To have thrown a bunch of smashed up old mobile phones in the bin

Your ignorance is astounding

Yup over 1200 of those fires recorded in 2024 it’ll be higher for 2025. A cost of many millions I’m sure. Everyone pays for that via their council tax bill.

I mean, the OP’s replies are all very flippant and all, but fires in refuse lorries and waste sorting centres aren’t.

Why would people care about your data security when you couldn’t give two shits for the environment?

So you've never ever received any tech by post, with warning notices on the address label about the package containing lithium batteries?

I don't believe you. Most people actually DO recycle batteries ( and mobile phones come to that).1

No, you have to raise a "ticket" and in the past I've not had good responses from the waste team. Used to be waste blowing around the street every week after they had been but complaining didn't help. Better to stop looking out the window! Honestly I'll do my bit and then they can do their bit.

🤣🤣🤣

Could you sound anymore obnoxious?

mo fucking song & dance, just put batteries in a bag, drop them off at the supermarket.when the bag is full (take the bag home to reuse)

easy

Stop being so fucking lazy & entitled.

i think you're just enjoying all the attention.

Grow up

Does your rock have an address?

Same! I recently saw a local town having an IT amnesty where you can hand stuff in at the town hall and they wipe your data then recycle. Think I'll take all my devices there.

Probably happens regularly everywhere?

(But I do recycle my batteries and take electrical stuff to the tip....😀)

Surely everyone knows you never put batteries in the bin. This isn't new. 😬

There is no Planet B.🌍

Fucking he'll, even if you don't care about the waste of finite resources or generally being environmentally careful, do you really not care about the people whose faces they could blow up in?

grow the fuck up

Anyone responsible recycles them. Not just because it's GREEN, but because it's dangerous!

why is it too late to get the out the bin you put them in?

I'm amazed. Never knew you couldn't put batteries in the bin. Must have loose batteries floating round in about six drawers around my house and didn't know that was an issue either. How do people find out this stuff?? I'm absolutely paranoid about keeping the button batteries away from young children so some public service information gets through but I've never seen anything about batteries. Or toasters, is it not really awkward rocking up at curries with a broken toaster and asking if they want it for recycling? I'm another person who thought i was relatively smart and sensible but clearly not. Maybe we need a thread with this sort of useful life stuff as how do you know what you don't know

You've likely started a few fires then

Yes you are probably right about Chat GTP. I do find it depends how you ask, what answer you get.

Just off to look at the Council website now and will be fishing the soup maker out of the bin tomorrow! I have a printer that ill need a tip run at some point so having both might motivate me to go (maybe I can find some other stuff as well). I have had my dead printer about 4 years though waiting for me to remember it exists and do something about it.

I have seen battery recycling bins in supermarkets but rarely go and when I do it's never planned. I do all my big shops online. I wonder if the Tesco Express or Co-Op Local do it. I haven't noticed but will check.

I am realising I have been a bit crap of late. I used to recycle plastic before we were able to recycle at home by driving it to a supermarket car park bin. When recycling first came in, it was just glass, cardboard and cans (I think).

@Scarlettpixie I would not ask ChatGPT as it is likely to make something up.

Look on your council's website to see if they have anything set up for kerbside collection.

If they don't, then ask staff at your local shops which sell electrical items. Legally they must take items back for recycling, even if they don't sell the exact item, as long as they sell something vaguely like it. They can be pedantic if they want but I find generally if they accept electrical items they don't care what it is as long as it's a reasonable size, not a microwave or something.

in the uk, any shop that sells batteries must provide recycling facilities. for batteries,your local supermarket, maybe the newsagents, and so on, its easy enough to drop them off.

Love this response. I think much of modern day life is a search for meaning, existential therapy aims to help with this. Hadn’t considered recycling in this context but who knows? Green is the new God . . .

Same here. I thought it was just for environmental reasons the same as recycling anything. I am amazed at the responses on this thread.

There isn't anywhere near me for recycling batteries or small appliances. There used to be one in my workplace for batteries which I did use, but I work mainly from home now. I have been known to chuck both batteries and toasters, kettles and most recently a soup maker in the general waste bin!

I used to save up tetra packs and drive them to a collection point in a supermarket car park but then they got rid of the bins so for a while they went in the general waste bin. They have now said we can put them in the general recycling bin which I now of course do.

I now understand that batteries could create a fire risk (hadn't thought of that) so I will start saving them up again. I don't really want to have to drive to the recycling centre about 10 miles away though everytime I have something electrical. Making a special trip in the car to recycle seems to cancel out at least to some extent the positive effects of the recycling you are doing.

I have been looking at the legislation quoted and can't see where there is a huge amount of responsibility placed on household users. If our bin collection team noticed something in the wrong bin, I am sure they would just put a sticker on your bin or a leaflet though. I will read some more of the thread though to see if this is any clearer (and might as Chat GPT).

I also have a bunch of old tech taking up space because I daren't get rid because of data concerns. I would be even more worried about this if I were handing it over to a person at a recycling centre or drop of point purely for electricals rather than hyperthetically burying it amongst a load of general waste where it is much more unlikely to be found.

As usual there are people frothing about recycling (excluding the fire risk part), who no doubt use cleaing wipes, single use plastics, drive a gas guzzler, take frequent or long haul flights and eat meat and dairy. I don't do any of those things.

I am curious what my friends and family do and will ask.

Ours are collected on a Sunday too. I get woken up and never get a long lie on a Sunday.

yes, should have been clearer, they don't have to have a box but they do have to accept batteries, most do have boxes though

They sometimes have a box in shops, but not always. I took something back to the equivalent of Curry's and couldn't find one and ended up handing it over at the customer services desk, they took it OK.