This is why a little thought on your part could mean you're doing your small bit to help the planet, by avoiding simply chucking away items that could have a new life elsewhere.

You may be moving house, doing some home improvements or just re-decorating a room but find you have some old elelctrical tems you just don't need anymore. So here are some useful tips to help you get rid of your unwanted electricals the 'planet friendly' way:

Good old fashioned selling

You're probably going to try and get a bit of money for your items before you pass them on, so you'll first want to consider auction sites, car boot sales and local newspaper ads. If you know full well that the appliance does not work, no not sell it on. It isn't fair on the person paying you their hard earned cash to buy it, and when the site you're selling it through finds out, you'll be penalised for your dishonesty. Be honest about the condition of the item and tell potential buyers everything you would want to know if you were in their shoes.

Upcycling

With this option you have one of two choices. You could either have a bash at some upcycling yourself and turn your fridge into a table, or your old radio into an old looking radio with a working new radio inside, or you could sell the items to a dealer who wants to do a bit of upcycling himself. There are plenty of people doing this and do bare in mind that they can usually source items for free or next to nothing so you won't get much for your stuff, but you will get rid of them for free. You could even ask them to send you a picture of what they turned your old gadgets into when they have done (you might even end up wanting to buy them back!).

Give them away to a good home

There are tons of sites online that enable you to advertise your stuff to give to people for free. You might not get any cash for your items but you will get the joy of seeing someone else make use of your unwanted item. It'll also cost you nothing to have it taken away if you were initially intending on sending it to the scrap yard. If you're not online you could advertise in a local newspaper as well to let people know you've got free goods on offer to a good home.

If you feel a bit sick at the thought of giving without receiving anything, you could always advertise a 'swap' deal where for example; you say you have a fridge available if someone has a deckchair to swap with you.

Just give them away

Donate the items to charity, again you won't get anything for them but you'll have done a great thing and helped those in need.

Get it disposed of properly

There are lots of companies that will dispose of your item in an environmentally friendly way. They will either do this for free, or for a small charge. If you're getting an item replaced it is much more likely the company will take away your old appliance when they bring you the new one. Some companies will even offer you money for unwanted items and if they can't give you money for them, they will dispose of them in an environmentally friendly way for free.

There are plenty of companies offering ways that make it super easy for you to be environmentally friendly when you dispose of your unwanted electrical items. And remember, if you simply can't decide what you want to do with them but you need to free up the space, pay for some cheap storage to keep the items safe while you decide.

The world has embraced recycling, which means that we're all encouraged to think a little harder about what we're going to do with the items we no longer need. Unfortunately when you've got quite the build up of electrical goods in your home, garage or self-storage unit, it can be a little bit stressful knowing where the best place is for all of them.