Archive Website of the UK government

The wider issue

Running electrical equipment is one of the biggest uses of electricity in most homes, so it adds to climate change and your bills.

The average person in the UK throws away more than 3.3 tonnes of electrical waste in their lifetime. If this is not disposed of carefully or recycled, chemicals can leak into the environment and harm wildlife or contaminate water. Valuable metals like gold, copper, aluminium and iron will also be wasted.

• Resource use and wastage

• Electrical equipment: reuse and disposal

Cut energy used by electrical equipment

You can save money and cut CO2 emissions by buying energy-efficient electrical equipment and taking care not to waste energy.

Buy energy efficient products

The following tips can help you choose energy saving electrical equipment:

• choose the smallest product that fits your needs - smaller products usually use less electricity than bigger ones of the same type
• look for the EU energy label, which rates appliances on an energy efficiency scale and shows how much energy they use
• choose energy efficient computer equipment, for example laptops which use about one-sixth of the energy of a desktop computer while running
• look for the Energy Saving Trust Recommended label, the Ecolabel or the Energy Star and TCO labels for IT equipment

Find out more about energy labels from the Energy Labels article.

• Find an Energy Saving Trust Recommended TV Opens new window

• Find Energy Star labelled products Opens new window

• TCO labelled products Opens new window

Save energy when using equipment

Energy is used by electrical items left on standby and by chargers left on at the plug but not connected to an appliance. You can save energy by:

• unplugging your chargers or switching them off at the socket when not in use
• turning off TVs and other equipment at the set or plug, not by using the remote control
• turning your monitor off when you leave your computer
• using energy saving settings on your computer

• Turn on energy saving settings (power management) on your computer Opens new window

Keep equipment longer, reuse and recycle

If you are thinking of throwing away an electrical item:

• consider keeping equipment like your mobile phone or computer for longer, which can save you money, save energy and cut waste
• pass on unwanted items for reuse - over half of electronic items thrown away are still working or could easily be fixed

If you do need to dispose of electrical items, make sure they are recycled safely and do not put them with household rubbish.

Follow the link below for practical information on making equipment last longer, passing on equipment for reuse and safe disposal.

• Electrical equipment: reuse and disposal

Use fewer batteries

Every year, 25-30,000 tonnes of portable batteries are thrown away. You can help save raw materials and energy by using fewer batteries and recycling them when they are spent. It's important to recycle batteries as they can contain valuable metals. Some also contain harmful chemicals like lead and mercury which can leak into the ground. To reduce your battery use you could try:

• plugging gadgets into the mains while using them
• using rechargeable batteries when you can, so fewer batteries are thrown away
• recycling used batteries where possible - use the link below to find out where there is a recycling point close to you
• buying wind-up or solar gadgets like radios and torches, so you can do without batteries altogether

• Recycling batteries

• Find out where to recycle batteries Opens new window

More useful links

• RecycleNow Opens new window

• Energy Saving Trust (EST) Opens new window

• The European Ecolabel Opens new window

• Safe computer use (employment section)

Useful contacts

• Environment and Greener Living contacts