National Recycling Week: Belongings you didn’t know you might recycle for money

National Recycling Week: Belongings you didn’t know you might recycle for money


Nadia Krige


nineteenth Oct 2023

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Sometimes you end up in a financial pickle with no quick fix on the horizon. Don’t worry, it happens to all of us in some unspecified time in the future. The excellent news is the reply you’re searching for might be lurking in your trash can. Or the back of your wardrobe. Or possibly in your bathroom cabinet.

Listed below are 10 items you would possibly not know that you may recycle for money:

 

Clothes

One in all the explanations it’s possible you’ll end up in said financial pickle is the very fact you may’t resist a great old fashion sale. Once more – we’re not judging you!

But how most of the items in your wardrobe do you truly like to wear, if in any respect?

As a substitute of just hoarding a complete bunch of perfectly good clothes, you may recycle them and even make a fast little buck.

There are two primary ways to do that:

Arrange a second-hand online shop

There’s an enormous market on eBay, Instagram and Etsy for second-hand clothes. Spend a while browsing through other online stores to see what other people ask for items then arrange your individual!

Read this text for a number of tips about easy methods to start.

Money in on in-store recycling plans

In an effort to up their sustainability ante, many large clothing retailers have launched recycling schemes.

H&M, Monki and Marks & Spencer allow customers to drop off bags old clothes – any brand is appropriate – in store. In return, they provide discount vouchers you may put toward your next purchase. Okay, so that you’re not getting cash, but that is an important technique to construct up some credit for an occasion that absolutely calls for a brand new dress.

 

Ink Cartridges

Yearly an estimated 57 million ink cartridges find their way into UK landfills, rubbish dumps and incinerators. Considering it will possibly take only one cartridge as much as 1,000 years to decompose, these figures are very alarming. It’s easy to recycle cartridges so don’t contribute to the issue – sell them to a recycling company and also you’ll also make yourself some money.

There are a complete host of firms that can pay as much as £4.50 per empty cartridge! Listed below are a number of you may try:

 

Wine Corks

Unless you’re keen on arts and crafts, you’ve probably never given a second thought to throwing the cork away after winding up a bottle of chardonnay.

Well, best stop doing that and recycle them for money as an alternative.

Consider it or not, wine corks are a brilliant hot commodity amongst crafty folks. In reality, there’s a complete section dedicated to used wine corks on eBay where bundles of between 50 and 100 go for as much as £8.00.

 

Hair

We all know this will likely sound barely creepy, but recycling your hair is – in truth – a thing. But, it’s also mostly for a great cause.

Hair Harvest is certainly one of the businesses that buys human hair after which turns it into wigs for vulnerable patients who’ve lost their very own hair for one reason or one other.

The quantity they pay depends upon the length of hair you might be in a position to part with. Here’s a rough guide:

14-15 inches – £25 – £60
16-18 inches – £50 – £150
19 inches and above- £60 – £200

You may visit the Hair Harvest website for the principles and regulations across the strategy of recycling your hair.

Read our article to search out out more about selling your hair.

 

Mobile phones

Make anything from £5-£600 on your old, battered phone.

Did you already know there are over 80 million mobiles within the UK just lying around doing nothing?

So in the event you’ve got a number of languishing in a drawer or under your bed, now could be the time to go for recycling and get some money in return!

Visit the Compare and Recycle website for comparisons on how much you may make selling your phone on different platforms.

While you may get around £600 for an iPhone XS with 64g memory, you’ll likely be more willing to sell an older model. In keeping with the positioning, you may stand up to £194 for an iPhone 6 and as much as £350 for an iPhone 7 Plus.

 

Beauty product containers

Still have mascara from two years ago tucked away in the underside of your make-up bag? Or that lipstick you thought you’d rock on nights out, but were never brave enough to wear? Perhaps it’s time you let go.

Fortunately, John Lewis & Partners recently launched a beauty recycling trial, called BeautyCycle, which offers members of its loyalty programme the prospect to recycle empty makeup and skincare beauty products from any brand.

The programme offers members £5 off a beauty purchase when they bring about empty beauty products and packaging from any brand right into a shop. While it’s not cold, hard money, it’s going to definitely provide help to save!

 

Broken crockery

Like wine bottle corks, broken plates, saucers, cups, tiles and even mirrors are popular items amongst crafters. Especially those that like making mosaics.

If you have got a pile of defunct crockery or constructing materials, make up ‘surprise’ hampers of between 20 and 150 pieces and sell them on eBay or Etsy.

Boxes of 20 pieces can go for about £8, while boxes of 150 can get you as much as £15.

 

Loo roll

Oh, and one other thing popular with crafters is old toilet rolls.

They often need more toilet rolls than they’ll produce, so are willing to pay for them on sites corresponding to eBay and Gumtree.

Okay, you won’t make a fortune, but £7 for 50 rolls is healthier than simply throwing them away!

Discover more about getting cash selling your loo roll here. 

 

Lego

recycle lego

In case your child has outgrown their love of Lego, don’t even take into consideration letting those vibrant little blocks gather dust on some nursery room shelf. As a substitute, you may make a good little bit of pocket money by selling them on eBay!

Currently, 1kg bundles of average blocks can go for as much as £20. After all, if you have got limited release figurines, you may make quite a bit more.

Read more about getting cash with Lego!

 

Underwear

Yes, there are people on the market (well, mostly men) who’re willing to pay on your used knickers!

It’s weird, you would possibly find it a bit distasteful, but it will possibly be quite lucrative.

There are whole sites set as much as provide help to offer this service, corresponding to:

Sites corresponding to

  • PantyDeal
  • The Kinky Boutique
  • Sofia Gray

You may sell your knickers from about £12 to a few of hundred quid. One in all our readers actually remodeled £4,500 doing this, so there’s real money to be made.

Discover more about selling your knickers here.