The drawer of dead phones: getting rid of electricals on the Isle of Wight

The problem is the drawer, not the bin

When people think about electrical waste, they picture a television dumped in a lay-by. The bigger story is quieter. In 2024, Material Focus, the not-for-profit that runs the Recycle Your Electricals campaign, estimated that UK households are holding on to 880 million unused electrical items, about 30 per household and up from 20 four years earlier.

You probably know where yours are. The phone from two upgrades ago, kept "in case". A tablet with a cracked screen. Chargers for devices you no longer own. A laptop in the loft that might have photos on it. A food mixer, an electric toothbrush, a set of fairy lights with one dead bulb.

Kept, they're not doing harm, just taking space. The harm comes when the clear-out finally happens in a hurry and they go in the general waste bin.

Why electricals don't go in the wheelie bin

Two reasons: what's inside them, and what happens to the bin bag next.

Electricals contain metals and materials that can be recovered, and some that are harmful if they're not handled properly. The crossed-out wheelie bin symbol on a product or its box means exactly that: not in the household bin.

The more immediate problem is batteries. Lithium batteries are built into phones, toothbrushes, headphones, toys and vapes, and when they're crushed in the back of a bin lorry or punctured on a sorting line they can catch fire. Material Focus reported that battery fires in bin lorries and waste sites had passed 1,200 a year, up from 700 in 2022. On the Island, general waste goes through the Forest Park plant in Newport before it's burnt for energy, so a hidden battery in a bin bag goes through a compacting lorry and a sorting line with people working beside it.

Before anything leaves the house: wipe it

If it stored your data, clear it before it goes, whether it's going to a charity shop, a buyer or the tip.

The National Cyber Security Centre's advice on selling, donating or recycling devices is simple:

1. Back up anything you want to keep: photos, contacts, documents.
2. Make a note of your accounts. You may be signed in to things without remembering the passwords. If the device controls smart devices such as cameras or thermostats, set up another way to manage them first.
3. Use the built-in reset. On phones and tablets that is "Erase all content and settings" or "Factory reset". The steps vary, so check the manufacturer's instructions.
4. Remove SIM and memory cards.

The NCSC also points out that smart TVs, fitness trackers, speakers and games consoles hold personal information too. Reset those as well.

Old laptops and computers are worth extra thought. If you can't get one to start, keep the hard drive or ask whoever takes it how the data will be destroyed.

Four ways out, in order of preference

1. Reuse it on the Island

A working kettle, lamp, microwave or TV is far more useful in someone's kitchen than in a recycling skip. The Island has more outlets than people realise.

• The British Heart Foundation Home Store at 18a High Street, Newport, sells furniture and electricals and offers free collection of both.
• The Mountbatten Warehouse and Donation Centre at Riverway in Newport sells electricals alongside furniture. Check before you go: Mountbatten doesn't accept cookers, microwaves, oil heaters or broken items.
• The council runs a free reuse collection for undamaged, working furniture and items such as TVs. Items judged unsuitable on the day aren't taken.
• At both tips, the "Think Before You Throw" reuse points take working electricals in usable condition.

Give a charity the best chance of selling it: take the cable, remote and any parts with it, and be honest if something is temperamental.

2. Hand it back to a shop

Retailers have legal duties here that most people never use. Under the WEEE rules, a shop that sells electricals must offer to take back your old item when you buy a new one of the same type. It applies whatever brand the old one is and wherever you bought it, and you must have at least 28 days to bring it in. Items with the same function count, so an old video player can go back when you buy a DVD player.

Larger stores go further. A shop with more than 400 square metres of electrical sales area must take back very small items, under 25 cm on their longest side, free from anyone, whether you buy something or not. That covers phones, chargers, hairdryers, electric toothbrushes and most of the kitchen drawer. Shops that belong to the national Distributor Take-back Scheme are exempt from that small-items duty, so if a store says no, the tip is your route.

Delivery collections are different. In-store take-back must be free, but a retailer can charge for transport if it collects your old appliance from home, so ask when you order a new washing machine or fridge.

3. Take it to the tip

Both Lynnbottom (Newport) and Afton Marsh (Freshwater) accept electrical waste. Fridges, freezers, dishwashers and cookers are taken if you can unload them yourself; staff can't help, except for disabled visitors who ask.

The practical rules:

• Every visit must be booked, in a 15-minute slot, by 01983 823777 or online. Turn up without a booking reference and you may be turned away.
• Opening days differ. Lynnbottom opens every day except Christmas Day, 10am to 6pm. Afton Marsh opens Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays only.
• Vans need a permit. Vans, pick-ups and most car-derived vans need a vehicle permit to use the household sites.

From the tip, electricals are stripped and sent off for recycling. Fridges and freezers are treated separately: GOV.UK lists equipment containing ozone-depleting substances, like fridges, as hazardous waste.

4. Get it collected

For big appliances you can't lift, two options remain. The council's bulky waste collection takes up to four items for £62, including kitchen appliances, but only from the kerb, which has to be by 7am, and fridges and freezers must be clean, empty and defrosted. It won't collect anything from inside the house or garage.

Otherwise a licensed collection can carry it out for you. Our white goods disposal service covers fridges, freezers, washing machines and cookers, and e-waste disposal covers TVs, computers and boxes of smaller electricals. On a bigger house clearance the electricals are separated from the rest of the load so they go down the right route.

Batteries and vapes: the small things that cause big fires

Batteries are one of several things the tips treat as hazardous; our guide to hazardous household waste covers the rest, from paint to gas bottles.

Loose batteries have their own kerbside route on the Island. Put them in a small clear bag on top of your general waste bin on collection day, and they're collected separately because batteries are a fire risk if crushed. Car batteries go to the tip.

Batteries inside devices stay in the device. Don't try to prise them out of phones, laptops or power tools; take the whole item to the tip or a shop.

Vapes catch people out. The Isle of Wight Council asks residents not to use the kerbside battery collection for vapes. They count as small electricals and go in the electricals skips at the tip. The sale of single-use vapes was banned from 1 June 2025, but shops that sell any vapes must still take back used vapes and vape parts for recycling, including old single-use ones. Don't take one apart yourself.

What to do with each item

The short version

Clear the drawer properly once and you won't have to think about it again. Wipe anything that held your data. Give working things to an Island charity or a reuse point. Take small dead items back to a big shop, or to Lynnbottom or Afton Marsh on a booked visit. Put loose batteries in the clear bag on bin day, and take vapes back to where they came from. And if the problem is a fridge in the garage and nobody to lift it, that's the bit to hand over.

Written by

Michael Shaw

Michael looks after marketing at Isle of Wight Rubbish Removal and has worked in rubbish removal full-time in the past.

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