general rubbish collection day.
If you live in a flat with shared bins
If you live in a flat and have shared bins, please do not leave your batteries or small electrical or electronic item on top of the bins for collection, as this may prevent other residents using the bins.
We are happy to work with your housing association or managing agent to agree the best collection location for small electrical items and batteries. Please discuss possible collection locations with them and complete our bulk bin enquiry form to let us know.