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

This is good - they should all do this as clearly some people don’t know

They still operate round her using trucks, its a very useful service. Mostly they want metal as that is where the money is but they ours will take mixed component products. The advertise on local facebook groups and list their waste disposal licences so you know that the bits they can't use won't end up dumped somewhere.

Ok, I was about to defend you because I actually think councils do a terrible job of making it clear how serious batteries in the bin are.

BUT then you said this, so… 🙄

You’re not going to bother recycling them in the future???? Batteries are seriously nasty things - have you seen any that have got old and started to leak and gone all crusty and white? Imagine that in the environment!!

I’m going to invest in a horse and cart and go door to door collecting old electricals and batteries for recycling. I’ll shout ‘any old ions’ and call the horse Hercules.

(We did have a rag and bone man come round when I was a kid).

yeah that's unhelpful.....so not in shops where you live? I could see that being handy for stuff like vapes

Ah unfortunately not the case here The orange thing at the top is a rather stiff flap.

It's easy to destroy a laptop hard drive as long as you have the right screwdrivers to open it up - they often use the weird star shaped ones.

Take it out and physically damage it. The data will be unrecoverable.

If it's one of those small volunteer-run recycling places, they will probably happily open the laptop for you and allow you to take the hard drive out to keep it, destroy it or do whatever you like.

TBH though like others have said, unless you've secretly murdered a government agent and kept all the details on that laptop, you can get away with just formatting the hard drive, which you can do from the laptop itself if it still turns on. Only a data recovery expert would be able to get anything back from it after that and they won't bother unless you are someone with particularly interesting data.

Can confirm we recycle "this stuff" and it's pretty easy to do.

They can also cause fires in the waste plants during any sorting that might occur.

Pssst.......in all the supermarkets round me, the lid lifts off the recycling bin and you can dump them in en mass......

Where I live the council put a sticker on Every Single household blue recycling bin last year, which basically say 'Don't put batteries in your bin!!!'.

Every single blue bin. So clearly they are worried about it. Hopefully other councils will do similar and maybe it will reach your communal bins too.

I'm sure you're not the only one who is ignorant, but yes, putting batteries in the bin is rubbish, for environmental reasons and for safety (fire hazard!) reasons.

if they are really old ones with hard drives, you can unscrew the case and disinter the hard drive which can then be physically trashed. I have done this a couple of times in the past for myself and once for my deparment at work many many years ago when there was no IT department, yes I am that old. You may also be able to get an old computer going enough to use a wipe app on it, maybe by connecting it to another computer....have done this too.

I did grow up throwing used batteries and broken small electrical items in the bin, so I don't think it's completely outlandish that someone might have simply continued to do this and not realised that laws have changed.

I now think actually my mum was probably wrong to throw batteries in the bin as someone has posted a law from 1990 which definitely would have applied during my childhood. I don't remember saving used batteries for anything, though we did save up glass bottles and jars and take them to the bottle bank, and we spent ages cutting up cereal boxes to take the tokens into school.

Kerbside collection of electrical items sounds practical although I am amused by the image of someone tying up a Rampant Rabbit in a clear plastic bag and placing it neatly atop their bin now. I live in Germany which does not have kerbside collection of electronics, but actually does have long lists of items about what you can and cannot put in communal bins taped to the bins themselves and myriad complicated rules, to which I have clearly assimilated because I find myself arguing with my neighbour over them. (But I mean, really, no, you cannot fill up the entire recycling bin with dead leaves because they are "dry", they do not fit the definition of recyclable or match any of the little pictures.)

We tend to have bags and boxes of used batteries all over the place (I think we moved house with some!) because I never remember to take them anywhere and if I do the collection points are designed to accept one at a time which I always find bizarre. Who is finished with an AA battery in the middle of the street and needs somewhere to conveniently throw it away? It can't be the vape users because they predated those. Ikea at least has a reasonable disposal point for all electricals so if I remember, I take them all there. But I have dozens and it would take hours to feed them into the tiny bin by school or the one at the supermarket.

Actually now I wonder if the single battery at a time thing is for preventing accidental fires. Maybe I should just start taking them in small batches.

presumably only for electronics rather than electricals?

Can I just ask what the difference is? I don't actually know and had registered the use of both in the WEEE acronym but I would have used both words as almost synonyms.

You can do a factory reset to clear your data, remove the sim card and change your passwords on your Apple, Cloud, Google, banking etc accounts and apps. Then recycle the device. If MI5 or someone wanted to retrieve your data they might manage it, but the chances of anyone being that persistent with an unknown device from the recycling centre are tiny.

OP Stop digging.

It's evident that you are not very bright. Coming back and attempting to provide witty responses makes you look even dimmer.

but batteries can be taken to any shop which sells them. They don't have to be the brand sold by the shop.

This can't be right. I live next door to the church and they put a recycling bin out every Tuesday same as me.

I forgot to tax my car last year, drove it around over 6 months untaxed and received a hefty fine as a result. Anyway this thread has at least reminded me that I got a letter through last week to say my tax is due again and I have no idea what I’ve done with it so almost certainly would have forgotten to do it again, but have set a reminder on my phone so hopefully will remember to do it tomorrow 🤞 I didn’t know you could set up a direct debit but this is probably a good idea if it means it’ll start coming out automatically. Will try and remember to put a battery pot out at the same time so hopefully I can get out of the habit of binning them!

@Pavementworrier I wouldn't worry
Just try to recycle in future - check online if you arent sure what can and cannot be

have you asked locally about people who recycle electricals and metal generally? Where I live they will collect bundles of small items and bigger ones, I fopund mine by asking on facebook

How long did it take you to set up the DD - longer than to put a pot in your kitchen?

I think you can take batteries, pretty much any ones - to little collection boxes at the supermarket. You don't have to go to the skips/recycling centre. I just take them when I go shopping (to be recycled.)

I have kept all the mobile phones I have ever had @Pavementworrier (about 6 in all, so has DH - he has had 3!) My DC recycle theirs when they get a new one...

Don't worry about not realising you should dispose of batteries carefully. Not everyone knows this. Hopefully this thread will make more people aware.

@HoarFrosted Where I live in Somerset you can put out any electrical item up to toaster size with your recycling - this includes phones, hairdryers, kettles. You have to bag it and put it on top of the recycling bin and it's taken with the normal collection. Might be worth checking if that's the case where you are.