Recycle electronics

Book an e-waste pick-up or drop items off at one of our quarterly recycling drop-off days or recycling stations.

Free

Project Status: When you need to do this

If you’re a City of Sydney resident with old and broken electronics you can drop them off at our quarterly recycling event or book a pick-up.

Mobile phones and other small electronics can also be placed in our recycling stations across the city, along with batteries and light bulbs.

Almost all types of electronics can be recycled. If it has a plug, power cord or battery we can recycle it or dispose of it safely for you.

What you need to do

Check your item is accepted for electronic recycling

- computers and accessories: desktops, monitors, laptops, tablets, e-readers, printers, scanners, keyboards, mouse, cables, headsets
- entertainment equipment: TVs, remotes, stereos, gaming consoles, DVD players, video recorders, digital cameras, projectors, headphones, speakers, electrical musical instruments
- toys that light up or make sounds
- phones: mobiles, landlines, chargers, earphones
- small household appliances: vacuum cleaners, microwaves, toasters, mixers, blenders, kettles, heaters, irons, coffee machines, pedestal fans
- household or personal items: lamps, vapes, smart watches, clocks, electric toothbrushes
- power tools: drills, circular saws, electric lawnmowers, electric trimmers, electric leaf blowers. No gas or petrol powered items.
- extension cords, adaptors and power boards.
- blow-up air mattresses with a cord or electric blankets
- commercial or business electronics
- hazardous waste: chemicals, paints and pesticides
- smoke alarms and fire extinguishers
- items that don’t have a plug, power cord or battery.

Delete your data

Delete any personal data from your phones, computers, tablets and smart watches before you recycle them.

Choose a recycling option convenient for you

City of Sydney residents can use these services free of charge.

If your electronic item is less than 11cm wide, you can take it to one of our free recycling stations at our customer service centres, libraries, community and recreation centres.

The item needs to be small to fit into the collection hole – think mobile phones, charging cords, headphones, smartwatches, webcams and small digital cameras.

We also accept household batteries and light bulbs at our recycling stations.

What you can’t drop-off to a recycling station: no electronics over 11cm wide, like laptops and iPads. No big batteries, like car batteries. No large lamps or fluorescent tubes.

Find a recycling station
If your electronic items are small enough to fit into a reusable shopping bag, you can book a Power Pickup with RecycleSmart.

Download the free RecycleSmart app onto your phone or visit the RecycleSmart website. Fill a RecycleSmart bag or your own with accepted items and book a Power Pickup. The RecycleSmart team will come to your doorstep and ensure your items are properly sorted for recycling.

This service is free if you subscribe for monthly pick-ups or $2 a bag for a single pick-up.

Subscribe for a monthly pick-up

Consider re-use

If your items are still in working condition, first try to find a new home for your unwanted electronic goods. You could give them away to someone who needs it. Try advertising online through Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, Trading Post, Ebay or Freecyle. Follow these tips to learn how to sell your stuff online fast.

Find out more about reducing, reusing and repairing.

Chairs, baskets, boxes and other items are stacked on top of each other in a crowded room.

Type “recycling help” into our virtual assistant

It can help you find ways to reuse, recycle and safely dispose of your everyday items.

After you finish

All electronics collected by us are processed locally where around 95% of it is recycled. Electronics are broken down into various parts, including metals, plastics, batteries, cabling and circuit boards. These parts can then be used to make new products.

Over 90% of mobile phone contents, which includes gold, silver and palladium, can be recovered and returned into the supply chain to make new products. The plastic in many electronics and devices can be recycled into new plastic products, such as shipping pallets. Battery materials such as mercury, lithium and zinc can be recycled over and over again to make new batteries.

Why it’s important to recycle electronics

Australians are among the highest users of electronics in the world, and unwanted electronics are one of the fastest growing types of waste.

Recycling your unwanted electronics helps capture precious resources, which reduces the need to mine raw materials for new technology. The electronics we collect are diverted from landfill and raw materials are recovered and recycled.