Electrical and hazardous waste: where can you take it?

Electrical waste is discarded electrical and electronic equipment: anything that used a plug, cable or battery. This includes fridges, washing machines and other large appliances, televisions and monitors, computers, phones, small kitchen appliances, power tools, battery-powered toys, light bulbs and fluorescent tubes. Even a small kettle or charger is electrical waste.

The equipment contains valuable materials such as copper, aluminium and precious metals, but also harmful substances, including refrigerants in old fridges and mercury in fluorescent tubes. The law therefore requires it to go to specialist treatment facilities rather than landfill. Separate collection of household electrical waste is free; equipment manufacturers and distributors fund the system.

There are several convenient routes, all free of charge:

• A shop when buying new equipment: when you buy a new appliance, you may return an old one of the same type. The shop must accept it, including when the new appliance is delivered to your home.
• A shop without making a purchase: shops larger than 400 m² that sell electrical equipment accept small electrical items up to 25 cm without requiring you to buy a new product.
• PSZOK: the municipal selective waste collection point accepts equipment of every size, from headphones to a fridge. Read more in the guide to bulky waste.
• Mobile collections and collection on request: many municipalities run periodic electrical-waste collections or collect large appliances with bulky waste after you book.

Hazardous waste contains substances harmful to health or the environment. In a typical home this includes:

• Leftover paint, varnish and solvents, together with their containers.
• Pesticides and household chemicals: plant-protection products, strong cleaning products and drain cleaners.
• Engine oil and used oil, car batteries and vehicle fluids.
• Batteries and rechargeable batteries, including those from toys, tools and e-cigarettes.
• Fluorescent tubes and energy-saving lamps containing mercury.
• Expired medicines and mercury thermometers.

PSZOK points accept all these waste streams, while shops accept some of them too. Transport hazardous waste in its original container where possible, tightly closed and upright. Never mix different chemicals in one container, because the resulting reaction may be more dangerous than the waste itself.

Three waste streams have convenient collection routes outside PSZOK. Expired medicines can be taken to almost any pharmacy, where dedicated collection bins are available free of charge and without paperwork. Batteries are collected by grocery and electrical shops, schools and public offices; their collection boxes are usually near the entrance. Fluorescent tubes are accepted by lighting shops, DIY stores and PSZOK points. Take care not to break them, as they release mercury.

It helps to keep a small box for these items at home and take them out when you go shopping. That removes the temptation to put them in the ordinary bin “just this once”; these small exceptions account for much of the contamination in municipal waste.

A lithium battery in a mixed-waste bin is a concrete danger. It can be damaged when the waste is compacted in a collection vehicle, ignite and set fire to the whole load. Such fires occur regularly in vehicles and sorting plants. Chemical residues and oils poured down a drain or put in a bin can eventually reach groundwater and soil, and from there return to food and drinking water.

There is also a financial consequence. A municipality may apply a higher charge for heavily contaminated recycling, and the collection company may leave the bin unemptied. Since households can dispose of electrical and hazardous waste free of charge, the practical challenge is remembering the date of a mobile collection. BinMinder can send a free reminder alongside collection dates for other waste streams.