Sam finds the smart way to recycle devices

“We have so many old electricals – and we don’t know how to recycle safely.”

Media consultancy owner Sam Kumar has been recycling for a decade – as much as he can. But even this old hand at recycling admits that he was stumped by how to dispose of some unwanted electrical items – toys and smart devices among them. Until now.

“As a family we care about sustainability and current matters that have had a major impact – such as racism and Black Lives Matter,” says Sam.

The family recycles “as much as we can and as often as we can” to help the environment.

Not knowing what to do with old electricals is a blocker

So what prevents them recycling all their old electricals?

One barrier is not knowing how to recycle certain products safely and securely. Sam is not alone. Millions of us hang on to old smart devices because we’re not sure how to delete personal data on them safely.

“We have a community on social media for the residents of our street, which has been a great platform for recycling smaller electricals.”

Plus, he says “We have so many.” By the time their son was two years old their house was “overflowing” with electrical toys and games, Sam explains.

They would give away most of those items to friends and family, sell some on eBay or take them to charity shops. “But can you believe that no one wanted the robot dinosaur or the tablet computers?” he told Forbes magazine recently.

As a result, tablets were among the things that accumulated, unused, at home. That is until Sam found out about the Recycle Your Elecricals recycling locator, which pointed Sam to locations that would welcome electrical items. “I was genuinely surprised by the places that will recycle them,” he told Forbes. “We are definitely more proactive when it comes to recycling and reusing electricals now.”

And Sam’s top tips for recycling electricals? “We have a community on social media for the residents of our street, which has been a great platform for recycling smaller electricals.”