While we should all automatically be recycling, if you need a little more incentive then we explain how you can earn money from recycling.
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As a child I remember my friends and I scouring the fringes of parks looking for discarded glass bottles (this being the age when drinks were only sold in glass bottles). Gathering up our treasure, we would take it to the nearest corner shop to hand in, and for each bottle returned, we would be given a few pence, which would then be spent on sweets. Those bottles would then be cleaned up and reused by the drinks manufacturer. Unfortunately, this early form of recycling was soon dropped as glass bottles were replaced with plastic. But now recycling is back in a big way and, just as was the case all those aeons ago when I was a child, for some items that ordinarily you might have just thrown in the bin, you can now get paid to recycle them.
The quantities are mind-blowing. Worldwide, every year 22 billion pairs of shoes, 5.3 billion mobile phones and 92 million tonnes of clothing gets thrown into landfill. The UK isn’t great at recycling. In 2020 only 44.4 per cent of household consumer waste was recycled. But, by recycling as much as we can we are helping to prevent plastic from ending up in oceans, reducing the amount of rubbish in landfills, reducing our carbon emissions and saving ourselves money.
Here are some unexpected ways of making or saving money on those items you no longer want.
Mobile phones
With 62 million metric tonnes produced in 2022, e-waste is one of the fastest-growing sources of waste in the world. Old mobile phones are one of the major contributors to this growing digital pi,e but by selling your old phone to a specialist phone recycling company such as Reboxed or Giff Gaff you’ll not just lessen the pressure on the environment but earn a bit of money as well. These companies will clear your phone of all your personal data (though for extra security you should also delete everything off the phone before posting it to them), before refurbishing it and then selling it. If your phone is so far gone that it simply can’t be resold then they will probably still buy it from you because the precious metals and components within the phone can be extracted and reused.
Laptops, tablets and other digital items
Falling, like mobile phones, squarely into the e-waste category, most other digital items can also be recycled for financial benefit to you. Highstreet electronics shop, Currys won’t actually buy your old tablet, laptop or gaming console off you but they will give you a gift voucher to go towards your next purchase at Currys. If your digital item isn’t in good enough condition for Currys to want to buy and resell then they will still recycle it for you and give a standard UK £5 voucher. As with a mobile phone, ensure all personal data is wiped before handing it over.
Printer ink cartridges
Made of a combination of different materials, printer ink cartridges are notoriously difficult to recycle and so millions of empty cartridges end up in landfill sites every year. But, The Recycling Factory specialises in recycling ink cartridges. Order one of their recycling boxes and once you’ve filled it with 50 empty cartridges post it off to them and they’ll pay money straight into your bank account.
Aluminium cans
Although tin cans can be recycled at any recycling centre it’s also possible to get money for recycling them. Metal recycling centres will actually pay a small amount for all aluminium cans brought in. Most cans of drink are aluminium, but to be sure look for the ALU symbol or put a magnet against it. If the magnet sticks then the can isn’t aluminium.
Cosmetic packaging
Beauty product packaging is often hard to recycle but Lush, l’Occitane and John Lewis will all take your old cosmetics packaging in exchange for a discount or voucher on future products.
Shoes and clothes
Every year, an ocean of shoes and clothing is simply thrown into a landfill, but in many cases, you could sell these items for cash on sites such as eBay. John Lewis also offer a trade-in scheme for old clothes. Bring last season’s fashion in, and they’ll give you a voucher or discount on next season’s fashion. The same goes with shoes, except that in this case, the best option is to take old shoes into a Schuh shop for recycling, and they’ll give you a voucher to be used against your next pair of shoes.
General packaging
Bower is an app that gives you money for almost every kind of packaging that you recycle. You don’t need to take your packaging to a particular recycle point. Instead, you simply use the app to scan the bar code on your packaging and then put it into your normal recycling bin at home. For each item scanned you will receive a small payment.
Arts and crafts items
It’s not really recycling in the classic sense but websites such as ebay can be used to sell all sorts of unwanted items with people paying for some wholly unexpected items such as wine corks, toilet rolls and glass bottles, all of which are much in demand for many handicraft and art projects.
Finally, in 2025, a UK-wide government-run recycling scheme for plastic and aluminium drinks containers is likely to be launched. By taking these items to a designated recycling machine, you will receive a small payment. While this might remind me of a more 21st-century version of my childhood, the scheme won’t, bizarrely, include glass bottles.
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